UNITAR Hiroshima Office for Asia and the Pacific, Series on Biodiversity

Training Workshop on Wetlands, Biodiversity and Water: New Tools for the Ecosystem Management
Kushiro, Japan, 29 November to 3 December 2004
Kushiro International Wetland Centre

Practical Exercise

The Indus River Basin

Summary

Pakistan, is a county having great diversity of landscapes including the majestic high
mountain ranges of the Himalaya, Karakoram and Hindu Kush, and the inter-mountain valleys in
the north, vast rich irrigated plains in the Indus basin, stark deserts and impressively rugged
rocky expanse of plateaus in the in the south-west of Balochistan.

It is land of great rivers such as the Indus and its various tributaries, large dams such as
Tarbela and Mangla and high mountain peaks such as K2 (8.611 m) and Nanga Parbat (8.126 m).
The Indus basin river system is the world’s largest contiguous irrigation system. Rivers flowing
in Indus plains are the Indus and its tributaries, Kabul, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej.

Out of 79.6 million hectares area of the country, only 20 million hectares are available for
farming. Irrigated agriculture is practices on 16 million hectares and the remaining 4 million
hectares are under rain fed (Barani) farming. A sizeable chunk of the landmass, about 31 million
hectares, is under forest and rangelands and / or untapped. The land use data for the last decade
shows that the total area under cultivation has remained static. Of the total surveyed area, about
20% of the land is potentially good for intensive agriculture, about 2.4% of the land has medium
to good potential for forestry and bulk of the land (62%) either lacks or has low potential for
crop/forestry production and is primarily grazing. Pakistan has 14.23 million hectors of the land
is irrigated through canals, 3.75 million hectors through tube wells and 0.2 million hectors
through other sources. The Major crops of Pakistan are wheat, rice, cotton & sugar cane. The
country produces all type of vegetables including onion, garlic, chilies, coriander, turmeric,
ginger, potato and tomatoes. Due to variation high hills, alluvial planes, semi-deserts and tropical
climate, the country is blessed by different fruits available through the year such as citrus,
mango, banana, apple, apricot, peach, pears, plums, grapes, pomegranate, dates, almond and
other stone fruits.

The cultivable land constitutes 32% of the total area, which means that all the available
land is actually being cultivated. This implies that there is hardly any additional land available
for further expansion of crop cultivation. In the five decades (1947-97), the reported area
witnessed an upward trend by 21.40 million hectares. During the same period, the total cropped
area encompassing- net area sown and sown more than once- expanded to a total of 22.44
million hectares.

The agriculture sector in Pakistan is not only an economic activity but also has the strong
historical and cultural linkages. Any fluctuation in the agricultural sector has direct implication
on the life of people of Pakistan. Agriculture sector being the prime sector of Pakistan economy
as a single largest sector contributes 25% of GDP, employs 44% country's workforce and
 UNITAR Hiroshima Office for Asia and the Pacific, Series on Biodiversity
Training Workshop on Wetlands, Biodiversity and Water: New Tools for the Ecosystem Management
Kushiro, Japan, 29 November to 3 December 2004
Kushiro International Wetland Centre

contributes substantially to export earnings. Major industries of the country are agro-based,
therefore, growth in GDP rises and falls with agriculture growth.

In Pakistan for sustainable development, sustainable growth of agriculture is given

importance. The areas of focus have been integrated management of agricultural irrigation and
drainage and efficient management. High priority is being given to optimize productivity from
the available land and water resources through efficient use of other inputs while conserving
resource base. The main priorities were development of agriculture, irrigation facilities and soil
conservation in an integrated manner and improving land and water management practices,
larger use of fertilizer response ratios, provision of land leveling and consolidation of fresh water
management.

Fast depletion of water resources is a global problem and Pakistan is no exception to this
phenomenon. Pakistan is an arid country and depends mainly on water resources that originate
from mountain watersheds located in the North of the country. Wise use of these water resources
is becoming the main concern and focus of the present Government due to drought related
human and ecological problems.

Surface Water

The Indus River and its tributaries (Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlaj and Beas Rivers and
Kabul River), which drain an area of364, 700 sq miles (944,569 sq.km), are the main source of
water in Pakistan, which bring an average of 151.58 MAP (187 BCM) of water annually. This
includes 143.18 MAF (173.63 BCM) from the Western rivers (Indus, Kabul, Chenab and
Jhelum) and 8.40 MAF (10.37 BCM) from the Eastern rivers (Ravi and Sutlej). The flow of
Eastern rivers includes inflows from India as well as those generated within Pakistan. The
average contribution from the flows generated within Pakistan is about 3.99 MAF (4.92 BCM).
Allowing for a potential reduction in inflows from the Eastern rivers through increased
utilization by India, the total surface water availability in the Indus Basin is estimated at 147.17
MAF (181.55 BCM).

In addition to the Indus there are several smaller basins which can be grouped into two
main hydrologic units in Balochistan, namely the Kharan Desert, which is a closed basin, and the
Makran Coastal Basin, which flows to the sea. These rivers in the Makran basin have an average
flow of about 3.0 MAF (3.69 BCM), which could be harnessed for use on a total area of6.87 Ma
(2.78 Mha). The rivers in the Kharan Basin have an average inflow of 0.79 MAF (0.97 BCM)
which could be used on a total area of 2.62 Ma (1.06 Mha). So flood irrigation is practiced based
on these inflows. The rivers carry a high sediment load, exacerbated by degrading watersheds
and are flashy in nature.

Ground Water
 UNITAR Hiroshima Office for Asia and the Pacific, Series on Biodiversity
Training Workshop on Wetlands, Biodiversity and Water: New Tools for the Ecosystem Management
Kushiro, Japan, 29 November to 3 December 2004
Kushiro International Wetland Centre

The Indus Basin is mainly alluvial and is underlain by an unconfined aquifer covering about 15
million acres (6 million ha) in surface area. The main sources of recharge are direct rainfall and
infiltration through the alluvium from rivers, the irrigation system and from the irrigated fields.
Estimates of groundwater recharge have been made by various agencies over the years and vary
significantly.

Groundwater Use

From the perspective of groundwater use, it is estimated that about 41.6 MAF (51.3
BCM) of groundwater is abstracted for irrigation use and for urban and rural drinking water
supplies. Province wise the groundwater usage is estimated at 34 MAF (41.9 BCM) in Punjab,
3.5 MAF (4.3 BCM) in Sindh, 2 MAF (2.5 BCM) in NWFP and 0.5 MAF (0.6 BCM) in
Balochistan.

Groundwater use is nearing the upper limit of the resource in most parts of Pakistan. The
groundwater table in most of the fresh water areas is declining and therefore the potential of
further groundwater exploitation is very limited. In Punjab about 79% of the area and in Sindh
about 28% of the area is underlain by fresh groundwater, which is mostly used as supplemental
irrigation water and abstracted through tube wells. Some groundwater is saline and water from
Salinity Control and Reclamation Project (SCARP) tube wells in the saline areas is generally
disposed of into drains and, where this is not possible, it is discharged into the large canals for
use in irrigation after diluting with the fresh canal water or into the nearby river. This does have
the impact of increasing soil salinity.

Before the introduction of irrigation the groundwater table in the Indus Basin varied from
about 40 feet (12.5 m) in depth in Sindh and Bahawalpur areas to about 100 feet (31m) in
Rechna Doab (the area between the Ravi and Chenab Rivers) in the Punjab. After the
introduction of large scale irrigation the groundwater table due to uncontrolled seepage from the
system and a lack of drainage has facilities. In some areas the water table has recorded risen to
near the ground surface, water logging the soil, causing salinization of the soil and reducing
productivity. The area affected countrywide is nearly 5.4 million ha, constituting about 30% of
irrigated area.

In the late 1950s the Government launched a program of Salinity Control and
Reclamation Projects (SCARPS) wherein large, deep tube wells were installed to control the
groundwater table. Over a period of about 30 years some 13,500 tube wells were installed by the
Government to lower the groundwater table. These projects initially proved quite effective in
lowering the water table but with time the performance of SCARP tube wells deteriorated.

The development of deep public tube-wells under the SCARPS was soon followed by
private investment in shallow tube wells. Now more than 500,000 tube wells pump out about
41.6 MAF (51.3 BCM) of supplemental irrigation water every year mostly in periods of low
surface water availability. During the recent drought, many more tube wells were installed. This
has however led to overexploitation of aquifers causing intrusion of saline water into fresh water
zones in some areas.
 UNITAR Hiroshima Office for Asia and the Pacific, Series on Biodiversity
Training Workshop on Wetlands, Biodiversity and Water: New Tools for the Ecosystem Management
Kushiro, Japan, 29 November to 3 December 2004
Kushiro International Wetland Centre

Pakistan is now essentially at the limit of its water resources. There is no unlimited
potential for increasing the resource. Improving the water resources situation can only be
achieved through a combination of water conservation and development of additional storages.

There is a serious problem of land degradation in many parts of the country. Ninety
percent of water in Pakistan originates from Northern mountainous watersheds. With the
construction of dams and reservoirs to generate hydropower and supply water to the massive
irrigation networks to support agricultural economy in the country, watershed management in the
mountains has become a national priority. Loss of vegetation cover in the watershed areas
seriously impairs the hydrological cycle resulting in landslides and flash floods causing damage
to infrastructure, settlements and loss of human and animal lives. The catastrophic floods during
1992 in northern Pakistan were attributed to large-scale deforestation in mountainous watersheds
and led to the imposition of a ban on commercial harvesting of forests. The main causes of
watershed degradation are deforestation, competing land uses, faulty agriculture and
fragmentation of land, complex land tenure, and poverty. During the last three decades,
watershed management assumed special significance and draw the attention of the Federal and
Provincial Governments. A number of integrated watershed rehabilitation projects with focus on
community organization and participation remained under implementation with considerable
success.. Experience has shown that a sectoral approach to mountain development has to be
replaced by an integrated natural resource management approach with multi-stakeholder
participation to address special environmental values of the mountain watersheds. Prolonged
drought and reduced snowfall received in the mountainous areas have considerably decreased
water availability in major rivers. Since water related issues and conflicts are going to increase
because of the global level climatic changes, the management of upland watersheds for enhanced
water conservation will become the policy thrust area during the millennium. There is a need to
prepare a strategic plan for integrated watershed management in partnership with the local
communities.

The Government of Pakistan is conscious of the potential of tourism in creating income -

generating opportunities to the mountain communities. Tourism is also a source of earning
foreign exchange for the country. Nevertheless, awareness exists about the negative
environmental impact that tourism can bring on the fragile mountain eco-systems. There is a
need to make tourism activities sustainable and environment friendly. In this regard GOP is
working to finalize the guidelines and strategies to promote ecotourism. National Forest Policy
200I formulated by the Ministry of Environment also takes cognizance of the importance of eco-
tourism in the development of the mountain areas. The Government of Pakistan is encouraging
the Provincial Governments to create a network of effectively managed protected areas in order
to conserve the ecological character of representative sample of various eco-systems.
Appropriate institutional mechanisms are being devised for the collaborative management of
such protected areas with the local communities in order to give them an economic and
environmental stake in the endeavor.