Issue Brief on “Pakistan’s Water Security Issue”

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Pakistan is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, including water scarcity, extreme weather events, and declining crop yields. In the ongoing Kharif season, the country is heading towards a massive water shortage, somewhere between 27 percent and 35 percent, only months after unprecedented floods.[1] Pakistan is now one of the top ten nations impacted by global warming and may soon become one of the most water-stressed countries in the world as the shortages increase. [2]

Water security is, rightly, linked to human rights, with the right to access to clean water considered the basic human right of every citizen. However, due to growing population, careless use of water along with changes in weather patterns because of global warming, countries around the world, both wealthy and poor, face increasing water scarcity in the 21st century. The UN reports that globally three billion people are facing water shortage with one billion facing hunger today. Moreover, the Global Risks Report of the World Economic Forum (WEF) ranked water crises as the third most important global risk in terms of impact on humanity.[3]

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