View
214
Download
0
Category
Preview:
Citation preview
Proceedings of
Partnering Universities:
Executive Seminar on“Achieving Water Sustainable
Development Goal (SDG) in Pakistan:
Challenges and Opportunities”
1
JULY 2016
Agreement Number: AID-391-A-15-00003
Implementing Partner: Mehran University of Engineering & Technology
Period of Activity: December 2014 – December 2019
Author(s): U.S.-Pakistan Centers for Advanced Studies in Water
Address: Institute of Water Resources Engineering and Management,
MUET Jamshoro, Sindh, Pakistan.
Phone: +92-22-2771226
Website: water.muet.edu.pk
Facebook: @USPCASW
Twitter: @USPCASW_MUET
DISCLAIMER:
This report is made possible by the support of the American people through the United States
Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the sole responsibility of
USPCAS-W, MUET and do not necessarily reflect the views of the USAID or the United
States Government.
2
Table of Contents Acronyms and Abbreviations ................................................................................. 3
Seminar Reflections: ............................................................................................... 4
Executive Summary: ............................................................................................... 5
Objectives of the Seminar ....................................................................................... 6
Seminar Overview ................................................................................................... 6
Proceedings of Seminar .............................................................................. 7
Inaugural Session: Welcome and Introduction.......................................... 7
Technical Session: Key Note Addresses and Presentations .................... 10
Picture Gallery: ......................................................................................... 14
List of Participants: ................................................................................... 16
Seminar Presentations ............................................................................... 16
3
Acronyms and Abbreviations
FPCCI: Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry
GoS: Government of Sindh
HEC: Higher Education Commission
IWREM: Institute of Water Resources Engineering and Management
JIMS: Jacobabad Institute of Medical Sciences
LEAD: Leadership for Environment and Development
MDGs: Millennium Development Goals
MMR: Maternal Mortality Ratio
MSDP: Municipal Service Delivery Program
MUET: Mehran University of Engineering & Technology
MUISTD: Mehran University Institute of Science, Technology and Development
P&D: Planning and Development
R&D: Research and Development
SDGs: Sustainable Development Goals
SIDA: Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority
UHC: Universal Health Coverage
UN: United Nations
UNDP: United Nations Development Program
UNICEF: United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund
USA: United States of America
USAID: United States Agency for International Development
USPCAS-W: U.S.-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Water
UU: University of Utah
WAPDA: Water and Power Development Authority
4
Seminar Reflections:
Water researchers and experts belonging to higher academia, industry, research
and development organizations, corporate sector, civil society and government
officials agreed on achieving Water SDG, which is crucial for human development,
economic growth and for dealing with ecological and other threats in Pakistan.
Pakistan had setup an example of having a most sophisticated and advanced irrigation systems in the world, which is to be maintained and sustained accordingly.
Mr. Craig G. Buck - Deputy Mission Director for Sindh and Balochistan,
USAID Pakistan
Government of Sindh is fully committed to support all the future and ongoing programs of national and international agencies and is supportive to fulfill SDGs agenda in the province.
Syed Murad Ali Shah - Senior Minister for Energy, Finance, Irrigation, Planning and Development (P&D) Irrigation, GoS
We are really going to navigate the difficult tasks like ending poverty & hunger, ensuring healthy lives, achieving gender equality, ensuring water and sanitation for all and many other difficult goals
Mr. Steve Urquhart - Global Ambassador at UU, and Former Utah State
Senator, USA
Poverty is one of the big challenges in countries like Pakistan. The people do not have quantitative as well as qualitative access to the basic needs. Dr. Sikandar Ali Mendhro – Minister for Environment and Coastal Development, GoS
Government alone cannot achieve SDGs on its own, unless its implementation is fully supported by all stakeholders including citizens, civil society, private sector, and academia.
Prof. Dr. Mohammad Aslam Uqaili, Vice Chancellor MUET, Jamshoro
Sustainable Development Goals are focused on the qualitative aspect of access to all the mentioned goals whereas Millennium Development Goals were focused on quantitative access of the same. Prof. Dr. Tariq Banuri - Associate Director USPCAS-W, UU, USA
5
Executive Summary:
In September, countries adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to end poverty
and promote prosperity for all while protecting the environment and addressing climate
change. The new 2030 Agenda has water and sanitation at its core, with a dedicated
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 on water and sanitation and clear linkages to Goals
relating to health, food security, climate change, resiliency to disasters and ecosystems, among
many others. Today it is widely recognized that an integrated approach to freshwater
management offers the best means of reconciling competing demands with supply and a
framework where effective operational actions can be taken. It is thus valuable for all countries
at all stages of development.
Goal 06 have following targets:
6.1: By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for
all.
6.2: By 2030, achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end
open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in
vulnerable situations.
6.3: By 2030, improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and
minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated
wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally.
6.4: By 2030, substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure
sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity and substantially
reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity.
6.5: By 2030, implement integrated water resources management at all levels, including
through transboundary cooperation as appropriate.
6.6: By 2020, protect and restore water-related ecosystems, including mountains, forests,
wetlands, rivers, aquifers and lakes.
6.a: By 2030, expand international cooperation and capacity-building support to developing
countries in water- and sanitation-related activities and programmes, including water
harvesting, desalination, water efficiency, wastewater treatment, recycling and reuse
technologies.
6.b: Support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water and
sanitation management.
6
In Pakistan, implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as an integral policy
package, will lead to long-term economic prosperity, human and environmental development.
Realizing the importance of SDGs, the U.S.-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Water
(USPCAS-W) organized an executive seminar on “Achieving Water Sustainable Development
Goal (SDG) in Pakistan: Challenges and Opportunities”. The seminar was held at Karachi on
July 26, 2016. This seminar has provided an opportunity to the different stakeholders from
government, development sector, academia and water-related organizations to discuss SDGs
with particular emphasis on Water SDGs and to find out the durable solution of achieving the
SDGs within the given timeframe from 2016 to 2030. The speakers in the seminar shared their
valuable ideas and made presentations to highlight the opportunities and challenges faced by
Pakistan as well as the way forward to achieve the SDGs. The participants from academia,
industry, government, water sector, corporate sector, civil society, and R&D organizations
agreed on achieving Water SDGs, which is crucial for human development, economic growth
and for dealing with ecological and other threats in Pakistan. The seminar provided a way forward
to initiate the efforts for achieving SDGs in general and Water SDGs in particular whereby the role of
USPCAS-W was highlighted in achieving these goals. In total 132 representatives of various
organizations, government, corporate sector and academia participated in the seminar. Foreign delegates
also participated in the seminar and shared their views on the subject matter.
Objectives of the Seminar
The objective of the seminar was to highlighting issues, challenges and opportunities in
achieving SDGs, especially the SDGs on Water; and raising awareness about the initiatives
launched at the USPCAS-W, MUET Jamshoro.
It also aimed at sensitize different stakeholders to initiate efforts and develop action plans to
meet the challenges and opportunities for achieving the SDGs.
Seminar Overview
The seminar was held at The Mövenpick Hotel Karachi on July 26, 2016 and consisted of two
sessions; Inaugural and the Technical session. Important feature of the seminar is that it was
not only well attended but it was also well represented by key stakeholders, besides the
participation of foreign delegates. Total 132 participants, who represented different
organizations viz. USAID, UU, UNICEF, SIDA, WAPDA, P&D GoS, Hisaar Foundation,
FPCCI, LEAD Pakistan, MSDP USAID, Nestle, Aquafina, MUET, MUISTD, Media and
researchers, attended the seminar.
7
Syed Murad Ali Shah, Senior Minister for Energy, Finance, Irrigation, Planning and
Development (P&D), Government of Sindh, chaired the Inaugural Session. The key speakers
of the session included: Mr. Steve Urquhart, Global Ambassador University of Utah and
Former Utah State Senator, Mr. Craig G. Buck, USAID Deputy Mission Director Sindh and
Balochistan and Prof. Dr. Mohammad Aslam Uqaili, Vice Chancellor MUET, Jamshoro.
The Technical Session was held after a tea break and chaired by Dr. Sikandar Ali Mendhro,
Minister for Environment and Coastal Development Authority, Government of Sindh. The
Technical Session was signified by that fact that detailed presentations were made by the
keynote speakers on their respective topics. The speakers included: Prof. Tariq Banuri,
Associate Director USPCAS-W, UU, Mr. Juan Carlos Negrette, Director Global Health, UU,
Ms. Rehana Ali Memon, Secretary Planning & Development Department, Government of
Sindh, Dr. Steve Burain, Director USPCAS-W, UU, and Prof. Dr. Bakhshal Khan Lashari,
Director USPCAS-W, MUET Jamshoro. The speakers not only briefed the audience about the
SGDs in general but also highlighted the issues and challenges, particularly for addressing the
Water SGDs. They also put forth their ideas, strategies and action plans to meet these
challenges. In the end, Dr. Sikandar Ali Mendhro, Chair of the Technical Session, presented
the conclusion remarks. After the conclusion, the participants proceeded for the lunch.
Proceedings of Seminar
Inaugural Session: Welcome and Introduction
Welcome Address by Prof. Dr. Mohammad Aslam Uqaili - Vice Chancellor MUET
While welcoming the seminar participants, Dr. Aslam Uqaili
mentioned that the purpose of this seminar was to identify the
needs and opportunities in terms of policies, research, and
education needed to implement the water SDGs framework
that itself requires multi-sectorial and multi-stakeholder
engagement. “Government alone cannot achieve SDGs on its
own, unless its implementation is fully supported by all
stakeholders including citizens, civil society, private sector,
and academia”, he added. He further said that in order to meet
the SDGs, universities have to build a massive amount of social capital in the form of
graduates with competitive edge in different fields.
8
Dr. Uqaili said that access to safe drinking water and sanitation services is an important human
development goal. Pakistan’s performance on this goal during the MDG era was not very
impressive. He said that there is growing concern regarding the increasing stress on water
resources caused by population growth, unsustainable consumption patterns and uncontrolled
uses. Dr. Uqaili said that through establishment of this water research center, academic
relations between MUET and UU have been extended beyond the project. “This center is
playing an instrumental role in contributing towards the soft investment in the form of capacity
development and creating and sharing of new knowledge”, Dr. Uqaili added. He further said
that with highly technical support from UU, this center is transforming into a world class
Center of Excellence.
Mr. Craig G. Buck - USAID Pakistan’s Deputy Mission Director for Sindh
Talking on behalf of the USAID Pakistan and focusing upon the
Water SGDs, Mr. Craig Buck said, “USAID has a commitment to
improve water resources management in Pakistan”. For this
purpose, USAID has major investment in MUET. He said that
Pakistan had setup an example of having a most sophisticated and
advanced irrigation systems in the world, which needs to be
maintained and sustained accordingly. He said that USAID in
partnership with MUET in Pakistan aims to improve the lives of
people and to enable them to take charge of development process. He said that with the support
of American people, USAID had invested 55 billion rupees for Jacobabad city for the
establishment of Jacobabad Institute of Medical Sciences (JIMS), improvement of access to safe
drinking water and sewerage system as well as improvement of health and education in the
region. He further said that water is vital element of life and USAID has developed partnership
with MUET to build effective, workable, and productive water system aiming at improved
economy and sustainable development in Pakistan.
9
Mr. Steve Urquhart - Global Ambassador UU and Former Utah State Senator, USA
Talking about the Sustainable Development Goals and the
challenges ahead, Mr. Steve Urquhart of the University of Utah
viewed that SDGs are ambitious and difficult challenges for the
world to achieve but we must be optimist to accomplish these
goals. He said that we are really going to navigate the difficult
tasks like ending poverty and hunger, ensuring healthy lives,
achieving gender equality, ensuring good water and sanitation for
all, and many other difficult SGDs. He further said that UU is
providing a conducive academic and research environment for the academia and researchers to
fasten the innovation, entrepreneurship, to grow the ideas and to seek the solutions of the various
problems of humankind. He said that the great thing in higher education system of Utah is that
they have put the most talented people, some of the best brand and thinkers in academic and
research activities to get the solutions of difficult problems faced by the people. The University
of Utah is one of the top universities in the States that generates more patents every year and
playing leading role in developing personal computers, artificial hearts, and other great things,
which are more productive and beneficial for humanity. He further said that partnership between
MUET and UU is crucial to accomplish the great tasks like Water SDG.
Syed Murad Ali Shah - Senior Minister for Energy, Finance, Irrigation, Planning and
Development (P&D), Government of Sindh
While addressing the inaugural session, Syed Murad Ali Shah
said at the outset, USAID is appreciated for choosing MUET for
the project of Advanced Studies in Water, the project which is
beneficial for the people of Sindh and Pakistan and which aims
to provide solutions to water sector problems and bring about
policy reforms aiming to strengthen economy of Pakistan”. He
said that objectives like Water SDGs, access to safe drinking
water and improving irrigation system of the country, are the
most crucial tasks of the present time to achieve. We need to commit ourselves to achieve these
SDGs to improve the lives of our people. Government of Sindh is fully supportive of the
USPCAS-W that is functioning through the joint efforts of USAID and MUET. In the same way,
similar projects of USAID in the province are also fully supported which are beneficial for the
10
people of Sindh. He also assured full support for the future and ongoing programs of national
and international agencies for improving the lives and livelihood of the people in the province.
He said that USPCAS-W at MUET, working in partnership with University of Utah (UU), is one
of the most advanced applied research and productive projects of USAID in Pakistan.
Technical Session: Key Note Addresses and Presentations
SDGs and Academia: The Twinning Approach
By: Dr. Tariq Banuri - Associate Director
USPCAS-W, UU
Dr. Tariq Banuri, Associate Director USPCAS-W,
University of Utah gave an extensive presentation
on the topic in which he overviewed following
perspectives of Water SDG:
• Emerging Water Crisis
• SDGs
• The Turn to Quality
• The Twinning Approach
Dr. Banuri while delivering his presentation said that SDGs are more concerned with quality
issues of the targets, which we have to achieve. In order to solve these problems, we have to
involve knowledge community of Pakistan, which are research institutes, universities, technical
institutes, and think tanks. He proposed Twining Model, which he believes, supports the
community technically for the solution of water crisis. In this connection, The University of
Utah is providing technical support to MUET and once it is finished then MUET will also train
other Universities of Pakistan technically for water sector problems of the country. He also
shared the latest statistics of water and sanitation data of rural and urban population of the
country. He briefed about MDGs and SDGs in general and Water SDG and its targets and
indicators in particular. In the end, he shared a taxonomy of the development goals, as under,
for addressing the challenges in this regard:
Managerial systems
System design
Monitoring and evaluation
Research
Training
Willingness to pay
11
MDGs, SDGs and the Brave New World: Health as Progress
By Juan Carlos Negrette - Director Global Health, UU
Talking about the topic, Mr. Juan Carlos Negrette shared world
statistics in Global Health perspective. He said that Water and
sanitation are key factors in health and wellbeing and contribute
significantly to the reduction in child mortality. While delivering
his presentation he said that we were all poor on this planet some
one hundred fifty years ago. The concept of increasing life
expectancy actually changed our lifestyle. During the 1990 in Pakistan, the MMR was 490,
which decreased in 2013 to 170 only. He viewed that poverty is a major cause of ill health and
eradicating poverty will improve health and reduce health inequalities. He further added that
socioeconomic inequalities are strong determinants of health inequalities. Equitable policies
that reduce socioeconomic inequalities can help reduce the health inequalities. He told that
international bodies and the governments agreed that we all have UHC on this planet by 2030
under the SDGs.
Responding to SDGs agenda in Sindh province – an Overview of Initiatives
By: Ms. Rehana Ghulam Ali Memon - Secretary (Development), P&D, GoS
In her initial remarks during the presentation, Ms. Rehana Ghulam Ali Memon said that we are
not only alive to the challenges of SDGs but the Government of
Sindh is in fact following four-pronged strategy in order to achieve
the SDGs. The strategic steps include:
1. Institutional arrangement
2. Integrating SDGs into the Provincial Planning Process
3. Preparing to monitoring SDG implementation
4. Mobilizing capital for SDGs
Giving the background on SDGs, she said that Pakistan has signed the international agreement
on the 2030 agenda in September 2015 during the UN General Assembly Session for
sustainable development, which includes a commitment to achieving 17 SDGs between 2016
and 2030. She added that SDGs are built upon unfinished work of MDGs, which in fact created
a platform, on the basis of which progress could be made towards the new goals. She was of
the view that SDG agenda chiefly comprised of three major types of Goals, which are:
1. Human Development
2. Economic Growth
3. Ecological and Other Threats
12
She also informed hat that Government of Sindh is already working on three main agendas,
which are SDG, Nutrition, and Climate Change Framework on priority basis. While sharing
efforts taken by the Government of Sindh, she briefed the audience that Sindh Government is
going to establish the dedicated SDG Unit “Support Project for SDGs Implementation” at
Provincial level with the technical assistance of UNDP. In this connection, PC-I of Government
of Sindh for SDGs Unit at the cost of Rs. 594 million has been approved by CDWP with 50:50
cost sharing by Sindh Government and UNDP.
MUET Becoming a Living Lab for Advancing the Implementation of Water SDGs (Part 1)
By Dr. Bakhshal Khan Lashari - Project Director USPCAS-W, MUET
This presentation was made in two parts. In the first part, Dr.
Lashari shared the background regarding the establishment of
three Pakistan Centers for Advanced Studies in Energy,
Agriculture and Food Security, and Water under the cooperative
agreements between the Government of Pakistan, HEC and
USAID. After evaluation process, MUET was considered as a
potential institute and thus selected for the establishment of the
USPCAS-W. He said that USPCAS-W will serve as a medium
for continuous innovation, demonstration, and learning to
advance progress on targets spelled out under water SDGs through two key features of our
program:
i. Academic Program
ii. Applied Research
He also shared the components and cross cutting components of the Center, while sharing the
concept of the Living Lab for Water SDG. He said that USPCAS-W would be the catalyst for
advancing the implementation of Water SDGs in Pakistan.
13
MUET Becoming a Living Lab for Advancing the Implementation of Water SDG (Part 2)
Prof. Steve Burain – Director USPCAS-W, UU
Dr. Steve Burain gave the second part of the presentation
whereby he highlighted the approach being used in the growth
and development of USPCAS-W. He said that this project is
different from many other development projects of this nature
using twinning as we are focused on quality of products, not just
numbers and we are focused on making change. USPCAS-W
aims to produce different graduates who will try to solve the
water problems of Pakistan. UU is building the capacity of the
Center by imparting trainings for the faculty and students. He
said to infuse SDGs requires a transdisciplinary approach for effectiveness and we are
developing strategies to provide the transdisciplinary education experience using modern
pedagogical strategies such as active learning, problem-based learning, and experiential learning.
We are developing “applied” learning over theoretical learning that can give students experience
having an impact and enabling change. One example of our approach, he said, is the Pakistan
Water Development Report project. This project is engaging the entire faculty and students in a
comprehensive assessment of SDG 6. In this project, we are twinning leading authorities for
chapter development with MUET faculty to explore what is needed to enable change and how
research and education can enhance the way forward.
Closing Remarks by Dr. Sikandar Ali Mendhro - Minister for Environment and Coastal
Development Authority, GoS
The technical session ended with the concluding remarks by the
Session Chair Dr. Sikandar Ali Mendhro. At the outset, he said that
SDGs are the Global Goals, the whole world has to achieve for
improving the lives of the people. He said that when we talk in SDG
framework, poverty stands one of the biggest problems, which gives
birth to other problems. Poverty directly affects the socio-economic
development in terms of decreasing the production and increase in the
utilization of the resources consequently shape the society as consumer rather than a producer.
He said that maximum efforts are to be taken to reduce the poverty, which will pave the way for
14
the sustainable solutions for other related problems. He appreciated the efforts of USPCAS-W
for organizing such successful seminar and suggested that this knowledge sharing process be
continued and the same may be communicated with the people of rural areas, the people who
need such awareness and importance of resources and develop the civic sense among them. He
said that instead of purifying our resources, we are actually putrefying them like dumping the
garbage and different waste material in to the fresh water bodies, which is dangerous for health.
He said Pakistan is facing water scarcity due to climate change and institutes like USPCAS-W
can play their vital role for water related problems of the country. He shared the concern that
there is lot of land available in coastal areas that can be better used for saline agriculture but
unfortunately, the stakeholders do not come forward for this important cultivation. He further
said that time management is very much important to accomplish the goals and with the joint
efforts of all the stakeholders of our society, we can move to achieve the SDGs and particularly
the Water SDG within the given timeframe of 2030.
Picture Gallery:
16
List of Participants:
List of Participants - Water SDG Seminar
Seminar Presentations
Dr. Lahari and Dr. Steve Burian
Tariq Banuri-SDGs and Academia
SDGs- Agenda in Sindh Ms. Rehana Ali Memon
SDGs Pakistan Presentation (JCN)
Recommended