In Pakistan, the provinces of Balochistan and Sindh have been affected by severe drought this year, particularly in the rain-fed areas due to below normal rains since 1998 in general and unusual dry spell since November 1999. In the province of Balochistan, this year's monsoon rains, which generally occur in the months of July/August, have touched only eastern areas of the province with limited and scattered precipitation whereas large parts of the central and western areas have received no rains.

This drought has led to a significant loss of livestock and crops and a rapid deterioration of health and sanitary conditions in the affected communities. As a result of low precipitation during current monsoon, as well as due to lack of adequate water resource management, water tables have been steadily dropping down in the drought affected areas of Balochistan province, resulting in raising the prospects of large population displacements. The anticipation of sufficient precipitation in the months of November and December is the only hope to improve drought situation in the drought-affected areas. However, if there are insufficient rains during these months as well, the situation will get exacerbated and it might lead to further losses in terms of life, property and environment.

The Government of Pakistan has launched a relief programme by providing initially 2 billion Pakistani rupees (equivalent to US $39 million) for Balochistan and Sindh provinces to undertake various relief measures. These include provision of free and subsidized distribution of wheat, medicines, cash compensation for livestock losses, animal feed and accelerated provision of health and veterinary services through mobile units in the drought-affected areas. Moreover, the Government of Pakistan has committed to provide additional 1.5 billion Pakistani rupees (equivalent to US $29.3 million) to provide relief and rehabilitation assistance for drought affectees. Bilateral donors, UN Agencies, local and international NGOs and private organizations have also participated in relief activities in the drought-stricken areas, details of which are given in Annex A.

The UN system has been working closely with the Federal and Provincial Governments to provide immediate relief assistance to drought affectees, monitor the drought situation and to develop appropriate medium to long term solutions. For this purpose, it fielded two assessment missions - an FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission and a partially DFID-funded Rapid Non-Food Assessment Mission to Balochistan and Sindh during May/June 2000.

FAO/WFP Missions found that crop and livestock rearing have been affected severely by water scarcity in the worst affected districts of Balochistan province. The rain-fed wheat crop failed almost entirely, whilst yields of irrigated wheat were substantially reduced. The mission also noted heavy losses in the order of 45 to 55 percent for sheep and 30 to 40 percent for goats in terms of mortality and forced culling rates.

The Non-Food Assessment Mission reviewed water and sanitation, nutrition, health and livestock issues. The mission found that current water shortage is largely attributable to lack of planning and management of water resources and lack of maintenance of water supply services. It underlined the need for more stringent and long term monitoring of the situation in parallel with a coherent coordination of emergency and rehabilitation programmes. The reports of both the Missions have been shared with the Government and UN Agencies.

FAO is now planning to field a follow-up impact assessment mission in Balochistan around September 2000. It has also received a request from the Government of Pakistan for relief assistance for animal feed and medicines for the drought-affected areas.

The UN system in collaboration with the Balochistan Government is planning to conduct a rapid household survey in the coming months to determine effects of drought on livestock, water, food, agriculture and health sectors.

On the insistence of UN system, the Government of Balochistan on 2 August, 2000 constituted a Provincial Management Drought Committee (PMDC). PMDC will consists of representatives of provincial line departments, UN Agencies (UNDP, WFP, WHO, UNICEF and UNHCR) and will take stock of the drought situation, manage relief operations, review reports and will coordinate activities of the relevant provincial Government Departments/UN Agencies and local and international NGOs.

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