Exploring the unchartered territories of Pakistan Water Charter

Water policy making has undergone multiple paradigms shifts in the last three decades in developing countries e.g. managing water as an economic good, adoption of integrated water resource management paradigm, and shifts in responsibilities between level of government (Jensen, 2019). Pakistan is no exception. Pakistan faces severe water crises, with its per capita water availability declining from 5,260 cubic meters in 1952 to 860 cubic meters in 2025, shifting it from water stressed country to water scarce country. (Pakistan’s Water Crisis: Policy Challenges and Recommendations, 2018)

The increasing shortage of water in Pakistan has now become severe threat for food, energy and water security. (Pakistan Water Policy , 2018). As a call to action, a charter officially known as ‘Pakistan Water Charter’ has been signed among the provincial governments and federal government to declare a water emergency in Pakistan.

The signatories of Pakistan Water Charter acknowledge anthropogenic choices have led to resource depletion, emphasizing the need for urgent measures to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Melting glacier are increasing the risk of Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF) in the northern areas of country, intense monsoon rains causing flood in the central and southern part of the country, and poor integrated water management of Indus Basin is resulting into low yield or drought in many rural areas of Pakistan.  This has greatly emphasized to take notice of the emerging water crises and climate change. This Water Charter has been successful in acquiring a consensus for sustainable consumption and production of water nationwide. However, this essay argues that while Pakistan Water Charter identifies the crisis, it lacks mention for climate adaptation strategies, which are critical in the context of Pakistan’s vulnerability to climate-induced water stress. Climate change mitigation strategies and climate change adaptation strategies must go hand in hand to provide a comprehensive integrated water management solution.

This essay highlight a policy implementation gap challenge, as water resources are a national responsibility dealt by ministry of Water Resources, but all sub-sector of water resources e.g. irrigation, urban water supply, disaster management etc. are provincial subjects after 18^th Constitutional Amendment (Pakistan Water Policy , 2018). This will make distribution of judicious water very complex and challenging. Therefore, during its implementation phase institutional logic may clash influencing the effectiveness of policy implementation, particularly in multi-actor initiatives e.g. irrigation (Michel, C. L., Meza, O. D., & Cejudo, G. M., 2022). Hence, the mandate and role of the federal government, provincial government and water related agencies/institutions will dominate the water policy’s trend, interpretation, and implementation.

Another critical gap is the lack of emphasis on integrated urban water management. Many of these water utilities do not provide adequate and reliable water services, especially in the non-connected areas which usually are suburbs, slums or unregularized settlement in the urban areas (Ahmed, 2008). Rapid urbanization has increased pressure on municipal water supplies, yet intent to enhance urban water security—such as wastewater recycling, infrastructure resilience, and flood management—are largely missing from the charter.

In conclusion, Pakistan Water Charter marks an essential step towards developing a consensus to acknowledge the country’s water crisis. It requires a stronger emphasis on political will, inter provisional coordination, technical assistance for integration of water related climate adaptation strategies and implementation mechanisms to transfer this ‘water constitution of Pakistan’ into an integrated, inclusive, and climate-conscious policy framework to protect water, food and energy security of Pakistan.

 

References

Ahmed, N. (2008). Water supply in Karachi: Issues and prospects. Karachi: OUP Catalogue.

Jensen, O. (2019). Designing effective water policy: capacity and effectiveness of reforms in developing countries., . Policy and Society, 38(1), 77-95.

Michel, C. L., Meza, O. D., & Cejudo, G. M. (2022). Interacting institutional logics in policy. Governance, 403-420.

Pakistan Water Policy . (2018). Pakistan Water Policy 2018. Pakistan: Ministry of Water Resources.

(2018). Pakistan’s Water Crisis: Policy Challenges and Recommendations. Islamabad: Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources.

 

 

 

 

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