UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has called for strengthening cooperation and upholding eco-system approaches towards sound water management to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number six, which seeks to ensure access to water and sanitation for all.
“Water is our lifeblood; its availability and management is key to the achievement of SDG-6 and all the other SDGs,” Ambassador Munir Akram told a meeting organised by Egypt, which is hosting the COP-27 climate change conference in Sharm el-Sheikh from November 6 to 18.
(There are 17 SDGs that are aimed at ending poverty, with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth while tackling climate change and working to preserve the world’s oceans and forests.)
Speaking on “Water in COP-27”, the envoy highlighted the devastation caused by the recent floods in Pakistan, triggered by heat-induced glacial melting and a “monsoon on steroids”, and said both solidarity and climate justice demand international support to the country’s endeavour to build back with resilience.
“The unpredictable flow of waters in our eastern rivers, as well as climate-induced disasters, have made it extremely difficult for Pakistan to achieve the water-related SDGs,” he said while stressing that the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan must be fully implemented “in letter and spirit”.
On its part, Pakistan has embarked upon an ambitious plan to rehabilitate the Indus basin through 25 projects under the overarching theme of “Living Indus”.
While issuing a call for boosting cooperation a sound water management, Ambassador Akram proposed:
— Adherence to environmental principles such as precaution, polluter pays, and no-harm in maintaining freshwater resources including transboundary rivers;
— Due consideration to the transboundary effects of water-related disasters;
— Investments in climate-resilient infrastructure in water and sanitation need to be tripled from the current level;
— Financial resources and technical support must be mobilized massively for adaptation projects in developing countries to build resilience against future disasters, and,
— A financial facility to ensure that climate-vulnerable developing countries are able to have access immediately to resources for recovery and reconstruction from climate-induced natural disasters.
