President Asif Ali Zardari while reaffirming the commitment to the conservation and sustainable management of wetlands, urged all citizens, especially youth, local communities and policymakers, to value, protect and sustainably manage wetlands as living cultural and ecological assets.
“This day marks the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands, also known as the Ramsar Convention, in 1971. Pakistan is a signatory to this landmark agreement, which promotes the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands and their resources for present and future generations,” the president said in a message on the observance of World Wetlands Day on February 2.
He said the World Wetlands Day 2026 theme, “Wetlands and Traditional Knowledge: Celebrating Cultural Heritage,” reminded them that wetlands were not merely ecological systems.
“They are living cultural landscapes shaped over centuries by local communities. Across Pakistan, traditional knowledge and practices linked to wetlands have supported livelihoods, food security, biodiversity conservation and a balanced relationship with nature,” President’s Secretariat Media Wing, in a press release, quoted the president as saying.
President Zardari said water security in the region depended on responsible and lawful transboundary cooperation.
“Pakistan remains concerned over unilateral actions by India affecting the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, a legally binding agreement that has governed equitable water sharing in the Indus Basin for decades,” he added.
He said the suspension of treaty mechanisms, including the sharing of hydrological data, undermined trust and predictability when climate pressures required greater cooperation.
“Water must never be used as a tool of coercion, and the weaponisation of water as an instrument of war against Pakistan must be rejected, as the disruption of river flows threatens millions of lives, livelihoods, and food systems in a country reliant on the Indus Basin,” he emphasised.
The president observed that healthy wetlands reduce floods, protect coasts, sustain livelihoods and cut emissions, adding that neglecting them multiplies climate losses, while restoring them delivers high returns for resilience, the economy and ecology.
He said Pakistan was among the countries least responsible for climate change yet most exposed to its consequences. “Our wetlands are frontline climate defenders against floods, droughts, heatwaves and sea-level rise,” he added.
Pakistan’s diverse wetlands, the president said, ranging from riverine floodplains and alpine and glacial lakes to inland wetlands and coastal and mangrove ecosystems played a critical role in biodiversity conservation, climate change adaptation, water regulation and disaster risk reduction.
Across the country, he said wetlands faced mounting pressures: erratic monsoons, glacial melt variability, heatwaves, shrinking flood buffers and climate-amplified pollution. Sindh bore a disproportionate burden due to wetland degradation, historical water stress and sea-level rise, he said, adding the Indus Delta and mangrove forests, once among the world’s richest, now faced salinity intrusion, coastal erosion and loss of fish breeding grounds.
“Inland wetlands such as Keenjhar, Haleji and Manchar are experiencing reduced freshwater inflows, prolonged droughts and concentrated pollution, affecting fisheries, drinking water and migratory bird routes,” he observed.
The president said for millions of the country’s citizens, wetlands were part of everyday life. They provided fish for households and markets, grazing for livestock, reeds and vegetation for shelter and fuel, and natural protection for villages during periods of heavy rainfall or water scarcity.
When wetlands degraded, families faced loss of income, rising food costs, unsafe water and greater exposure to floods and droughts. Protecting these ecosystems was therefore both an environmental responsibility and a matter of public welfare and national resilience, he stressed.
He said wetlands were also cost-effective climate solutions. They absorbed floods more effectively, stored carbon, especially mangroves, protected coastlines naturally, and reduced the need for costly disaster recovery.
“Sustainable wetland management, integrating indigenous and community knowledge, contributes directly to Pakistan’s climate and biodiversity goals and international environmental commitments,” he added.
The president further said protecting wetlands was not only about nature; it was about people, livelihoods and national resilience. Pakistan would continue to advocate that climate justice meant safeguarding those ecosystems that protected them, he added.