USPCAS-W To Host International Conference On Water Security,

HYDERABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Dec, 2016 ) :The US-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Water (USPCAS-W) at Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET) Jamshoro will host international conference on "Water Security and Climate Change in Pakistan: A System Approach�." It was informed in the agenda meeting of the conference held at USPCAS-W, MUET on Friday, the University spokesman informed and added that the conference would be organized in the month of August 2017 at Islamabad or Karachi.

The dates and venue of the conference would be decided later on. The Participants of the meeting were of the view that Pakistan is among the top ten most affected countries on the Global Climate Risk Index (CRI, 2016) and currently faces a number of climate related challenges including rising temperatures, unpredictable changes in precipitation patterns, increased frequency and intensity of extreme weathers events, recurring droughts and floods, groundwater pollution, rising sea levels, increased health risks, environmental degradation, declining of agricultural productivity and governance issues associate with these stresses.

The Assistant Professor at USPCAS-W Ghulam Hussain Dars informed that the objective of the proposed conference is to undertake a professional assessment of the expert literature on the various elements of this challenge especially projected climate change impacts, impact of glaciers, variability of precipitation.

He said that call for submission of research papers will be announced soon whereas the compilation of the expert papers will achieves number of Primary and ancillary objectives. The PhD student at The University of Utah (UU), USA, Jewell Lund while shared presentation of her ongoing research studies on Himalayan Glaciers through Skype, whereas she along with Darswill present paper on "Climate change impact on future precipitation and temperature trends in Pakistan".

The Associate Director USPCAS-W, Dr. Tariq Banuri who also participated in the meeting through Skype recommended some valuable suggestion to be incorporated in the conference. The Chief of Party, USPCAS-W, Dr.

Muhammad Aslam Chaudhry moderated the session of the meetings and informed that proposed conference will help out to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Pakistan. Dr. Asif Khan, form University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Peshawar, faculty members of USPCAS-W MUET includes Prof.

Dr. Altaf Ali Siyal, Prof. Dr. Abdul Latif Qureshi, Waqas Ahmed, Rakhshanda Bano and other presented their respective research studies which will be presented in the International Conference with latest findings.

The Project Director USPCAS-W, MUET Dr. Bakhshal Khan Lashari said that participants of the conference will be invited throughout the world to make the event more fruitful. He said the recommendation of the conference will be sent to the relevant agencies of the government of Pakistan for further implementation.

Dr. Lashari said that USPCAS-W is a state of the art and modern appliedresearch center established with financial support of United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which will generate cost-effective and sustainable solutions to Pakistan's challenges related to water and climate change.

Among others, Dr. Kamran Ansari, Deputy Director USPCAS-W, and M. Shahid Panhwar, Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist also participated in the meeting.