In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, Govt of Pakistan is launching economic recovery measures as the resumption of services and businesses to mitigate unemployment and stabilize core industries. Although it is understandably challenging to contemplate other hazards during this outbreak, it is essential to remember that we face another major crisis that threatens human prosperity-climate change. We are focusing on building back jobs and the economy, but are we transitioning toward a more sustainable future?
Recently, the Government of Pakistan signed a contract with a joint venture of China Power and Frontier Works Organization (FWO) for the construction of the Diamer-Bhasha dam. Chairman WAPDA estimates the completion of the project in 2028, with a total financial outlay of about PKR 1,406.5 billion. The desperation has been evident by measures taken, such as the Supreme Court setting up a fund in July 2018 for the Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand dams. From being improper to a win-win situation, debate among neighbor countries deciding for Pakistan, this decision has surfaced some of the historical and most pressing issues in the light of Constitutional rights such as deprivation of livelihood, no protection of citizens’ rights, discrimination, right to equality. The chronic debate and disagreement among provinces on the water crisis and its societal consequences highlight the problem, which has been partly a historical inheritance.
The threat to health and water pollution-related mortality is higher for at-risk socioeconomically disadvantaged people and ethnic and racial minority groups
Pakistan has one of the largest contiguous irrigation systems in the world, known as the Indus Basin Irrigation System (IBIS), making Pakistan highly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change due to its geo-climatic situation. In 1947, a geographically contiguous area IBIS was geopolitically partitioned, but due to various political reasons, it remained an unresolved conflict. Over the decades, it has enhanced risks to already vulnerable provinces and has posed a threat to interprovincial harmony. There has been a steadfast opposition to this project by many national parties as well as the provincial government. However, there is more to this emotional slogan than a nationalist stance. New dams are widely seen as sources of green energy. But dams also cause substantial and often unacknowledged environmental damage.
Apparently, dams appear to conserve water by storing it, but the bigger picture shows the opposite. In many ways, the water crisis results from the lack of governance, failure of the public institutions to manage resources for the well-being of humans and ecosystems. Water storage worsens the impact of climate change by releasing greenhouse gases, depriving ecosystems of nutrients, destroying habitats, increasing sea levels, wasting water, and displacing poor communities. If poorly maintained, it increases flood risk endangering lives and putting a significant financial strain on local governments and industry. The threat to health and water pollution-related mortality is higher for at-risk socioeconomically disadvantaged people and ethnic and racial minority groups. The consequences for vulnerable groups are a concern, and for those poverty struck communities through food insecurity and worse agricultural outcomes.
Globally, earlier experiences have shown that policy responses to significant calamities tend to focus on stabilizing incumbent industries, technologies, and practices rather than seizing the opportunity for sustainable transformation. In our case, where COVID-19 proposed an opportunity to revisit our priorities, committing to this project not only hinders but deteriorates the chances of sustainable transformation. What might now appear a provincial ego-conflict, or an anti-state agenda to jeopardize Pak-China relations, the current water crisis underlies the global climate crisis comprising long-lasting consequences extending beyond national interests. In the face of already stark federal discrimination, economic inequalities, provincial differences, and socioeconomic turmoil, such decisions further expose political leadership, national systems, solidarity, public interest-a glimpse into the state’s priority. Although these projects and decisions claim long term planning keeping national and economic interest at heart, its translation into public interest has not been a particularly noticeable priority. The potential fallout of an economic and ecological downturn on Pakistan as well as Globally are likely to be profound and inevitable if not dealt as an upcoming crisis yet to face.
Keywords: Pakistan, Water Crisis, Climate Crisis,, Diamer-Bhasha Dam
Fazila Amber, Advocate of High Court Pakistan