UN FILE PICTURE VIA PAK. MISSION
Special Correspondent
UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has urged the international community to reject any attempts to turn water into a tool of conflict, calling instead for its role as a force for unity and cooperation to be safeguarded.
Addressing the UN General Assembly during a session on Sustainable Development Goal 6, ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all, Pakistan’s Deputy Permanent Representative Ambassador Usman Jadoon called for a renewed commitment to international legal frameworks for managing transboundary water resources.
“The 2026 Water Conference must prioritise practical transboundary cooperation, reinforce legal structures, and promote peaceful dispute resolution,” Ambassador Jadoon said.
He stressed the importance of elevating the voices of countries in the Global South, many of which rely on shared water systems for their survival and development.
Pakistan welcomed the inclusion of Transboundary Water Cooperation as a key theme of the upcoming conference and expressed readiness to contribute insights from its decades-long, treaty-based water-sharing arrangements.
Ambassador Jadoon also highlighted Pakistan’s water vulnerabilities as a semi-arid, lower-riparian country that depends heavily on the Indus River system—home to the world’s largest contiguous irrigation network, crucial to the food, health, and energy security of over 225 million people.
He underscored the scale of the global water crisis, noting that two billion people worldwide still lack access to safely managed drinking water, while half the global population lives without adequate sanitation.
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