Secretary General | International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID)
Shri A.B. Pandya, in his long distinguished service encompassing all aspects of water resources sector, has provided mentorship and led the large water resources engineering community towards a sustainable and rational development regime in the sector. He has delivered several addresses and also has appeared on TV and other print media for disambiguating complex issues of water management. He is also Editor-in-chief of Water Digest an industry magazine catering to water treatment industries.
Presently, he is working as Secretary General of International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage, an international government supported organization comprising of 78 countries spanning across globe and covering almost 90% of the world’s irrigated area. As a part of the organization activities, he has set up web-based e-learning programmes for dams and network safety, micro irrigation techniques and solar powered irrigation schemes for international audiences. Many other initiatives have been taken by him for generating dialogue on trans boundary water and inter-state water management issues. He has also edited two volumes on Water Governance and Management in India published by Springer Inc. He has also traveled extensively and has professionally contributed to 26 countries spanning across all continents.
- Past developments, Present status, and future goals for the water sector.
Water, as the main input for food production, has played the most significant role in population growth and societal evolution over much of the recorded human history. Ever since the agricultural revolution in human history, availability of sufficient freshwater resources for agricultural production has been the driving force in the flourishing of civilizations. Numerous civilizations have thrived and then also became extinct because of the way they managed their agricultural water. Although water is a replenishable resource, however, in the current scenario, the rate of water that is being replenished is lower than the rate at which freshwater resources are being exploited. Factors such as increasing population, higher demand for food, growth of industries, increased standard of living, climate change and its subsequent impacts are exacerbating the impacts on water resources quality and its availability.
Water has multi-dimensional impacts on several aspects of livelihoods, environment, and national development such as food and energy, sanitation and hygiene, ecosystems, transboundary relations, rural and urban development, industrial growth, and so forth. Additionally, the water sector also has direct and/or indirect implications on factors such as human rights, gender equality, poverty, social harmony, health, and well-being, to name a few. Thus, it is viable to conclude that water forms the critical foundation block for sustainable livelihoods and well-being of humankind. Moving ahead, there is an urgent need to tackle increasing water scarcity by developing water-saving avenues in the form of technological innovations, management interventions, policy reforms, knowledge exchange and community participation. Looking forward, as an organisation, we envision a water-secure world for the future rid of poverty and hunger through sustainable development.
- How efficient water management can be achieved to achieve water security?
By the year 2050, the population is projected to increase by 9+ billion. This will create additional pressure on water resources creating huge demands for water, food and energy, compared to the current scenario in 2020. We have already started witnessing the impacts of water scarcity around the globe. This water scarcity is increasingly posing to be an imminent threat to the entire mankind. This stress is aggravated by other accompanying factors such as climate change and induced disasters of floods and droughts, urbanization, changing dietary patterns, increasing water demands have direct implications on the water sector and its development.
Thus, achieving water security through efficient water management is the need of the hour. As demonstrated by several organizations, a blueprint in the form of an action plan needs to be developed for all which are direct water users. Building the resilience of our ecosystems by adopting climate change adaptations and disaster risk reduction strategies is required. Instituting and incorporating systematic programs to ensure integrated water resources management (IWRM) is adopted at every level is necessary. Approaches such as planning new infrastructure, improving maintenance, major rehabilitation, and re-engineering of existing systems, modifying processes in existing systems and demands of water users, introducing new efficient technologies, recycling and reusing the wastewater are some of the pathways which can reinforce the efficient water management schemes.
- What role does water security play in overall sustainable development?
Water is one of the basic ingredients for the sustenance of life. The basic security of water resources ensures a healthy household, sustainable food production and contributes to secure energy. This, in turn, ensures that the basic necessities of life are fully met and enables the individuals and communities to pursue other endeavours of industrial progression, financial growth and overall national development which directly ensures the economic security as well as livelihood security.
Water, directly or indirectly, influences the performance of 7 out of 17 SDGs, i.e., goal 1 (no poverty), goal 2 (zero hunger), goal 3 (good health and well-being), goal 6 (clean water and sanitation), goal 8 (decent work and economic growth), goal 13 (climate action) and goal 17 (partnerships to achieve the goal). Additionally, there are several more linkages between water and the other SDGs as delineated by the UN. Water assumes inclusive dimension both as a natural resource for rural development and an essential input commodity for industrial and human (lifestyle) consumption.
By definition, sustainabledevelopment should meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In this regard, IWRM very systematically ensures the development of water, land, and other resources in a coordinated manner to maximise economic and social interests equitably and sustainably. Promoting and implementing IWRM at various levels will ensure water security contributing to overall development.
- What strategies can be adopted to achieve the goal of sustainable development?
To achieve the goals of sustainable development, especially water resources, changes need to be brought about at the institutional levels which can trickle down systematically to reach the tail end stakeholders.
Micro-level institutions need to provide assured water supplies, implement local water-harvesting measures, provide extension and advisory services, encourage community involvement, ensure gender participation and so on. At the macro-level, institutions need to make use of state-of-the-art technologies, cost-effective solutions for large-scale implementations, data analysis and evaluation.
Various institutions such as financial, research and development, private and commercial and advocacy institutions need to work in collaboration with each other at regional, national, and international level.
ICID, in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), has developed six organizational goals to promote and achieve the ICID Vision 2030.
Goal A: Enable Higher Crop Productivity with Less Water and Energy
Goal B: Be a Catalyst for a Change in Policies and Practices
Goal C: Facilitate Exchange of Information, Knowledge and Technology
Goal D: Enable Cross-Disciplinary and Inter-Sectoral Engagement
Goal E: Encourage Research and Support Development of Tools to Extend Innovation into Field Practices
Goal F: Facilitate Capacity Development
While these goals are outlined for agricultural water management, policy reforms, facilitation of knowledge exchange, inter-sectoral, research and development and capacity building are some of the basic requirements for all sectors to achieve overall sustainable development and subsequently achieve the SDGs outlines by the United Nations. Additionally, creating an enabling policy environment, encouraging scientific and technological interventions, facilitating robust financing mechanisms, emboldening entrepreneurship capacity enhancement in farming communities for ensuring sustainability may be considered viable strategies towards sustainable progress.
- As an organization and as an individual, how can everybody cooperate and contribute better to achieve goals of sustainable development?
Sustainable development caters to all human beings and thus every individual and institution is bound to contribute to its attainment. In terms of water resources, apart from the developmental organisations which already have sustainable development of water embedded in their agenda,corporate, financial, and other such organizations need to incorporate social responsibility to address the gaps and may dedicate a part of their resources towards betterment of their communities.
As individuals and organizations, water resources practitioners play multiple roles. They should be aware of developments among the different sectors and how these inter-sectoral linkages can be exploited to improve the performance. For example, developments in the IT sector through the ICT (Information and communications technology), remote sensing or GIS (Geographic Information System) are being utilized by the water sector experts to determine or predict the rainfall patterns, crop-water requirements and so forth. This can be further be used in the water-saving through precision irrigation scheduling.
Advisors or decision-makers should consult with the technical experts to ensure that the finances are directed and continuously monitor the use of water resources. Bureaucrats or policymakers should work in close association with the technocrats to design water-saving policies and implement water resources related projects. In the end, essentially, everybody is a water user and thus a stakeholder in the water management process. Thus, the institutions should incorporate water education into their agenda to raise awareness of the public and bring about conscious behavioural changes to ensure a water-wise society.
