President Zardari addresses the World Summit for Social Development in Doha on November 4, 2025. PHOTO: RADIO PAKISTAN
ISLAMABAD:
Reaffirming the commitment to conservation and sustainable management of wetlands, President Asif Ali Zardari urged citizens – especially youth, communities and policy makers – to value, protect and sustainably manage wetlands as vital cultural and ecological assets.
“This day marks the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands, also known as the Ramsar Convention, in 1971. Pakistan is a signatory to this landmark agreement, which promotes the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands and their resources for present and future generations,” the President said in a message to observe World Wetlands Day on February 2.
He said the World Wetlands Day 2026 theme, “Wetlands and Traditional Knowledge: Celebrating Cultural Heritage,” reminded them that wetlands were not just ecological systems.
“They are living cultural landscapes shaped over centuries by local communities. Across Pakistan, traditional knowledge and practices linked to wetlands have supported livelihoods, food security, biodiversity conservation and a balanced relationship with nature,” the President’s Secretariat Media Wing quoted the President as saying in a statement.
President Zardari said water security in the region depended on responsible and lawful cross-border cooperation. “Pakistan remains concerned about unilateral actions by India affecting the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, a legally binding agreement that has governed equitable water sharing in the Indus Basin for decades,” he added.
He noted that the suspension of treaty mechanisms, including the sharing of hydrological data, undermined trust and predictability when climate pressures demanded greater cooperation.
“Water must never be used as a tool of coercion and the weaponization of water as an instrument of war against Pakistan must be rejected as the disruption of river flows threatens millions of lives, livelihoods and food systems in a country dependent on the Indus basin,” he stressed.
The President observed that healthy wetlands reduce flooding, protect coasts, sustain livelihoods and reduce emissions, adding that neglecting them multiplies climate loss, while restoring them provides high returns for resilience, economy and ecology.
He noted that Pakistan was among the countries least responsible for climate change, yet most exposed to its consequences. “Our wetlands are climate defenders on the front lines against floods, droughts, heat waves and sea level rise,” he added.
Pakistan’s diverse wetlands, the President said, played a vital role in biodiversity conservation, climate change adaptation, water regulation and disaster risk reduction.
