ISLAMABAD: A collective approach to promote water stewardship is vital to introduce sustainable agricultural techniques and provide access to clean and safe drinking water, said Aatekah Mir-Khan, senior manager public affairs while speaking at the session ‘Water Management and Collective Action’ held by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in collaboration with Nestlé Pakistan.
She explained that Nestle Pakistan has established partnerships over the years with different stakeholders like government and civil society. “The recently launched Nestlé Pakistan Water Plan enables us to work with multiple partners in order to preserve and protect water resources by using research and technology. A collective approach helps us not just optimise water use in our factories but also in the watershed, agriculture and communities,” she added.
Abdul Majeed from International Union for Conservation of Nature was of view that private sector can play an important role in water stewardship. “We should avoid a sectoral approach to water management and balance the requirements of competing users.”
Rina Saeed, a renowned environmental journalist, on the occasion highlighted that the unsustainable use of water in Pakistan and questioned why farmers continue to use water-thirsty crops such as sugarcane and rice in a water-scarce country.
Dr Tariq Banuri, executive director of Global Change Impact Studies Centre, emphasised on the need of pricing for water use for irrigation purposes because agriculture takes up 90% of the freshwater supply in Pakistan.
It’s worth mentioning here that as part of the Nestle Pakistan Water Plan, the company was supporting the installation of drip irrigation for farmers in Punjab by paying 40% of the installation fees and is fitting water sensors in the soil to capture soil moisture to help the farmers avoid over-irrigation and under-irrigation.
Dr Malik Inayatullah Jan from the University of Agriculture, Peshawar, Ajaya Dixit from Institute of Social and Environmental Transition, Nepal, Dr. Munir Ahmad from Pakistan Agriculture Research Centre (PARC and Dr Imran Khalid from SDPI also shared their views on different dynamics of water issues in Pakistan.
Published in Daily Times, December 9th 2017.
