UN Water Conference 2023

Saving Punjab presents at The United Nations 2023 Water Conference

As Saving Punjab continues to gather research and highlight the concerns of Punjab through a data-driven approach, Saving Punjab was invited to join a panel of thought leaders at The United Nations 2023 Water Conference from 22 – 24 March 2023 at the United Nations in New York, USA.

With the last water conference in 1977, the panel discussed the diversification of less water-intensive crops and deliberated on subjects such as sustainable farming and food security worldwide aswell as water being a human right.

Saving Punjab’s Director and Head of Research, Gurpreet Singh joined Ms Hasmik Barseghyan of the European Youth Parliament for Water (EYPW), Dr Erum Satar Director Sustainable Water Management Program Tufts University,  Professor Vinay Nangia of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Mr. Pierre Ludovic CLAUDE Founder and Director of Aquaful, Mr. Moses WEST CEO of Royal Ambassadors Ministries, and CEO of Excellence Network, LLC on a panel moderated by Monica Gill of the Sikh Human Rights Group. The panelists discussed the pressing issues the world faces regarding water care and sustainability.

Punjab has a population of 27.8 million and a geographical area of 50,362 km². The land is named after the five rivers, Beas, Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi, and Sutlej, and is famously known as India’s bread basket. Today, Punjab is suffering from record-breaking groundwater depletion, with 80% of Punjab’s area becoming a red zone because of groundwater overuse.

Saving Punjab also presented the economic impact this has and why Punjab’s farmers have to sow water-intensive crops to barely break-even each year. To learn more about these issues and how they affect Punjab, visit Saving Punjab’s website and social media at savingpunjab.org.

Through these events, Saving Punjab can highlight Punjab’s problems on the global stage and would like to thank the organisers and the ongoing support of Punjabis in Punjab and the diaspora. Seeing the innovative work NGOs are doing to help combat the global water crisis, Saving Punjab can look into utilising the solutions presented at the conference and how they can be implemented in Punjab.

The Saving Punjab Team