ISLAMABAD – The NUST Institute of Civil Engineering (NICE), School of Civil & Environmental Engineering (SCEE) of National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), has held a two-day knowledge-sharing workshop on Modeling Water Futures Using Environmental Sustainability Approach.
The workshop exclusively targeted disseminating the project results and further training scientists and engineers in modeling water futures using environmental sustainability/water cycle approach.
In his welcome address, Dr Nasrullah Khan informed that the Chinese National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (CNCID) and National University of Sciences and Technology Pakistan have jointly developed a proposal
‘The Impact of Climate Change on Water Stress Situations in the Yellow River Basin’.
The proposal aims at investigating the water stress situations, the impact of climate change on future irrigation water demand and optimizing the water productivity with uncertainties from land and water use as well as climate change.
Prof. Dr Yinong Li, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research (IWHR) in his opening address, expressed his deepest concern over the escalating water crisis and scarcity of water resources. He said that both China and Pakistan had been victimized by the same threatening situation of water scarcity, which needed to be overcome through enhancing capabilities of the young engineers and scientists. He also remarked that such training workshops/sessions contribute a great deal in creating sound awareness of the serenity of the major issues at large scale.
In her keynote address, Jianxin Mu, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research (IWHR)/Executive Secretary CNCID said that the Yellow River basin, located in the mid-north of China, has played and continues to play a critical role in China’s social and economic development, despite the fact that it had relatively limited water resources.
She further said that the water resource of the Yellow River basin was decreasing and water stress represented the most pressing issue in basin water management. Adding she said that Pakistan and China were among many countries around the globe confronted with the challenges of water scarcity and the major objective behind conducting joint training session was to enable water resource engineers, planners and managers to work effectively for securing water for domestic, industrial and agricultural use protecting vital ecosystem.
Later in the technical sessions, Dr Nasrullah Khan elaborated the impact of climate change on water resources in China while Prof Dr Yinong Li briefed about the phenomenon of climate change on water resources in Pakistan.
