According to estimates, poor water resource management costs Pakistan $12 billion annually (4 percent of GDP), while the Indus Delta’s deterioration adds another $2 billion in costs.
These estimates could be low given the lack of reliable ecological and socioeconomic costs, according to the Ministry of Climate Change’s paper “Living Indus: Investing in Ecological Restoration.” Furthermore, it estimates that between $7 billion and $14 billion would be needed annually to fund adaptation to climate change.
The Indus is the center of Pakistan’s agricultural economy, according to the research. Due to water-related economic repercussions such as poor water supply and sanitation, flood damage, and water shortages in agriculture, Pakistan already loses an average of 4% of its GDP. The indirect cost of lost ecosystem services is not taken into account in this assessment.
According to estimates, the Indus Delta’s degradation costs the world over $2 billion a year in lost ecosystem services. The loss of Delta ecosystem services (including those provided by mangrove forests and fisheries) makes for around half of all agricultural losses brought on by waterlogging and salinity, the report continued.
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