Ahmed Mukhtar Naqshbandi
ISLAMABAD/NEW YORK: Pakistani parliamentarians, speaking at the annual Parliamentary Hearing at the United Nations, have called for enhanced international cooperation to deal with the surging water crisis amid the increasing impact of global climate change on water availability.
The hearing titled ‘Water for People and Planet: Stop the waste, change the game, invest in the future,’ opened on Monday. It is a joint initiative between the President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).
UN officials said that the Hearing would provide a parliamentary contribution to the UN Water Conference, which will take place from March 22 to 24, 2023, in New York.
Murtaza Javed Abbasi, Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Senator Sana Jamali, Senator Naseema Ehsan, Senator Farooq Hamid Naek, Senator Muhammad Abdul Qadir and Senator Faisal Saleem Rahman are part of the Pakistani parliamentary delegation being led by Pakistan’s National Assembly Deputy Speaker, Zahid Akram Durrani.
Hearing being attended by over 250 parliamentarians from 60 countries
More than 250 members of parliament, Speakers, advisers and related officials from 60 countries are also participating in the event at the UN Headquarters in New York
Deputy Speaker Durrani told the Hearing that water scarcity caused by climate change stemmed from underinvestment in water and sanitation and insufficient cooperation on transboundary waters.
The urgency of these challenges varied across regions, Durrani said, pointing out that although global water stress levels remained safe at 18.6 per cent in 2019, the water stress levels in South Asia were over 75 per cent.
He added with Pakistan among the world’s top ten water-scarce countries, the need for enhanced cooperation on water has assumed greater urgency in recent years, with climate change increasingly affecting water availability, causing water scarcity in some regions and flooding in others.
“Undoubtedly, water would increasingly become a key factor in managing risks associated with famine, disease epidemics, migration, political instability, inequalities within and between countries, and natural disasters, the Pakistani delegate said.
He emphasized three essential requirements – finance, technology transfer and enhanced international cooperation – in order to overcome these challenges.
Other members of the Pakistani delegation, including Senator Sana Jamali, Senator Abdulk Qadir also raised concerns about the increasing water scarcity levels and stressed the need for scaling up measures to counter and mitigate the phenomenon driven by climate change.
