Climate change adaptation key to region’s survival
Business
April 27, 2021
Excessively high dependence on water resources is the main reason for high susceptibility of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan to climate change impacts. This dependence is also rooted in low economic productivity of water use in all other Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) countries including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, China, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Mongolia. To make efficient use of water, the principle of “more crop per drop” must be implemented in the irrigation sector and, water-energy subsidies could be slowly phased out and more pro-poor policies promoted instead of subsidising low efficiency water use.