MUET logo

Climate Change and Hydrological Vulnerability in Pakistan: Implications of Engineering and Technology Solutions on Achieving Water Security and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) by 2030

Authors

  • Waseem Ishaque

    Department of International Relations, National University of Modern Languages (NUML), Islamabad, Pakistan
    Author
  • Muhammad Saleh Jumani

    Department of Industrial Engineering, Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro, Sindh, Pakistan
    Author
  • Farhat Konain

    Department of International Relations, National University of Modern Languages (NUML), Islamabad, Pakistan
    Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22581/0869

Keywords:

UN SDGs, Climate Adaptability , Climate Resilience, Urbanization, Water Scarcity , Water Management

Abstract

Pakistan is vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change. Despite abundant water resources, it faces water scarcity due to the cumulative effects of climate change, inadequate storage infrastructure, inefficient water governance, and limited integration of engineering and technology to optimize water resources. A growing population and a lack of rationalization in sectoral water use are straining limited water resources. Irregular weather patterns that cause droughts and floods at regular intervals are a worrying development. The study examines the impact of climate actions on Pakistan's water security to achieve UNSDGs 6 and 13 by 2030. The study also examines the implications of Pakistan's transboundary water-sharing with India under the Indus Water Treaty (IWS), which India unilaterally placed in abeyance on 26 April 2025. The study provides empirical evidence of climate change's impact on water governance in Pakistan and offers viable solutions for efficient water governance through integrated, climate-smart water engineering that leverages existing infrastructure and develops forward-looking plans to address water management challenges sustainably.

Downloads

References

[1] W. Ishaque, R. Tanvir, and M. Mukhtar, “Climate change and water crises in pakistan: implications on water quality and health risks,” Journal of Environmental and Public Health, vol. 2022, no. 1, p. 5484561, 2022.

[2] J. Siddiqui, “Pakistan’s Climate Challenges Pose a National Security Emergency.” United States Institute of Peace, July 2022.

[3] Z. Manzoor, M. Ehsan, M. B. Khan, A. Manzoor, M. M. Akhter, M. T. Sohail, A. Hussain, A. Shafi, T. Abu-Alam, and M. Abioui, “Floods and flood management and its socio-economic impact on pakistan: A review of the empirical literature,” Frontiers in Environmental Science, vol. 10, p. 1021862, 2022.

[4] G. Rasul, “Implications of Climate Change for Pakistan,” in Proceedings of AASSA–PAS Regional Workshop on Challenges in Water Security to Meet the Growing Food Requirement, pp. 133– 139, 2016.

[5] M. U. Munir, A. Ahmad, J. W. Hopmans, A. O. Belgacem, and M. B. Baig, “Water scarcity threats to national food security of pakistan—issues, implications, and way forward,” in Emerging challenges to food production and security in asia, Middle East, and africa: climate risks and resource scarcity, pp. 241–266, Springer, 2021.

[6] S. M. A. Shah and M. F. Ahmad, “Minimum Temperature Analysis and Trends in Pakistan,” Pakistan Journal of Meteorology, vol. 13, no. 26, 2017.

[7] M. R. Bhutiyani, V. S. Kale, and N. J. Pawar, “Climate Change and the Precipitation Variations in the Northwestern Himalaya: 1866–2006,” International Journal of Climatology: A Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 535–548, 2010.

[8] H. J. Fowler and D. R. Archer, “Conflicting Signals of Climatic Change in the Upper Indus Basin,” Journal of Climate, vol. 19, no. 17, pp. 4276–4293, 2006.

[9] S. Imran, L. N. Bukhari, and S. Gul, “Water Quality Assessment Report along the Banks of River Kabul Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK),” water report, Pakistan Council of Research on Water Resources (PCRWR), Mar. 2018.

[10] A. G. Soomro, S. A. Shah, A. H. Memon, R. S. Alharabi, D. Memon, S. Panhwar, and H. A. Keerio, “Cascade reservoirs: an exploration of spatial runoff storage sites for water harvesting and mitigation of climate change impacts, using an integrated approach of gis and hydrological modeling,” Sustainability, vol. 14, no. 20, p. 13538, 2022.

[11] S. Damkjaer and R. Taylor, “The Measurement of Water Scarcity: Defining a Meaningful Indicator,” Ambio, vol. 46, no. 5, pp. 513–531, 2017.

[12] M. Sibtain, X. Li, H. Bashir, and M. I. Azam, “Hydropower exploitation for pakistan’s sustainable development: A swot analysis considering current situation, challenges, and prospects,” Energy Strategy Reviews, vol. 38, p. 100728, 2021.

[13] A. Piracha and Z. Majeed, “Water Use in Pakistan’s Agricultural Sector: Water Conservation under the Changed Climatic Conditions,” International Journal of Water Resources and Arid Environments, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 170–179, 2011.

[14] M. U. Munir, A. Ahmad, J. W. Hopmans, A. O. Belgacem, and M. B. Baig, “Water scarcity threats to national food security of pakistan—issues, implications, and way forward,” in Emerging challenges to food production and security in asia, Middle East, and africa: climate risks and resource scarcity, pp. 241–266, Springer, 2021.

[15] M. Z. U. Rehman, W. Ishaque, and M. H. A. K. Sayed, “Emerging dynamics and national security of pakistan: Challenges and strategies,” Research Consortium Archive, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 228–240, 2025.

[16] S. B. Farhan, Y. Zhang, A. Aziz, H. Gao, Y. Ma, J. Kazmi, A. Shahzad, I. Hussain, M. Mansha, M. Umar, and J. Nasir, “Assessing the impacts of climate change on the high altitude snow-and glacier-fed hydrological regimes of Astore and Hunza, the sub-catchments of Upper Indus Basin,” Journal of Water and Climate Change, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 479–490, 2020.

[17] A. Syed, T. Raza, T. T. Bhatti, and N. S. Eash, “Climate impacts on the agricultural sector of pakistan: Risks and solutions,” Environmental Challenges, vol. 6, p. 100433, 2022.

[18] M. Hussain, A. R. Butt, F. Uzma, R. Ahmed, S. Irshad, A. Rehman, and B. Yousaf, “A comprehensive review of climate change impacts, adaptation, and mitigation on environmental and natural calamities in pakistan,” Environmental monitoring and assessment, vol. 192, no. 1, p. 48, 2020.

[19] E. Bekaert, I. Ruyssen, and S. Salomone, “Domestic and international migration intentions in response to environmental stress: a global crosscountry analysis,” Journal of Demographic Economics, vol. 87, no. 3, pp. 383–436, 2021.

[20] H. Q. Yasin, J. Breadsell, and M. N. Tahir, “Climate-water governance: a systematic analysis of the water sector resilience and adaptation to combat climate change in pakistan,” Water Policy, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 1–35, 2021.

[21] T. Ali, A. M. Nadeem, M. F. Riaz, and W. Xie, “Sustainable water use for international agricultural trade: The case of pakistan,” Water, vol. 11, no. 11, p. 2259, 2019.

[22] M. A. Mojid and M. Mainuddin, “Water-Saving Agricultural Technologies: Regional Hydrology Outcomes and Knowledge Gaps in the Eastern Gangetic Plains—a Review,” Water, vol. 13, no. 5, p. 636, 2021.

[23] W. Ishaque, M. Mukhtar, and R. Tanvir, “Pakistan’s water resource management: Ensuring water security for sustainable development,” Frontiers in environmental science, vol. 11, p. 1096747, 2023.

[24] M. Rizvi, “Can the Indus Waters Treaty Be Held in Abeyance? What the Law Allows.” Stimson Center, South Asian Voices (USA), May 2025.

[25] I. A. Baig, M. Ashfaq, and R. Afzal, “Groundwater markets in the indus basin irrigation system, pakistan,” in Water Markets, pp. 126–141, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2021.

[26] N. Taimur, “List of Famous Dams in Pakistan.” Graana.Com Blog, Mar. 2022.

[27] F. Akhtar and U. Shah, “Emerging Water Scarcity Issues and Challenges in Afghanistan,” in Water Issues in Himalayan South Asia: Internal Challenges, Disputes and Transboundary Tensions, pp. 1–28, Springer, 2020.

[28] M. M. Sajjad, J. Wang, Z. Afzal, S. Hussain, A. Siddique, R. Khan, M. Ali, and J. Iqbal, “Assessing the impacts of groundwater depletion and aquifer degradation on land subsidence in lahore, pakistan: A ps-insar approach for sustainable urban development,” Remote Sensing, vol. 15, no. 22, p. 5418, 2023.

[29] S. Ahmad, H. Jia, A. Ashraf, D. Yin, Z. Chen, C. Xu, W. Chenyang, Q. Jia, Z. Xiaoyue, M. Israr, and R. Ahmed, “Water resources and their management in pakistan: A critical analysis on challenges and implications,” Water-Energy Nexus, vol. 6, pp. 137–150, 2023.

[30] W. Ishaque and M. Z. u. Rehman, “Impact of Climate Change on Water Quality and Sustainability in Baluchistan: Pakistan’s Challenges in Meeting United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (UNSDG) Number 6,” Sustainability, vol. 17, no. 6, p. 2553, 2025.

[31] S. Mansoor, “Pakistan’s Water Security Crisis: Challenges and the Case for Integrated Water Resource Management,” NUST Journal of International Peace & Stability, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 30–48, 2025.

[32] S. Nazli, J. Liu, H. Wang, and S.-e.-h. Soomro, “Water resources in pakistan: a comprehensive overview and management challenges,” Journal of Water and Climate Change, vol. 15, no. 10, pp. 4919–4935, 2024.

[33] U. Ayub, “Pakistan Water Crisis: A Nation Running Dry.” The Pakistan Gazette, Pakistan, Mar. 2025.

[34] H. S. Germanwatch, “Global climate risk index 2021,” Global Climate Risk Index 2012, 2021.

[35] A. Ranjan, “Inter-Provincial Water Sharing Conflicts in Pakistan,” Pakistaniaat: A Journal of Pakistan Studies, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 102–122, 2012.

[36] Ministry of Water Resources, Government of Pakistan, “National Water Policy of Pakistan 2018,” Apr. 2018.

[37] Z. Manzoor, M. Ehsan, M. B. Khan, A. Manzoor, M. M. Akhter, M. T. Sohail, A. Hussain, A. Shafi, T. Abu-Alam, and M. Abioui, “Floods and flood management and its socio-economic impact on pakistan: A review of the empirical literature,” Frontiers in Environmental Science, vol. 10, p. 1021862, 2022.

[38] M. Kugelman, “Pakistan’s Runaway Urbanization: What Can Be Done?,” tech. rep., Asia Program, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 2014.

[39] A. S. Qureshi, “Groundwater Governance in Pakistan: From Colossal Development to Neglected Management,” Water, vol. 12, no. 11, 2020.

[40] M. A. u. Hassan Rashid, M. M. Manzoor, and S. Mukhtar, “Urbanization and its effects on water resources: An exploratory analysis,” Asian Journal of Water, Environment and Pollution, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 67–74, 2018.

[41] M. T. Sohail, Z. Manzoor, M. Ehsan, N. Al-Ansari, M. B. Khan, A. Shafi, J. Ullah, A. Hussain, D. Raza, U. Usman, S. Akbar, and A. Elbeltagi, “Impacts of urbanization, lulc, lst, and ndvi changes on the static water table with possible solutions and water policy discussions: A case from islamabad, pakistan,” Frontiers in Environmental Science, vol. Volume 11 - 2023, 2023.

Published

2026-10-01

How to Cite

Climate Change and Hydrological Vulnerability in Pakistan: Implications of Engineering and Technology Solutions on Achieving Water Security and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) by 2030. (2026). Mehran University Research Journal of Engineering and Technology, 45(4), 215-228. https://doi.org/10.22581/0869

Similar Articles

1-10 of 56

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.