Climate change impacts on Pakistan’s water sector
Pakistan’s climate vulnerability is linked to its arid to semi-arid climate, as well as its high dependency on a single river system along with snow and glacial meltwater to provide its agricultural water supply.
A solution: Rainfall harvesting
Pakistan’s TNA prioritised rainwater harvesting either by collecting rainfall from the ground surfaces or harvesting floodwater flows from a river, stream, or other natural watercourses. The technology offers many benefits during seasonal dry periods and droughts especially in the face of climate change increasing the variability and intensity of rainfall. Rainwater collection also helps to stabilize the depleting groundwater level, while the storage infrastructure can reduce land erosion and flood inflow to major rivers. It acts as a convenient source of stored water that could enhance agricultural productivity, decrease travel time for rural women to remote water resources, resulting in better health, security and time for social activities.
Ungoing project: water storage and ground water recharge
Based on the recommendations from its TNA and TAPs, Pakistan has launched several nationally funded projects for water storage and ground water recharge, including the construction of a Dosi Dam in Gawadar (USD 4.7 million), the construction of a Reko Delay Action Dam in the Noshki District (USD 700,000), the construction of 200 Small Check Dams for ground water recharge of Quetta (USD 4.2 million) and the construction of Bhundaro Storage Dam in Khuzdar (USD 5.6 million).
In addition, the Government of Pakistan has, based on the recommendations from the TAP, started operationalizing a bus rapid transportation system in the major metropolitan cities of Pakistan to offset carbon emissions in the transport sector. Finally, Pakistan also recently had approval of a Green Climate Fund project ‘Transforming the Indus Basin with Climate Resilient Agriculture and Water Management’ which is aiming to increase resilience among the most vulnerable farmers and strengthening government capacity to support communities to adapt. The project further supports the technologies prioritised under the adaptation component of the TNA project and has a total project investment of USD 47.7 million.
Read the TNA reports from Pakistan: here