From rich to poor and heading towards complete bankruptcy. That’s the sad story of Pakistan’s water resources, and it has far graver consequences than we can imagine.

According to a case study by IUCN titled “Sean Intrusion in the Coastal and Riverine Tracts of the Indus Delta”, over the last 60 years a series of dams, barrages and irrigation schemes have been built upstream of the River Indus. It is estimated that up to 60pc of the Indus water is used in irrigation, and that the Indus watershed irrigates up to 80pc of Pakistan’s farmland.

Looking at the percentage of water used in irrigation and the geographical layout of Pakistan one can easily understand that the marine ecology of Pakistan will suffer the most since it lies at the other end of the water source, i.e. the Himalayan glaciers.

The coastline of Pakistan is a highly productive fishing area due to the presence of an active delta and seasonal streams and its coastal resources are extremely important both in terms of biodiversity and economic activity. The wetlands, estuaries, lagoons, sandy beaches and mangrove forest are the main habitats for migratory birds, waterfowl, turtles and mammals. More than 200 species of fish and about 20 cetaceans are found in the sea waters of Pakistan, while mangrove forests dominate the coasts.

According to the IUCN study around 1.2 million people live in and around the mangrove forests on the coast of Pakistan, of which nearly 900,000 reside in the Indus Delta itself. Of these, a predominantly rural population of more than 135,000 depend on mangrove resources for their livelihoods. Reductions in freshwater inflows have had tangible impacts on mangrove ecology, and on the fish populations that rely on it for breeding and habitat. Most of Pakistan’s commercial fishing operates in and around the mangrove creeks on the coast of Sindh.

The ongoing disputes over water usage led the government to set in place the Indus Water Accord in 1991, which apportioned the use of the river’s water between the four provinces of Pakistan. It also recognised, for the first time, the need to allow some freshwater discharge into the delta to safeguard the ecosystem, specifying a minimum environmental flow of 12 billion cubic metres.

Originally, the Indus delta occupied about 2,600km consisting of creeks, mudflats and forest, but due to reduced flows below Kotri after the construction of Tarbela Dam and other barrages the active delta is now only 10pc of its original area. If the condition persists, it will not be long before the Indus delta would be completely devoid of mangrove cover.

The ecosystem experts strongly recommend freshwater releases downstream of the Kotri Barrage, in order to curtail the spread of saltwater into the Indus Delta, which is not just essential to safeguard the coastal and marine ecology of the region, but also to sustain the livelihoods of the Delta population.