Daily Times

The country has been repeatedly placed among the top ten countries affected due to climate change induced natural calamities particularly floods due to weak adaptation and mitigation measures to cope with natural disasters.

Recharge Pakistan, a project based on wetland sites identified under Ramsar Convention to revive freshwater storage sites along the left and right banks of River Indus will help conserve 100 million acre feet (MAF) flood water flushed every year into the Arabian Ocean.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam told APP that the already existing wetland sites like Keenjhar and Manchar lakes were being polluted that required replenishment and conservation.

Amin said the government has decided to spend Rs one billion on three pilot sites to be developed under Recharge Pakistan that would require setting up of new wetland sites storing massive amounts of water.

It will be helpful not only in accumulating flood water rather than primarily help restore aquifer (ground table water) that has depleted due to drought and other unhealthy environmental aspects, he added.

SAPM underlined that there were 14 various sites that would be selected to build wetlands in the regions across the Indus River where it would be decided keeping in view storage capacity, flood risk to the region, recharge potential and area community needs.

These sites, he said, would fall in the areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab. “It will open new venues for ecotourism, sustainable green livelihoods, women empowerment at the grass root level and community resilience against recurrent climatic events incurring heavy losses in the shape of massive natural calamities,” Amin noted.

To a question, he said the implementation strategies to kick start Recharge Pakistan project were underway at the Ministry of Climate Change whereas the initiative would be initiated this year.