‘Nearly 15 million environmental refugees likely’
from The International News
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
By Shahid Husain
Karachi
Global warming and the ongoing thinning of Tibetan glaciers will result in as many as 15 million ‘environmental refugees’ in South Asia in the near future, said Chairperson Hisaar Foundation and member of Stockholm-based Global Water Partnership Technical Committee, Simi Kamal.
She made the observation at a selected gathering of experts under the auspices of Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD) at Karachi Water and Sewerage Board office here on Monday. She said that it is an internationally accepted fact that the lower riparian had certain rights. She said that it is high time we look into ‘water use’, adding that there are conflicts within Punjab and Sindh but we must not confine ourselves to such conflicts.
Kamal further said that Pakistan had one of the lowest storage capacities in the world — hardly sufficient to meet water requirements for 30 days, while two-third of it goes to waste due to seepage. She said that 97 per cent of water in Pakistan is utilised for agriculture but despite this, the country has one of the lowest productivity levels in the world. She said that if water was used in a pragmatic manner, the ongoing water conflict between Punjab and Sindh would be minimised. “In the wake of rapid population growth, more food is required and it is necessary to look at the Punjab-Sindh conflict in a ‘holistic’ way,” Kamal suggested.
G. N. Abbasi, former chief of National Drainage Programme and an expert on issues related to water said that water scarcity in Pakistan should be seen in the perspective of the Indus Basin Treaty signed between Pakistan and India in 1960 and the Water Accord signed between the provinces in 1991. He said that he had serious reservations regarding the Indus Basin Water Treaty but since Pakistan had signed it, there is no option but to stick to it. Similarly was the case of the Water Accord.
(More here.)
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
By Shahid Husain
Karachi
Global warming and the ongoing thinning of Tibetan glaciers will result in as many as 15 million ‘environmental refugees’ in South Asia in the near future, said Chairperson Hisaar Foundation and member of Stockholm-based Global Water Partnership Technical Committee, Simi Kamal.
She made the observation at a selected gathering of experts under the auspices of Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD) at Karachi Water and Sewerage Board office here on Monday. She said that it is an internationally accepted fact that the lower riparian had certain rights. She said that it is high time we look into ‘water use’, adding that there are conflicts within Punjab and Sindh but we must not confine ourselves to such conflicts.
Kamal further said that Pakistan had one of the lowest storage capacities in the world — hardly sufficient to meet water requirements for 30 days, while two-third of it goes to waste due to seepage. She said that 97 per cent of water in Pakistan is utilised for agriculture but despite this, the country has one of the lowest productivity levels in the world. She said that if water was used in a pragmatic manner, the ongoing water conflict between Punjab and Sindh would be minimised. “In the wake of rapid population growth, more food is required and it is necessary to look at the Punjab-Sindh conflict in a ‘holistic’ way,” Kamal suggested.
G. N. Abbasi, former chief of National Drainage Programme and an expert on issues related to water said that water scarcity in Pakistan should be seen in the perspective of the Indus Basin Treaty signed between Pakistan and India in 1960 and the Water Accord signed between the provinces in 1991. He said that he had serious reservations regarding the Indus Basin Water Treaty but since Pakistan had signed it, there is no option but to stick to it. Similarly was the case of the Water Accord.
(More here.)
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