ISLAMABAD: Climate change is expected to increase Pakistan’s exposure to destructive floods.

The country has already been through a large number of floods in the last few decades, including the two mega-floods of 2010 and 2022.

This was highlighted by experts during a workshop organised by the Embassy of the Netherlands on flood resilience in collaboration with the Ministry of Water Resources and the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives. Ahsan Iqbal, minister of planning, was chief guest at the workshop.

Last year’s flood caused massive loss of human lives, property and infrastructure; one third of the country was submerged in water. The Netherlands has experienced extreme flooding, including in 1953, when the dikes in the Dutch province of Zeeland breached, killing almost 2,000 people and leaving 100,000 people homeless. Pakistan, at that time, sent help to support the Dutch.

Propose long-term collaboration with the Netherlands

Following the floods, Pakistan asked the Netherlands to provide technical assistance for flood and water management. The mission visited the affected areas in Sindh and Balochistan and prepared a report for a long-term mitigation of extreme events such as the floods. The workshop was based on the findings of the Dutch Risk Reduction (DRR) team with recommendations to reduce the risk of water related disasters in Pakistan.

Henny de Vries, ambassador of the Netherlands, said: “The Ministry of Climate Change in Pakistan approached the embassy to ask for our advice on strategic future-oriented measures for flood management. As you know, with one third of the Netherlands lying below sea level, we do have a lot of experience in Integrated Water Resources Management, including in policy and implementation of flood management and flood resilience efforts.”

She added: “In response to the request, a Dutch team of experts was deployed within the context of the Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) and the Resilient Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Framework.

I strongly believe that the disastrous floods of 2022 offer a unique opportunity for reflection and growth for the Pakistani water sector.

I hope that this workshop will assist Pakistan to achieve her goals towards sustainable water management and flood resilience.”

Ahmed Kamal, chairman of the Federal Flood Commission, said: “Pakistan is among the countries hit most by climate change. The impact of climate change is extremely widely visible over Pakistan as has been manifested by the 2001 historically unprecedented urban floods in Islamabad/Rawalpindi, the 2010 riverine floods from north to south, progressive incursion of cyclonic activity at Pakistan sea coast, the 2014 floods in River Jhelum and Chenab and 2022 pluvial floods from South to North.”

Appreciating the contribution of Dutch experts, he proposed long-term cooperation between Pakistan and the Netherlands on water resource and flood management through the Ministry of Water Resources.

Dennis van Peppen, lead of International Water Programmes, Netherlands Economic Affairs Ministry, gave a presentation on the nexus between humanitarian work and development, titled, ‘Support on Water Governance and Flood Risk Resilience’.

Jos de Sonneville, Ron Passchier and Ele Jan Saaf were part of the DRR team and shared presentations on water governance, the potential for cooperation and inundation modelling as a planning support tool.

Ahsan Iqbal lauded continued support from the Netherlands against water disasters and flood protection.

He said Pakistan is the seventh most vulnerable country to climate change and the government of Pakistan is committed towards partnering with the international community to benefit from their knowledge and expertise, and to build a resilient and adaptable infrastructure to mitigate flood disasters in the future.

The floods of 2022 were triggered by record rainfall in Balochistan, Sindh and Punjab that were far above what was predicted by the Meteorological Department.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2023