ISLAMABAD, Dec 12: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz called for proactive water policies in order to meet global warming by making sure that an adequate quantity of water was available for agriculture and other needs.

He hinted at construction of big water reservoirs for the optimal use of water resources so that the entire country could benefit from it and to assure a better future for the population.

The prime minister made these remarks during a high-level meeting of the prime minister’s committee on climate change at the prime minister’s house here on Monday.

Dr Ishfaq, adviser to prime minister, presented a report on the outstanding features of climate change and its impact on global warming.

The report said global warming would have a negative impact on the country in the absence of sufficient water reservoirs. It concluded that 34 million acre feet of water went into the sea due to lack of upstream reservoirs.

The report said as a result of the melting of glaciers due to global warming the quantity of waste water will increase significantly.

In order to ensure water and food security in the wake of climate change this water needs to be regulated by building large water reservoirs, the report said. It further pointed out that the construction of the water reservoir would not affect downstream Kotri barrage as the water would be released as and when required to meet the needs for ecological and agricultural usage.

The report has been prepared by the Global Change Impact Studies Centre.

Mr Ishfaq said global warming will lead to increasing evaporation from the oceans and precipitation over the mountainous regions will have higher contents of rain and lesser of snow and will mostly appear as extreme events.

This he said will result in an increase in fluctuation in the availability of water in the Indus river system as melting of additional glaciers will increase the flow of water which if not stored will go to waste.

The present water storage capacity in Pakistan stands at 14 million acre feet which is only 9 per cent of its total water flow and one of the lowest in the region.

Pakistan has a total of 18 million acre feet of water of which 4 million acre feet of water storage has been lost due to silting after the construction of the Mangla and Tarbela Dams.

Minister of State for Environment Amin Aslam said Pakistan was a water-scarce country with its water needs increasing and net water storage capacity decreasing due to sedimentation as against the increase in glacial melting and increase of water flow in the river which went into the sea.

He said the government needed to take decisions on water reservoirs so that water security could be assured for the future.

The meeting was attended among others by minister for science and technology, minister of state for environment and deputy chairman planning commission.