COMSATS Stressed Need For Community-based Water Governance, Water Metering Etc

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Oct, 2020 ) :Speakers at an international webinar "Sustainable Water Governance in the Global South under Changing Climate" stressed the need for community-based water governance, water metering and accountability, strengthening public-private partnerships and integrating research and new technologies in the governance systems for finding innovation solutions.

The webinar was arranged by Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (COMSATS).

The speakers also called for prioritizing capacity-building of institutions and stakeholders promoting development.

Experts from Ghana, Jordan, Oman, Pakistan, and Turkey shared ideas, experiences, best practices and policy measures from the platform of the webinar on held by COMSATS Centre for Climate and Sustainability (CCCS) in collaboration with Princess Sumaya bint Hassan led Royal Scientific Society of Jordan that is also COMSATS' Centre of Excellence. The webinar's discussions revolved around the overarching theme of Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6) - Clean Water and Sanitation.

Speakers of the international webinar included three from COMSATS Centres of Excellence in Ghana, Pakistan and Turkey, i.e., Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), COMSATS University Islamabad (CUI), and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (T�BITAK), respectively. Other experts belonged to International Water Management Institute (IMWI), Jordan; and middle East Desalination Research Centre (MEDRC), Oman.

Moderated by Dr. Almoayied Assayed, Manager Climate Change Studies at RSS, Jordan, the event highlighted challenges to sustainable water governance in the speakers' respective countries. Climate change and its secondary impacts were considered a major threat to natural ecosystems, as well as water, food and energy sectors, which necessitate reviewing existing policies and institutional frameworks.

The deliberations included social parameters, policy making and implementation, necessary legislation, knowledge-management for evidence-based policy making, and multi-stakeholder/sectored approaches to water governance.