Estb. 1882

University of the Punjab

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RSGCRL-PU scientist stressed ‘above regional politics plan’ for depleting groundwater in Pakistan
RSGCRL-PU scientist stressed ‘above regional politics plan’ for depleting groundwater in Pakistan


LAHORE: (Thursday, May 26, 2022): Dr. Khalid Mahmood, Co-PI of Remote Sensing, GIS and Climatic Research Lab (RSGCRL), National Center of GIS and Space Applications, has participated in United Nations Conference held in Ghana, representing Pakistan and Inter-Islamic Network on Space Science and Technology (ISNET). During his talk, Dr. Khalid Mahmood highlighted the issue of depleting groundwater in Pakistan, and identified diversion of the natural courses of water by India as the root cause of burgeoning groundwater depletion rates. He stressed upon the importance of an international plan to cope with the water scarcity scenario, and pointed out the fact that mismanagement of water resources by local government alone is not responsible for depleting water resources; rather regional misconduct is second to international negligence. He said that without the formulation and implementation of a strategic international plan that was above regional politics, none on the earth was safe and the planet would eventually dry one day. Dr. Khalid also suggested development of a second tier of science that compensates for budgetary and technical incapability of developing world. He suggested that for the development of alternate and economic science, satellite based geospatial indices have the potential to serve humanity in a myriad of ways. With such initiatives, he said, policy makers would be equipped with requisite scientific knowledge for making correct decisions.