Proceedings of

Partnering Universities:

Executive Seminar on“Achieving Water Sustainable

Development Goal (SDG) in Pakistan:

Challenges and Opportunities”

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JULY 2016

Agreement Number: AID-391-A-15-00003

Implementing Partner: Mehran University of Engineering & Technology

Period of Activity: December 2014 – December 2019

Author(s): U.S.-Pakistan Centers for Advanced Studies in Water

Address: Institute of Water Resources Engineering and Management,

MUET Jamshoro, Sindh, Pakistan.

Phone: +92-22-2771226

Website: water.muet.edu.pk

Facebook: @USPCASW

Twitter: @USPCASW_MUET

DISCLAIMER:

This report is made possible by the support of the American people through the United States

Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the sole responsibility of

USPCAS-W, MUET and do not necessarily reflect the views of the USAID or the United

States Government.

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Table of Contents Acronyms and Abbreviations ................................................................................. 3

Seminar Reflections: ............................................................................................... 4

Executive Summary: ............................................................................................... 5

Objectives of the Seminar ....................................................................................... 6

Seminar Overview ................................................................................................... 6

Proceedings of Seminar .............................................................................. 7

Inaugural Session: Welcome and Introduction.......................................... 7

Technical Session: Key Note Addresses and Presentations .................... 10

Picture Gallery: ......................................................................................... 14

List of Participants: ................................................................................... 16

Seminar Presentations ............................................................................... 16

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Acronyms and Abbreviations

FPCCI: Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry

GoS: Government of Sindh

HEC: Higher Education Commission

IWREM: Institute of Water Resources Engineering and Management

JIMS: Jacobabad Institute of Medical Sciences

LEAD: Leadership for Environment and Development

MDGs: Millennium Development Goals

MMR: Maternal Mortality Ratio

MSDP: Municipal Service Delivery Program

MUET: Mehran University of Engineering & Technology

MUISTD: Mehran University Institute of Science, Technology and Development

P&D: Planning and Development

R&D: Research and Development

SDGs: Sustainable Development Goals

SIDA: Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority

UHC: Universal Health Coverage

UN: United Nations

UNDP: United Nations Development Program

UNICEF: United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund

USA: United States of America

USAID: United States Agency for International Development

USPCAS-W: U.S.-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Water

UU: University of Utah

WAPDA: Water and Power Development Authority

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Seminar Reflections:

Water researchers and experts belonging to higher academia, industry, research

and development organizations, corporate sector, civil society and government

officials agreed on achieving Water SDG, which is crucial for human development,

economic growth and for dealing with ecological and other threats in Pakistan.

Pakistan had setup an example of having a most sophisticated and advanced irrigation systems in the world, which is to be maintained and sustained accordingly.

Mr. Craig G. Buck - Deputy Mission Director for Sindh and Balochistan,

USAID Pakistan

Government of Sindh is fully committed to support all the future and ongoing programs of national and international agencies and is supportive to fulfill SDGs agenda in the province.

Syed Murad Ali Shah - Senior Minister for Energy, Finance, Irrigation, Planning and Development (P&D) Irrigation, GoS

We are really going to navigate the difficult tasks like ending poverty & hunger, ensuring healthy lives, achieving gender equality, ensuring water and sanitation for all and many other difficult goals

Mr. Steve Urquhart - Global Ambassador at UU, and Former Utah State

Senator, USA

Poverty is one of the big challenges in countries like Pakistan. The people do not have quantitative as well as qualitative access to the basic needs. Dr. Sikandar Ali Mendhro – Minister for Environment and Coastal Development, GoS

Government alone cannot achieve SDGs on its own, unless its implementation is fully supported by all stakeholders including citizens, civil society, private sector, and academia.

Prof. Dr. Mohammad Aslam Uqaili, Vice Chancellor MUET, Jamshoro

Sustainable Development Goals are focused on the qualitative aspect of access to all the mentioned goals whereas Millennium Development Goals were focused on quantitative access of the same. Prof. Dr. Tariq Banuri - Associate Director USPCAS-W, UU, USA

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Executive Summary:

In September, countries adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to end poverty

and promote prosperity for all while protecting the environment and addressing climate

change. The new 2030 Agenda has water and sanitation at its core, with a dedicated

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 on water and sanitation and clear linkages to Goals

relating to health, food security, climate change, resiliency to disasters and ecosystems, among

many others. Today it is widely recognized that an integrated approach to freshwater

management offers the best means of reconciling competing demands with supply and a

framework where effective operational actions can be taken. It is thus valuable for all countries

at all stages of development.

Goal 06 have following targets:

6.1: By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for

all.

6.2: By 2030, achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end

open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in

vulnerable situations.

6.3: By 2030, improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and

minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated

wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally.

6.4: By 2030, substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure

sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity and substantially

reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity.

6.5: By 2030, implement integrated water resources management at all levels, including

through transboundary cooperation as appropriate.

6.6: By 2020, protect and restore water-related ecosystems, including mountains, forests,

wetlands, rivers, aquifers and lakes.

6.a: By 2030, expand international cooperation and capacity-building support to developing

countries in water- and sanitation-related activities and programmes, including water

harvesting, desalination, water efficiency, wastewater treatment, recycling and reuse

technologies.

6.b: Support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water and

sanitation management.

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In Pakistan, implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as an integral policy

package, will lead to long-term economic prosperity, human and environmental development.

Realizing the importance of SDGs, the U.S.-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Water

(USPCAS-W) organized an executive seminar on “Achieving Water Sustainable Development

Goal (SDG) in Pakistan: Challenges and Opportunities”. The seminar was held at Karachi on

July 26, 2016. This seminar has provided an opportunity to the different stakeholders from

government, development sector, academia and water-related organizations to discuss SDGs

with particular emphasis on Water SDGs and to find out the durable solution of achieving the

SDGs within the given timeframe from 2016 to 2030. The speakers in the seminar shared their

valuable ideas and made presentations to highlight the opportunities and challenges faced by

Pakistan as well as the way forward to achieve the SDGs. The participants from academia,

industry, government, water sector, corporate sector, civil society, and R&D organizations

agreed on achieving Water SDGs, which is crucial for human development, economic growth

and for dealing with ecological and other threats in Pakistan. The seminar provided a way forward

to initiate the efforts for achieving SDGs in general and Water SDGs in particular whereby the role of

USPCAS-W was highlighted in achieving these goals. In total 132 representatives of various

organizations, government, corporate sector and academia participated in the seminar. Foreign delegates

also participated in the seminar and shared their views on the subject matter.

Objectives of the Seminar

The objective of the seminar was to highlighting issues, challenges and opportunities in

achieving SDGs, especially the SDGs on Water; and raising awareness about the initiatives

launched at the USPCAS-W, MUET Jamshoro.

It also aimed at sensitize different stakeholders to initiate efforts and develop action plans to

meet the challenges and opportunities for achieving the SDGs.

Seminar Overview

The seminar was held at The Mövenpick Hotel Karachi on July 26, 2016 and consisted of two

sessions; Inaugural and the Technical session. Important feature of the seminar is that it was

not only well attended but it was also well represented by key stakeholders, besides the

participation of foreign delegates. Total 132 participants, who represented different

organizations viz. USAID, UU, UNICEF, SIDA, WAPDA, P&D GoS, Hisaar Foundation,

FPCCI, LEAD Pakistan, MSDP USAID, Nestle, Aquafina, MUET, MUISTD, Media and

researchers, attended the seminar.

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Syed Murad Ali Shah, Senior Minister for Energy, Finance, Irrigation, Planning and

Development (P&D), Government of Sindh, chaired the Inaugural Session. The key speakers

of the session included: Mr. Steve Urquhart, Global Ambassador University of Utah and

Former Utah State Senator, Mr. Craig G. Buck, USAID Deputy Mission Director Sindh and

Balochistan and Prof. Dr. Mohammad Aslam Uqaili, Vice Chancellor MUET, Jamshoro.

The Technical Session was held after a tea break and chaired by Dr. Sikandar Ali Mendhro,

Minister for Environment and Coastal Development Authority, Government of Sindh. The

Technical Session was signified by that fact that detailed presentations were made by the

keynote speakers on their respective topics. The speakers included: Prof. Tariq Banuri,

Associate Director USPCAS-W, UU, Mr. Juan Carlos Negrette, Director Global Health, UU,

Ms. Rehana Ali Memon, Secretary Planning & Development Department, Government of

Sindh, Dr. Steve Burain, Director USPCAS-W, UU, and Prof. Dr. Bakhshal Khan Lashari,

Director USPCAS-W, MUET Jamshoro. The speakers not only briefed the audience about the

SGDs in general but also highlighted the issues and challenges, particularly for addressing the

Water SGDs. They also put forth their ideas, strategies and action plans to meet these

challenges. In the end, Dr. Sikandar Ali Mendhro, Chair of the Technical Session, presented

the conclusion remarks. After the conclusion, the participants proceeded for the lunch.

Proceedings of Seminar

Inaugural Session: Welcome and Introduction

Welcome Address by Prof. Dr. Mohammad Aslam Uqaili - Vice Chancellor MUET

While welcoming the seminar participants, Dr. Aslam Uqaili

mentioned that the purpose of this seminar was to identify the

needs and opportunities in terms of policies, research, and

education needed to implement the water SDGs framework

that itself requires multi-sectorial and multi-stakeholder

engagement. “Government alone cannot achieve SDGs on its

own, unless its implementation is fully supported by all

stakeholders including citizens, civil society, private sector,

and academia”, he added. He further said that in order to meet

the SDGs, universities have to build a massive amount of social capital in the form of

graduates with competitive edge in different fields.

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Dr. Uqaili said that access to safe drinking water and sanitation services is an important human

development goal. Pakistan’s performance on this goal during the MDG era was not very

impressive. He said that there is growing concern regarding the increasing stress on water

resources caused by population growth, unsustainable consumption patterns and uncontrolled

uses. Dr. Uqaili said that through establishment of this water research center, academic

relations between MUET and UU have been extended beyond the project. “This center is

playing an instrumental role in contributing towards the soft investment in the form of capacity

development and creating and sharing of new knowledge”, Dr. Uqaili added. He further said

that with highly technical support from UU, this center is transforming into a world class

Center of Excellence.

Mr. Craig G. Buck - USAID Pakistan’s Deputy Mission Director for Sindh

Talking on behalf of the USAID Pakistan and focusing upon the

Water SGDs, Mr. Craig Buck said, “USAID has a commitment to

improve water resources management in Pakistan”. For this

purpose, USAID has major investment in MUET. He said that

Pakistan had setup an example of having a most sophisticated and

advanced irrigation systems in the world, which needs to be

maintained and sustained accordingly. He said that USAID in

partnership with MUET in Pakistan aims to improve the lives of

people and to enable them to take charge of development process. He said that with the support

of American people, USAID had invested 55 billion rupees for Jacobabad city for the

establishment of Jacobabad Institute of Medical Sciences (JIMS), improvement of access to safe

drinking water and sewerage system as well as improvement of health and education in the

region. He further said that water is vital element of life and USAID has developed partnership

with MUET to build effective, workable, and productive water system aiming at improved

economy and sustainable development in Pakistan.

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Mr. Steve Urquhart - Global Ambassador UU and Former Utah State Senator, USA

Talking about the Sustainable Development Goals and the

challenges ahead, Mr. Steve Urquhart of the University of Utah

viewed that SDGs are ambitious and difficult challenges for the

world to achieve but we must be optimist to accomplish these

goals. He said that we are really going to navigate the difficult

tasks like ending poverty and hunger, ensuring healthy lives,

achieving gender equality, ensuring good water and sanitation for

all, and many other difficult SGDs. He further said that UU is

providing a conducive academic and research environment for the academia and researchers to

fasten the innovation, entrepreneurship, to grow the ideas and to seek the solutions of the various

problems of humankind. He said that the great thing in higher education system of Utah is that

they have put the most talented people, some of the best brand and thinkers in academic and

research activities to get the solutions of difficult problems faced by the people. The University

of Utah is one of the top universities in the States that generates more patents every year and

playing leading role in developing personal computers, artificial hearts, and other great things,

which are more productive and beneficial for humanity. He further said that partnership between

MUET and UU is crucial to accomplish the great tasks like Water SDG.

Syed Murad Ali Shah - Senior Minister for Energy, Finance, Irrigation, Planning and

Development (P&D), Government of Sindh

While addressing the inaugural session, Syed Murad Ali Shah

said at the outset, USAID is appreciated for choosing MUET for

the project of Advanced Studies in Water, the project which is

beneficial for the people of Sindh and Pakistan and which aims

to provide solutions to water sector problems and bring about

policy reforms aiming to strengthen economy of Pakistan”. He

said that objectives like Water SDGs, access to safe drinking

water and improving irrigation system of the country, are the

most crucial tasks of the present time to achieve. We need to commit ourselves to achieve these

SDGs to improve the lives of our people. Government of Sindh is fully supportive of the

USPCAS-W that is functioning through the joint efforts of USAID and MUET. In the same way,

similar projects of USAID in the province are also fully supported which are beneficial for the

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people of Sindh. He also assured full support for the future and ongoing programs of national

and international agencies for improving the lives and livelihood of the people in the province.

He said that USPCAS-W at MUET, working in partnership with University of Utah (UU), is one

of the most advanced applied research and productive projects of USAID in Pakistan.

Technical Session: Key Note Addresses and Presentations

SDGs and Academia: The Twinning Approach

By: Dr. Tariq Banuri - Associate Director

USPCAS-W, UU

Dr. Tariq Banuri, Associate Director USPCAS-W,

University of Utah gave an extensive presentation

on the topic in which he overviewed following

perspectives of Water SDG:

• Emerging Water Crisis

• SDGs

• The Turn to Quality

• The Twinning Approach

Dr. Banuri while delivering his presentation said that SDGs are more concerned with quality

issues of the targets, which we have to achieve. In order to solve these problems, we have to

involve knowledge community of Pakistan, which are research institutes, universities, technical

institutes, and think tanks. He proposed Twining Model, which he believes, supports the

community technically for the solution of water crisis. In this connection, The University of

Utah is providing technical support to MUET and once it is finished then MUET will also train

other Universities of Pakistan technically for water sector problems of the country. He also

shared the latest statistics of water and sanitation data of rural and urban population of the

country. He briefed about MDGs and SDGs in general and Water SDG and its targets and

indicators in particular. In the end, he shared a taxonomy of the development goals, as under,

for addressing the challenges in this regard:

Managerial systems

System design

Monitoring and evaluation

Research

Training

Willingness to pay

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MDGs, SDGs and the Brave New World: Health as Progress

By Juan Carlos Negrette - Director Global Health, UU

Talking about the topic, Mr. Juan Carlos Negrette shared world

statistics in Global Health perspective. He said that Water and

sanitation are key factors in health and wellbeing and contribute

significantly to the reduction in child mortality. While delivering

his presentation he said that we were all poor on this planet some

one hundred fifty years ago. The concept of increasing life

expectancy actually changed our lifestyle. During the 1990 in Pakistan, the MMR was 490,

which decreased in 2013 to 170 only. He viewed that poverty is a major cause of ill health and

eradicating poverty will improve health and reduce health inequalities. He further added that

socioeconomic inequalities are strong determinants of health inequalities. Equitable policies

that reduce socioeconomic inequalities can help reduce the health inequalities. He told that

international bodies and the governments agreed that we all have UHC on this planet by 2030

under the SDGs.

Responding to SDGs agenda in Sindh province – an Overview of Initiatives

By: Ms. Rehana Ghulam Ali Memon - Secretary (Development), P&D, GoS

In her initial remarks during the presentation, Ms. Rehana Ghulam Ali Memon said that we are

not only alive to the challenges of SDGs but the Government of

Sindh is in fact following four-pronged strategy in order to achieve

the SDGs. The strategic steps include:

1. Institutional arrangement

2. Integrating SDGs into the Provincial Planning Process

3. Preparing to monitoring SDG implementation

4. Mobilizing capital for SDGs

Giving the background on SDGs, she said that Pakistan has signed the international agreement

on the 2030 agenda in September 2015 during the UN General Assembly Session for

sustainable development, which includes a commitment to achieving 17 SDGs between 2016

and 2030. She added that SDGs are built upon unfinished work of MDGs, which in fact created

a platform, on the basis of which progress could be made towards the new goals. She was of

the view that SDG agenda chiefly comprised of three major types of Goals, which are:

1. Human Development

2. Economic Growth

3. Ecological and Other Threats

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She also informed hat that Government of Sindh is already working on three main agendas,

which are SDG, Nutrition, and Climate Change Framework on priority basis. While sharing

efforts taken by the Government of Sindh, she briefed the audience that Sindh Government is

going to establish the dedicated SDG Unit “Support Project for SDGs Implementation” at

Provincial level with the technical assistance of UNDP. In this connection, PC-I of Government

of Sindh for SDGs Unit at the cost of Rs. 594 million has been approved by CDWP with 50:50

cost sharing by Sindh Government and UNDP.

MUET Becoming a Living Lab for Advancing the Implementation of Water SDGs (Part 1)

By Dr. Bakhshal Khan Lashari - Project Director USPCAS-W, MUET

This presentation was made in two parts. In the first part, Dr.

Lashari shared the background regarding the establishment of

three Pakistan Centers for Advanced Studies in Energy,

Agriculture and Food Security, and Water under the cooperative

agreements between the Government of Pakistan, HEC and

USAID. After evaluation process, MUET was considered as a

potential institute and thus selected for the establishment of the

USPCAS-W. He said that USPCAS-W will serve as a medium

for continuous innovation, demonstration, and learning to

advance progress on targets spelled out under water SDGs through two key features of our

program:

i. Academic Program

ii. Applied Research

He also shared the components and cross cutting components of the Center, while sharing the

concept of the Living Lab for Water SDG. He said that USPCAS-W would be the catalyst for

advancing the implementation of Water SDGs in Pakistan.

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MUET Becoming a Living Lab for Advancing the Implementation of Water SDG (Part 2)

Prof. Steve Burain – Director USPCAS-W, UU

Dr. Steve Burain gave the second part of the presentation

whereby he highlighted the approach being used in the growth

and development of USPCAS-W. He said that this project is

different from many other development projects of this nature

using twinning as we are focused on quality of products, not just

numbers and we are focused on making change. USPCAS-W

aims to produce different graduates who will try to solve the

water problems of Pakistan. UU is building the capacity of the

Center by imparting trainings for the faculty and students. He

said to infuse SDGs requires a transdisciplinary approach for effectiveness and we are

developing strategies to provide the transdisciplinary education experience using modern

pedagogical strategies such as active learning, problem-based learning, and experiential learning.

We are developing “applied” learning over theoretical learning that can give students experience

having an impact and enabling change. One example of our approach, he said, is the Pakistan

Water Development Report project. This project is engaging the entire faculty and students in a

comprehensive assessment of SDG 6. In this project, we are twinning leading authorities for

chapter development with MUET faculty to explore what is needed to enable change and how

research and education can enhance the way forward.

Closing Remarks by Dr. Sikandar Ali Mendhro - Minister for Environment and Coastal

Development Authority, GoS

The technical session ended with the concluding remarks by the

Session Chair Dr. Sikandar Ali Mendhro. At the outset, he said that

SDGs are the Global Goals, the whole world has to achieve for

improving the lives of the people. He said that when we talk in SDG

framework, poverty stands one of the biggest problems, which gives

birth to other problems. Poverty directly affects the socio-economic

development in terms of decreasing the production and increase in the

utilization of the resources consequently shape the society as consumer rather than a producer.

He said that maximum efforts are to be taken to reduce the poverty, which will pave the way for

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the sustainable solutions for other related problems. He appreciated the efforts of USPCAS-W

for organizing such successful seminar and suggested that this knowledge sharing process be

continued and the same may be communicated with the people of rural areas, the people who

need such awareness and importance of resources and develop the civic sense among them. He

said that instead of purifying our resources, we are actually putrefying them like dumping the

garbage and different waste material in to the fresh water bodies, which is dangerous for health.

He said Pakistan is facing water scarcity due to climate change and institutes like USPCAS-W

can play their vital role for water related problems of the country. He shared the concern that

there is lot of land available in coastal areas that can be better used for saline agriculture but

unfortunately, the stakeholders do not come forward for this important cultivation. He further

said that time management is very much important to accomplish the goals and with the joint

efforts of all the stakeholders of our society, we can move to achieve the SDGs and particularly

the Water SDG within the given timeframe of 2030.

Picture Gallery:

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List of Participants:

List of Participants - Water SDG Seminar

Seminar Presentations

Dr. Lahari and Dr. Steve Burian

Tariq Banuri-SDGs and Academia

SDGs- Agenda in Sindh Ms. Rehana Ali Memon

SDGs Pakistan Presentation (JCN)