Water-Related Impacts of Climate Change on Agriculture and Subsequently on Public Health: A Review for Generalists with Particular Reference to Pakistan

Toqeer Ahmed, Miklas Scholz, Furat Al-Faraj and Wajeeha Niaz
Additional contact information
Miklas Scholz: Division of Water Resources Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Lund University, P.O. Box 118, Lund 22100, Sweden
Furat Al-Faraj: Division of Water Resources Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Lund University, P.O. Box 118, Lund 22100, Sweden
Wajeeha Niaz: Centre for Climate Research and Development, COMSAS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad Campus, Park Road, Chak Shahzad, Islamabad 45550, Pakistan

IJERPH, 2016, vol. 13, issue 11, 1-16

Abstract: Water-related impacts due to change in climatic conditions ranging from water scarcity to intense floods and storms are increasing in developing countries like Pakistan. Water quality and waterborne diseases like hepatitis, cholera, typhoid, malaria and dengue fever are increasing due to chaotic urbanization, industrialization, poor hygienic conditions, and inappropriate water management. The morbidity rate is high due to lack of health care facilities, especially in developing countries. Organizations linked to the Government of Pakistan (e.g., Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Climate Change, Planning and Development, Ministry of Forest, Irrigation and Public Health, Pakistan Meteorological Department, National Disaster Management, Pakistan Agricultural Research Centre, Pakistan Council for Research in Water Resources, and Global Change Impact Study Centre), United Nation organizations, provincial government departments, non-governmental organizations (e.g., Global Facility and Disaster Reduction), research centers linked to universities, and international organizations (International Institute for Sustainable Development, Food and Agriculture, Global Climate Fund and World Bank) are trying to reduce the water-related impacts of climate change, but due to lack of public awareness and health care infrastructure, the death rate is steadily increasing. This paper critically reviews the scientific studies and reports both at national and at international level benefiting generalists concerned with environmental and public health challenges. The article underlines the urgent need for water conservation, risk management, and the development of mitigation measures to cope with the water-related impacts of climate change on agriculture and subsequently on public health. Novel solutions and bioremediation methods have been presented to control environmental pollution and to promote awareness among the scientific community. The focus is on diverse strategies to handle the forthcoming challenges associated with water resources management.

Keywords: bacteria; developing country; disease; environmental management; freshwater; pollution; sustainability; urbanization; wastewater; water resources (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/11/1051/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/11/1051/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:13:y:2016:i:11:p:1051-:d:81552

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Arlene Chen

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().