LAHORE: Speakers and participants at a workshop developed an understanding for finding local solutions to the challenges of water, energy, food, and ecosystem transformation while exploring how the system transformation for equitable food, energy and water security in Indus Basin can be achieved.
The workshop was arranged by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) Pakistan in collaboration with Khwaja Fareed University of Engineering and Information Technology (KFUEIT) and International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
The CGIAR workshop was aimed at new research for development program “nexus gains for the Indus basin: realizing multiple benefits across water, energy, food and ecosystems (forests, biodiversity)”.
In his welcome address, Vice Chancellor KFUEIT Prof. Dr. Muhammad Suleman Tahir said that it is the responsibility of universities to offer solutions to the problems regarding local agriculture and industry. As the water scarcity challenge in Cholistan is rising, we have launched the ‘Save Water for Cholistan’ campaign from this university platform.”
According to Dr. Mohsin Hafeez, “There is an ongoing heat wave in Southern Punjab and Sindh, which is having implications on the availability of canal water. There is a need to assess temperature rise in northern Pakistan and its repercussions on glaciers, which significantly contribute to the Indus River.”
Regarding the NEXUS Gains Initiative, he stated that the initiative will provide practical, scientific evidence-based solutions and decision support system for WEFE resource by strengthening capacity of national stakeholders and key actors working in the region. The project outcome will lead to more coherent policies in the WEFE nexus, enable sustainable development pathways for all, and ensure that the policy changes are robust and resilient.
Dr. Stefan Uhlenbrook mentioned that the WEFE initiative is being implemented across Pakistan, Ethiopia, India, and Nepal, which aims to sensitize stakeholders to use integrated modeling tools to assess tradeoffs and synergies, improving water productivity, use of scalable gender-sensitive clean energy business and finance models, and training of 40 emerging women leaders in implementing WEFE NEXUS innovations.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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