Lessons From Floods of 2010 in Pakistan to Help Develop Sustainable Holistic Management for the Indus River Basin (PAP014754)

Código

PAP014754

Autores

Hassan Abbas, Asghar Hussain, Biljana Radojevic, Pascal Breil, Sheheryar Shafique

Tema

Floods in a changing climate

Resumo

Pakistan is a country prone to natural hazards where dense populations in poor livingconditions are highly vulnerable to natural hazards. Events like the floods of 2010 are likely to becomemore frequent in the era of climate change, putting the human populations in the basin even moreexposed to the next inevitable disaster. Most damages in 2010 floods were exacerbated by the presenceof existing infrastructure such as major head works, flood protection levees, and unplanned ingress ofpopulation centers in the active flood zones. This study identifies challenges and recommendsapproaches for holistic flood management. Using the extent of 2010 floods derived from remote sensingdata, we identified areas of different land use impacted by floods. It was identified that large quantities ofdiversions from the river for irrigation in past 50 years have dried up many low lying areas within the rivercorridor to the extent that population centers have emerged in these agriculturally fertile, but risk proneareas. A strategy is recommended to manage the risk which shifts the focus from current practices offlood control/fighting to integrated flood management, i.e. living with the floods. The plan integrates floodmanagement and water management in the basin and calls for minimizing diversions for irrigation in orderto restore wetlands/riparian vegetation zones so that the basin?s capacity of absorbing floods and slowingdown velocities could be reinstated. The plan recommends for an overhaul of the current inefficient floodirrigationsystem in the basin by systematically analyzing the potential of improving irrigation efficiency.The existing ageing infrastructure for water diversion and flood control could be remodeled to suit thecontemporary and future flood/water management practices. The plan could be implemented in phasesover the next 50 to 100 years.