Assessing the Socio-Economic and Environmental Impacts of 2014 Drought in District Tharparkar, Sindh-Pakistan

Thar Desert constitutes the largest desert of Pakistan. It is the only densely populated desert in the world, whose inhabitants is attached to their location and is unwilling to migrate. In recent past, Thar has been struck three times by droughts, the most recent was of 2014 while, and the most severe was in 1992-2002, following which it was declared one of the food insecure regions of the world e.g. Yemen, Syrian Arab Republic, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Burundi, Afghanistan. Understanding people perception of drought can assist to identify barriers to and drivers of adaptation that later help to develop adaptation related policies. This study seeks to assess the present condition of Thar natives and to understand from the views of people that how much negative impact of drought has on their lives. Primary data were obtained through personal interviews from local people (N=251) during field survey which was conducted in July 2015. Natives indicated that drought is a natural phenomenon; it does affect their lives, but not to a significant level. Among the affected people, the poor who live in rural areas and depend directly on agriculture have been hit especially hard. The installation of a solar reverse osmosis (SRO) plant that serves District Tharparkar has resolved most of the water shortage issues. However, water quality remains an issue for villagers, dependent on well water that is saline or polluted. Human activities such as deforestation and use of non-renewable resources for fuel are increasing environmental degradation. There is a dire need to establish best medical centers other than urban sites of the district to improve health condition of the natives