Member National Assembly of Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) Muhammad Moeen Wattoo said that the country is highly vulnerable to flood risk which is causing large scale damages to socio-economic sectors, particularly agriculture.
Addressing a media briefing in the Climate Change Ministry on Tuesday, Wattoo said that the flood risk can be mitigated with the restoration of wetlands in the country and effective management of river basins, including the Indus. Such measures can also increase underground water resources which are fast depleting, he added.
He said, “Of all the devastating impacts of climate change being experienced by the country, floods are proving to be more destructive, causing socio-economic losses worth billions of rupees.”
The PML-N MNA said that the incumbent government is aware of the climate change-induced flood risk in the country and is taking all-out practical measures to mitigate its impacts on the lives of people, their livelihoods, public infrastructure and agriculture.
About the recent visit to the Yangtze River basin in China, he said the main objective of the visit was to see how the Chinese manage flood plains and wisely use floods for economic and environmental benefits.
He said that the way China has managed to mitigate the flood risk in the Yangtze River basin, spread over a catchment area of 1.8 million square kilometres, is surely amazing. This offers a great viable lesson for Pakistan to make the flood-prone Indus River basin, the flood-proof river basin in the light of the Chinese experience, he said.
