The Conference
Hisaar Foundation – a foundation for water, food and livelihood security, holds an international water conference every 2 years. This conference has gained a ‘must attend’ status in the region due to the bold and engaging ways in which it addresses water issues.Pakistan is uniquely situated in relation to the Third Pole and the Himalayan region, the Indus river system, the Punjab aquifer, the stark desert areas and the coastline on the Arabian Sea. It is also sits on the cusp of South Asia and Central Asia, and is linked to China, Iran and the Middle East, as well as to the Asia Pacific region. These linkages give this conference its value, focus and depth.This conference is attended in large numbers by participants from Pakistan, South Asia and across the globe. Since this conference is about the future of water, we will be mainstreaming many cross-cutting themes with special focus on youth, the inclusion of women, marginalized groups and poor communities.
The Global Water Challenge
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 2016 report links water, growth and finance and calls for financing investments in water security for sustainable growth. The urgency to address water challenges across the world is reflected in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by the world leaders in Paris in 2015 at the historic UN Summit where 193 countries signed up.Yet the world today is dominated by powerful actors in the political arena whose priorities do not include water and who are wavering in their commitments to water security and climate change.
The cataclysmic political changes of 2016 may seriously undermine the water destiny of many nations and put these SDGs out of reach. The UN, the defender of the right to water in developing countries, is itself in peril. Suddenly the euphoria of Paris 2015 is giving way to disappointment and failing hope in a world increasingly presided over by a few powerful decision-makers whose world view is narrow and without foresight. In the regional context some countries are threatening to use water as a tool of political pressure leading to unnecessary turmoil and conflict.
