EXCERPT: "Water issues play a crucial role in Central-South Asia, both in the quantity of water available and its quality. Access to clean drinking water is a major, though largely unmet, objective. While much of the region is experiencing water shortages, poor water management lies at the heart of many problems. Climate change — in the form of glacier melt, drought, rising temperatures, and changes to the monsoon cycle — will increasingly exacerbate water scarcity. Although the region’s water challenges do not necessarily or inevitably lead to armed conflict, they increasingly threaten to undermine human security. . . Agriculture offers a livelihood for over 40% of Pakistan’s labour force and accounts for a quarter of GDP. Agriculture is also the dominant water user with 69% of the total, while industries use 23% and households the remaining 8%. . . Extensive irrigation in Pakistan and India places Indus water resources under heavy stress, with about 90% of the basin’s available water flow utilized. . . Population growth and increasing urbanization and industrialization continue to drive up water demand for drinking, irrigation, and hydropower purposes. There are many internal water conflicts between vidual communities or provinces. But transborder issues have also posed vexing problems."
Read the full report.
Related articles:
India spars with Pakistan, China over water, Asia Sentinel, 19 January 2010
Water shortage to cause 40 percent decline in wheat output, The Nation [Pakistan], 19 January 2010
Islamabad to harvest run-off water, DAWN, 19 January 2010
Reduced Himalayan snowfall could spark water war, AlertNet, 18 January 2010
Future scarcity seen sparking local conflicts, not full-scale wars, The New York Times, 23 December 2009
Kashmir's biggest glacier shrinking faster than others, The Gazette, Montreal, 13 October 2009
