Fishermen, farmers/peasants, students, environmentalists, journalists, representatives of civil society and politicians will gather at Kotri barrage on March 1, to mark the opening ceremony of people’s caravan under the “keep rivers free” campaign.
Entire globe is experiencing water crisis. Asia in general and South Asia in particular is not exception to this phenomenon. This region is marred with complex and multidimensional aspects of water crises. Not only the availability of water has declined, but also its health has been badly affected.
A deep probe into the issue reveals that unchecked deforestation, destruction of wetlands, dumping of industrial waste into waterways, construction of dams, over exploitation of the major river systems, corporate control on water resources, increasing population and weak water governance have posed serious threats to life and health of water systems of South Asian rivers including Indus River System.
This altogether has generated various serious offshoots such as destruction of climate of deltas and its ecosystem, degradation of wetlands, unsafe drinking water, decline in availability of per capita water resources, lack of potable water to great number of people, droughts and inter and intra state conflicts. Notably, Proposed Construction of Bhasha dam on Indus will further damage the environmental flow of the Indus. Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) being a people’s movement had launched a year-long campaign on March 14, 2012 on the eve of International Rivers Day.-PR
