Workshop on Governing Critical Uncertainties:Climate Change and Decision-Making in

Transboundary River Basins

21‐23 January 2013, Chiang Mai, Thailand

www.earthsystemgovernance.org

New Challenges of Transboundary Water Conflicts and Climate Change for Governance of Indus River Basin

Introduction• Indus is a river system that sustains 200 million people in India and Pakistan• Both India and Pakistan have extensively dammed the Indus River• With competing demands of water both sides, the conflicts sustain since 1947, year of partition• Indus Water Treaty (IWT) agreed in 1960• Transboundary water conflicts on climax now• Climate change is supposed to add to conflicts• New challenges to governance and institutions• Need to reform the international legislation and governance to cope with uncertainties

Indus River Basin System• Sanskrit – Sindhu

• Old Persian – Hindu

• Ancient Greek - Ἰνδός 

• Old Iranian - Indós

• Urdu - Daryā-e Sindh

• Hindi - Sindhu Nadī 

• Sindhi - Sindhu

• Punjabi - Sindh

• Gujarati - Sindhu

• Tibetan - Sênggê Zangbo (Lion River)

• Pashto - Abāsin (Father of Rivers)

• Turkish – Nilab

• Arabic - Naḥar al-Sind

• Persian - Rūd-e Sind 

• Latin – Indus

Indus River Basin SystemLength: 3,200 km (2,000 mi)Basin: 1,165,000 km2 (450,000 mi2)Discharge: 6,600 m3/s (230,000 ft3/s)Location Coordinates: India and Pakistan ~32046'N and 74057'EPopulation: 175 million (72% in Pakistan; 28% in India)Rainfall: 1000-1400 mm  Temperature: 80oC (Winter) - 48oC (Summer)Economic Factor: Agricultural productionArea: 450,000 square milesTop uses of water: Irrigation, water supply, hydropower generation Left Tributaries: Zanskar River, Chenab River, Sutlej River, Sohan RiverRight Tributaries: Shyok River, Gilgit River, Kabul River, Kurram River, Gumal River

Indus River Basin System

• 21st largest river in the world in terms of annual flow

• 60% of Indus basin lies in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK), 10% in Tibet, 25% in India and India-Administered Kashmir, and 7% in Afghanistan

• Indus system is largely fed by the snows and glaciers of the Himalayas, Karakoram and the Hindu Kush ranges

• 80% of water for Upper Indus Rivers comes from Himalayan glaciers

• 25 amphibian species and 147 fish species of which 22 are endemic

• Indus is the most important supplier of water resources to the Punjab and Sindh plains

Competing Water Demands & Transboundary Conflicts

• Water disputes between Punjab and Sind provinces during British India

• Conflict in the basin started in 1947 when India stopped water flowing through its canals to Pakistan

• Dispute over Salal dam was settled in 1978

• Controversy on the Wullar Barrage/ Tulbul Navigation project and Kishanganga hydroelectric dams remains unsettled.

• Baglihar dam created severe conflicts, but the issue was settled by recourse to Neutral Expert

• Recent Conflicts created around: 57-metre high Nimoo-Bazgo dam in Leh (India); 42-metre high Chuttak dam on Suru river (India-Kashmir); Tulbul Navigation Project in India-Kashmir

Some Major Dams on India’s Part of Indus River Basin

Transboundary Governance System • Inter-Dominion Accord of May 4, 1948: required India to release sufficient waters to Pakistani regions

• Pakistan wanted to take the matter to the International Court of Justice but India refused

• In 1951, David E. Lilienthal, former chairman of Tennessee Valley Authority, visited India and Pakistan.

• Lilienthal wrote an article with suggestions that Indus Basin be treated, exploited, and developed as a single unit

Transboundary Governance System • World Bank mediated from 1952 onwards, and Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) was signed in September 1960

• IWT conferred rights over 3 western rivers of Indus river system (Jhelum, Chenab and Indus) to Pakistan, and over 3 eastern rivers (Sutlej, Ravi and Beas) to India

Transboundary Governance System

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