Zubair Qureshi Islamabad
Caretaker Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research, Dr Kausar Abdullah Malik has emphasized the need for collective efforts to address the challenges of climate change, water security, and food security.
While addressing the participants of a Pre-COP 28 conference on “Accelerating the Water-Food Climate Nexus Transformation Pathways for Pakistan” organized by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), on Monday, he said that citizens must be sensitized to take steps to protect water resources to achieve sustainable development.
He further said that efforts were underway to implement laser land leveling technology to minimize water usage in irrigation while also promoting water safety. He emphasized the need to raise public awareness about the significance of water and its safety.
Dr Kausar emphasized the importance of water safety to improve agriculture, food systems, and economic development. He warned that failure to take immediate and bold measures could result in further deterioration of water security.
Director General of IWMI, Mark Smith, pointed out that although Pakistan accounted for a negligible share of global emissions, the country bore a disproportionate burden of the impacts of climate change.
In his inaugural address, Dr Mark identified that Pakistan was responsible for less than 1pc of the world’s planet-warming gases but was still ranked as the 8th most vulnerable country to the climate crisis. He explained that around 92pc of Pakistan is classified as semi-arid to arid, and most of the population relies on limited water resources from rivers and aquifers. We will support the Ministry of Climate Change in creating a position paper on water and climate change for CoP28.
