Karachi, March 20th, 2011 (IUCN)
Coping with the growing water needs is one of the most pressing challenges of this century. It is estimated that within two decades, people living in the cities will increase to nearly 60% of the population, or 5 billion people. This means that tremendous amount of water is needed, for drinking, sanitation, industry and to produce food. Ensuring reliable access to safe water supplies will make the cities of the future truly sustainable.
For this year’s World Water Day on Tuesday 22 March, IUCN Pakistan has successfully revived a comprehensive knowledge based web portal – Pakistan Water Gateway. The Pakistan Water Gateway is intended to enhance access to information on water resources and issues in Pakistan available on the World Wide Web. It is a pioneering web-based knowledge product archiving information on a range of such issues pertaining to Pakistan.
Essentially, the Pakistan Water Gateway is a reference repository for an evolving body of knowledge. It will link national stakeholders – government, civil society, media, experts, donors and the general public with their global counterparts, weaving a web of information and experience sharing.
The gateway documents and highlights Pakistan’s water issues in its many dimensions. It also serves to assess and disseminate shared experiences, publicize policies, guidelines and facilitate cooperation for a scientific discourse. It also provides links to the current national and international programmes on water and functions as an interactive point for sharing and browsing web-sites of water-related organizations, government bodies and NGOs. The site contains comprehensive papers on critical issues, experts’ opinion and a list of institutions working on water-related themes, as well as the experience of communities in this regard.
It can be accessed at http://www.waterinfo.net.pk
For more information or to set up interviews, please contact:
Hamid Sarfraz, Programme Coordinator
IUCN Pakistan. IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature)
Islamabad Program Office, House No. 21 Street No. 88, G-6/3
Islamabad. Phone: +92 51 2271027 – 34, Fax: +92 51 2271 017
Hamid.SARFRAZ@iucn.org
About IUCN
The world’s oldest and largest global environment network, IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature, envisions a just world that values and conserves nature. IUCN helps the world find pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and developmental challenges. It supports scientific research, manages field projects all over the world and brings governments, non-government organizations, United Nations agencies, companies and local communities together to develop and implement policy, laws and best practice. The Union’s headquarters are located in Gland, Switzerland.
IUCN Pakistan is part of the IUCN’s Asia Regional Programme based in Bangkok, Thailand. Established in 1985 to assist in the preparation of Pakistan’s National Conservation Strategy, IUCN Pakistan has grown to become the largest country programme of IUCN. Together with its partners and members, it is implementing several conservation initiatives across the country through institutional strengthening, policy advocacy and field work. Currently there are 27 active members of IUCN in Pakistan, including the Government of Pakistan as the state member, six government agencies and 20 NGOs. Over 100 volunteers from Pakistan work in IUCN’s six specialised commissions.
