Water is the key to poverty reduction and economic development in Pakistan.

Pakistan is considered by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) as already one of the most waterstressed countries in the world.
It is also vulnerable to climate change induced changes to its water supply. These include erratic monsoon rains and recession of Himalayan glaciers that supply the Indus river, as well as intense heatwaves.

Recent ACIAR partnerships cover a wide range of perspectives, from village to Indus Basin level. These include: community-led farmer education on groundwater and technology to monitor irrigation; novel regional approaches to managing irrigation schemes; and basin-scale modelling. ACIAR has also partnered Australian science with local expertise since the 1990s to understand and manage salinity through agronomy and irrigation as well as by introducing native saltbush to produce livestock fodder.

ACIAR seeks to leverage impact from the research it supports by partnering – firstly with local research institutions as well as other ACIAR projects (since water is a key input for every farmer). Crucial partnerships are also in place with government policy-makers and local and international development programs related to water and land use.