Existing Water Scarcity Scenario and Climate Change Impact on the Transboundary Water Resources in Pakistan

Abstract

Water scarcity is a looming and worrying cause of concern to the world in near future, if not now, especially under the threat of the changing climate. The increasing population will increase the water demand that will spur the competition for the quantity and quality of the water, spiralling into more disputes among the water users, and kick off an irreversible groundwater depletion. Almost one third of the global population lives under severe water scarcity for a month in each passing year. The severe water scarcity is also a verity for the half billion people throughout the year. Climate change imposes a real threat on the water resources due to its requirement outstripping its availability as share allocation for the transboundary river basin cannot fight long, dry seasons and variable rainfall. The uncertainty under changing climate will demand more in the form of efficient water resources management which will snowball into a greater threat: Transboundary water sharing. There are more than 286 transboundary rivers, with almost 600 aquifer under the transboundary rivers, and all under the threat of the climate change. On the basis of the population, almost 40% of the world population shares the transboundary water river. From the aforementioned river basins, 14 are critical to the life and livelihoods of people, which according to estimates happen to be 1.4 billion of world population. In case of the Pakistan, the melting of Himalayan glaciers in first five decades will brings floods and then droughts in the Indus basin irrigation system.