A one-day consultative meeting was jointly organized by PCRWR and WaterAid-Pakistan titled, “National Consultation on Groundwater Governance in Pakistan” on February 24, 2022 at Marriott Hotel, Islamabad. The purpose of this meeting was consultation with policy makers and civil society for their feedback to bridge the policy implementation gaps within existing legislative framework. The meeting was chaired by honorable Senator, Mr. Taj Haider, Co-chaired by Mr.Jan Muhammad Jamali, Speaker, Balochistan Provincial Assembly and Ms. Munaza Hassan, Chairperson, National Assembly Standing Committee on Climate Change. Moreover, the meeting was attended by various parliamentarians including MNA’s, MPA’s, International organizations and Local government representatives. Dr. Naveed Iqbal, Director (Hydrology), PCRWR presented the overall water situation of Pakistan as well as highlighted the major findings of groundwater investigations conducted for the formulation of draft groundwater regulatory framework for Islamabad Capital Territory.
Ms. Fatima Bukhari, CEO, MUSAWI-Pakistan presented an overview of water resource legislation in the country. Moreover, she briefed the participants about the prevailing gaps pertaining to groundwater resource regulation within existing water legislative framework at federal and provincial level. It is upraised in the consultation that public, and communities must be taken on-board and a mass level awareness regarding water shortage and climate change must be conducted before enactment of these laws. Mr. Arif Jabbar, Country Director, WaterAid-Pakistan emphasized on the need to further strengthen the collaboration between various stakeholders for integrated water resource management.
This meeting was conducted as part of activities being implemented by PCRWR under program of cooperation (PoC) signed with CDA in July 2021. Under this PoC, a number of initiatives are under implementation where PCRWR in collaboration with other partner institutions to manage water challenges in ICT. The development of groundwater regulatory framework is one of important initiatives under this PoC where PCRWR is providing technical assistance and WaterAid-Pakistan is covering legal aspects through MUSAWI-Pakistan for sustainable water resource management.