Water rights and resilience: EU defining new priorities for cooperation with various states

ISLAMABAD: The European Union (EU) is in the process of defining its new priorities for development cooperation and engagement with different countries including Pakistan for the next seven years. This was revealed during a webinar on Friday titled 'water-rights & resilience' organized by the European Union Delegation to Pakistan.

Daniel Clauss (Head of Political, Trade and Communications Section, European Union Delegation, Pakistan), Shammy Puri (Director - Centre for Sustainable Solutions in Practical Hydrogeology), Louise Croneberg-Jones (Senior Water Resources Management Expert/Project Director Sweco AB - Sweden) and Ahmad Rafay Alam (Environmental Lawyer) expressed their views on different aspects of water issues being faced by the people of Pakistan. Afia Salam (Environmental Journalist) was moderator of the discussion.

Daniel Clauss said that discussion was ongoing at headquarters on new priorities and there are many choices which are under consideration but nothing is final yet. "The discussion is also ongoing on allocation of resources for different countries including the sectors to be focused in the next seven years. There are so many choices," he added.

Daniel Clauss has served as Advisor to the Director for Humanitarian Assistance for Africa, Asia and Latin America in the European Commission and engaged in policy work on water and sanitation in humanitarian assistance however, he maintained during the webinar that he does not know which direction the discussions would go. He said that European Union's key priority was "green deal", adding that he would say green and blue.

He said, water should be regulated and people be made aware of their role in water use through knowledge and by setting boundaries. Shammy Puri, who has worked in Balochistan argued that if farmers are trained properly, crops can be sown with less water. He further stated that the problem is mindset as people were working in silos and were not ready to recognize where the problem is.

Rafay Alam Environmental Lawyer while focusing on water issues in South Asia cited a report which concluded that Himalayan system was far more vulnerable to climate change and if temperature rises by 1.2 degree "we will lose 35 per cent of ice and in case of 2 degree increase in temperature, we will loose 75 per cent of ice and 3 degree increase will be a complete destruction of the third largest source of water on the planet".

"This will mean complete eradication of people and culture," he said, adding that water is available in ten rivers and over a dozen countries. He said, countries like Pakistan-Afghanistan, Pakistan-India and India-Bangladesh don't see this point.

The regional dynamics of water management need much to be desired. With Pakistan, water is a provincial subject, which needs to create federal conversation on water, he said adding that basic governance mechanism was not in place which was extremely alarming, given the fact that water provides livelihood, healthcare facilities, employment opportunities for over 500 million people.

"Resource consumption isn't equal amongst individuals. Most of the water in South Asia is consumed in agriculture and industry and people use very little of it," he said adding that the use of this resource disproportionally has to be controlled.

Louise Croneberg-Jones (Senior Water Resources Management Expert/Project Director Sweco AB - Sweden) who has worked in AJ&K said that governance structure was not adequate for proper usage of available water resources. However, she said that people were very resultant.

It was stated during the webinar that Pakistan was climate vulnerable, and this vulnerability was acute in the water sector. Over and above its responsibility of the Indus Basin, it must successfully manage the Himalayan-Karakoram and Hindu Kush Glaciers, the second largest collection of fresh water on the planet, as well as one of the largest freshwater aquifers. Increasing pollution is making these challenges extreme.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020