A book newly acquired by the Thammasat University Libraries explains why water is an essential natural resource we should never take for granted. Water in the Wilderness: Life in the Coast, Deserts, and Mountains of Pakistan was generously donated to the TU Libraries by the Embassy of Pakistan in the Kingdom of Thailand, coordinated by Khun Imran Shauket, Goodwill Ambassador of the Alhamra. The book is shelved in the Pakistan Corner of the Pridi Banomyong Library, Tha Prachan campus.

Water in the Wilderness is written by three specialists in the field: Dr. Mehjabeen Abidi-Habib, an ecologist and writer who works in the social development field, based in Lahore, Pakistan. Dr Abidi-Habib is a senior research fellow at the Sustainable Development Study Centre of Government College University (GCU), Lahore Pakistan and Visiting Research Associate at Oxford University. Her doctoral thesis was about how local communities adapt to outside disturbance and shock that threaten the social and ecological systems upon which their lives depend. Her coauthors for Water in the Wilderness included Richard Garstang, a field biologist who has worked to save Pakistani species, national parks and wetlands. He has worked closely with WWF-Pakistan (World Wide Fund For Nature-Pakistan) 

This organization was formed in 1970 and now has around 20 offices and almost 250 staff. The third coauthor for Water in the Wilderness is Rina Saeed Khan, an environmental journalist who is based in Islamabad. She is particularly known for her reporting on climate change. The book analyzes the diversity in different areas of Pakistan, whether coastal regions, deserts or mountain glaciers. Sources of water were researched from ancient times. People who rely on water to earn a living were interviewed. Their ethnographic approach was useful, given that water shortages have become an increasing problem. They describe underground water in the Cholistan Desert, where there is little rainfall, that has existed for over 15,000 years. Water in the Wilderness is particularly focused on women’s experiences. As Rina Saeed Khan noted about the process of writing the book:

Water in the Wilderness is not just a travel book. It explains the unique landscapes, people and wildlife found living in these wilderness areas, with vignettes documenting the lives of the indigenous people we met. Many endangered species in Pakistan — Himalayan brown bears, many different migratory birds and green turtles — are featured.

Beyond the many lovely and scenic details, there are also many serious issues. As the newspaper Dawn reported last year,

As Pakistan heads towards water scarcity, promoting economic use of water has become as important as boosting renewable resources. In agriculture, the concept of economising the usage of water gained currency about a decade ago. But in the absence of a national water policy, efforts made for conserving water have so far not made a major impact… Pakistan is still awaiting its first national water policy despite the fact that its draft was formulated in 2003, whereas India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka all have their policies in place for more than a decade. Things have improved in the past decade, chiefly due to increased governmental spending, but also because of some investment made by large farm owners, such as in gated pipe irrigation and pressurised irrigation.

A blogger on the site of the World Bank observes that issues of water security in Pakistan are not all about water being scarce: Pakistan is a water-rich country – only 35 countries have more renewable water… But there are 32 countries that have less water for each person and most of these countries are much wealthier and use less water for each person. Pakistan needs to shift its focus from scarcity to managing water demand and producing more from each drop of water. It needs to make water allocation more efficient and fair, and offer incentives that reflect how scarce water is to encourage wise use… There needs to be more focus on better irrigation service delivery and better on-farm water management, coupled with improvements to boost productivity. With a rapidly growing population, Pakistan will inevitably become more water scarce in a relative sense. But Pakistan can become water secure through efficient and sustainable resource management, improved service delivery, and better risk mitigation.

On the website of WaterAid, an international non-profit organization established in 1981 in response to the United Nations International Drinking Water & Sanitation decade (1981–1990), the situation in Pakistan is analyzed. Although the future looks bright,  problems still remain:

Pakistan is one of the top five countries worldwide in improving access to clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene. But despite this impressive progress, 22 million people still have no choice but to drink dirty water…

Water in Pakistan is more than just essential to sustain life. It is also vital for generating power. About 29% of Pakistan’s energy is generated through hydropower. Although the population of Pakistan has grown rapidly, the percentage of the population with access to improved water sources rose from 85% in 1990 to 92% in 2010. Despite other relative advances, there are still interruptions to the water supply in cities and limited wastewater treatment facilities.

Thailand and Water

Thailand too is aware of how essential water is as a resource. Earlier this month, it was announced that the Royal Irrigation Department is speeding up different projects to ease water shortages in the southern border provinces, as part of the Triangle of Stability, Prosperity, and Sustainability. The Yarom Reservoir is being built in Yarom subdistrict, Betong district, Yala province, to provide water to support Betong Airport. As tourism is rapidly increasing in Betong, Betong Airport will require more water availability. Among other issues in Narathiwat province and elsewhere are flood and drought prevention, as well as soil acidity. His Majesty the late King Rama IX created several projects to benefit residents in Narathiwat and all southern border provinces.

Also earlier this month, The Bangkok Post stated that the Kingdom’s overall water management master plan, starting this year, will require 20 years of work, instead of the ten initially expected. Time-consuming projects such as building large reservoirs, are part of the plan. It is hoped that these large projects will not negatively impact local communities.

According to Risk Management of Water Resources in Thailand in the Face of Climate Change, by Dr. Royol Chitradon,former director of the Hydro and Agro Informatics Institute (HAII), Thailand and two HAII researchers, Dr. Surajate  Boonya-Aroonnet and Dr. Porranee Thanapakpawin:

Managing risks in water resources is essential to alleviate damage and the consequences of natural disasters such as flooding and drought and to increase agricultural production to ensure food security for the country. Understanding the types of risk in each area helps planners to select the right policies and actions to apply in the right places in order to reduce the risks and mitigate damage. Thailand has frequently suffered from flooding during the monsoon season, droughts in summer and even both in some particular areas. Additionally, climate change is a new threat that only amplifies the water resource tensions. This paper presents a risk management framework for the sustainable development of water resources by taking flood and drought risks and climate change into account in the policy planning process. Then, regional and sub-regional spatial strategies can be identified to ensure that the risks do not increase and to prevent redundant investments. As a result, suitable policies and local measures based on each type of local risk can be chosen.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)