The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in partnership with Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) and National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) on 17 June 2020, hosted a webinar on “Policy Dialogue Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) a Tool for Prevention and Smart Monitoring of COVID-19”. More than 50 national and international participants including experts, members from academia and students attended the event. It highlighted the challenges faced in implementing IWRM. The webinar also discussed the advantages of monitoring COVID-19 in countries like Pakistan, as well as the Asia Pacific Region through IWRM.
The panelists shared that the IWRM process should be adopted for enhanced management of water resources and for long-term sustainability as it involves all stakeholders. They reiterated that the COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the necessity to utilize the scientific approaches to tackle this challenge at various levels. An example from Australia was shared where sewage water is being monitored to identify possible pandemic hotspots. Panelists further added that customized education courses should be developed to bring better understanding and COVID adaptation mechanisms in the water sector using the IWRM. It was suggested that PCRWR as the focal point of IHP in Pakistan, host a national platform to share water security and monitoring technologies.
There were many questions from a highly active and interested group of online participants. From the discussion, action areas for partners’ future interventions were identified and shared with the participants, which will be further shared with stakeholders and partners widely for their feedback.
