Sixty Years of the Indus Waters Treaty in the Era of Climate Change: A Look Ahead in Hydro-diplomacy and Treaty Law

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Bharat H. Desai
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Role Model ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Indus Basin ◽  
Transboundary Water ◽  
Domestic Water ◽  
Transboundary Water Resources ◽  
Look Ahead ◽  
Indus Waters Treaty

The Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) has now attained the milestone of 60 years (1960– 2020). It has become a global role model of an international legal mechanism for shared transboundary water resources. It has withstood all the strains, conflicts and lows in the bilateral relations between the riparian states of India and Pakistan. The current trends of global climate change in the Anthropocene age have exacerbated the risk of conflict over the shared international freshwater resources under the IWT. The receding glaciers, scanty snowfall, changing land system patterns, increasing demands for water to meet irrigation, industrial and domestic water demands, all have cumulatively made an impact on water availability in the shared Indus Basin. The study seeks to analyze the actual working of the IWT, efficacy of the in-built conflict resolution mechanism and the sheer tenacity to stay course especially on the part of the large upper riparian country, India. It, in turn, has become an exemplar in a treaty-based mechanism as well as in making hydro-diplomacy work for shared transboundary water resources in the era of climate change.

scholarly journals Predicting hydrologic responses to climate changes in highly glacierized and mountainous region Upper Indus Basin

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 191957 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Izhar Shah ◽  
Asif Khan ◽  
Tahir Ali Akbar ◽  
Quazi K. Hassan ◽  
Asim Jahangir Khan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Model Simulation ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Meteorological Data ◽  
Swat Model ◽  
Indus Basin ◽  
Upper Indus Basin

The Upper Indus Basin (UIB) is a major source of supplying water to different areas because of snow and glaciers melt and is also enduring the regional impacts of global climate change. The expected changes in temperature, precipitation and snowmelt could be reasons for further escalation of the problem. Therefore, estimation of hydrological processes is critical for UIB. The objectives of this paper were to estimate the impacts of climate change on water resources and future projection for surface water under different climatic scenarios using soil and water assessment tool (SWAT). The methodology includes: (i) development of SWAT model using land cover, soil and meteorological data; (ii) calibration of the model using daily flow data from 1978 to 1993; (iii) model validation for the time 1994–2003; (iv) bias correction of regional climate model (RCM), and (v) utilization of bias-corrected RCM for future assessment under representative concentration pathways RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 for mid (2041–2070) and late century (2071–2100). The results of the study revealed a strong correlation between simulated and observed flow with R 2 and Nash–Sutcliff efficiency (NSE) equal to 0.85 each for daily flow. For validation, R 2 and NSE were found to be 0.84 and 0.80, respectively. Compared to baseline period (1976–2005), the result of RCM showed an increase in temperature ranging from 2.36°C to 3.50°C and 2.92°C to 5.23°C for RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 respectively, till the end of the twenty-first century. Likewise, the increase in annual average precipitation is 2.4% to 2.5% and 6.0% to 4.6% (mid to late century) under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively. The model simulation results for RCP4.5 showed increase in flow by 19.24% and 16.78% for mid and late century, respectively. For RCP8.5, the increase in flow is 20.13% and 15.86% during mid and late century, respectively. The model was more sensitive towards available moisture and snowmelt parameters. Thus, SWAT model could be used as effective tool for climate change valuation and for sustainable management of water resources in future.

scholarly journals Hydrodiplomacy & International Law Training Manual -GGRETA Project

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chloé Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Training Manual ◽  
Water Conflict ◽  
Transboundary Rivers ◽  
Transboundary Water ◽  
Domestic Water ◽  
Transboundary Water Resources ◽  
Institutional Dimension ◽  
Management Techniques ◽  
Law Training

This Manual is proposed as a tool for capacity-building in relation to transboundary water conflict prevention and resolution, and to the legal and institutional dimension of transboundary water resources governance. As water management includes also dispute management, the Manual explores first dispute management techniques, with particular attention to alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that includes mediation and facilitation of negotiations. Next, the Manual explores the legal and institutional dimension of the governance of the water resources of transboundary rivers, lakes, and aquifers. Finally, the interplay between the transboundary and the domestic legal and institutional dimension is also canvassed in this Manual from two complementary angles: by looking into general reflections of awareness of, attention to, and concern for, transboundary rivers, lakes, and aquifers in States’ domestic water laws; and by identifying ways for domestic water laws and institutions to align with the rules agreed upon by the States concerned for the management, development, and protection of their transboundary water resources. Conflict Law Transboundary

scholarly journals Weighted Bankruptcy Rules and Transboundary Water Resources Allocation

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 2303-2321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hojjat Mianabadi ◽  
Erik Mostert ◽  
Saket Pande ◽  
Nick van de Giesen
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Resources Allocation ◽  
Water Resources Allocation ◽  
Transboundary Water ◽  
Transboundary Water Resources
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