The 67-page report is a
well-documented analysis of the emerging challenges pertaining to the Indus
Water Basin. Among the several recommendations highlighted in the report, the
immediate focus is to prioritise investments and institutionalise regular
upkeep of the canal infrastructure. The report laid significant emphasis on
developing a digitalised online system of the Indus Basin to foster developing
a regional network and intensified hydrological modelling capacities. Further
prominence was laid on the need to conduct a joint research study evaluating
the cumulative environmental impact of multiple dam constructions on an
individual watercourse, and develop the technical know-how on the relationship
between dam cascades, river basin hydrology, and climate change. It also
impressed on the need to increase the knowledge base on monsoon variability trends
to improve outcomes for rainfall-dependent agriculture, along with the use of
multi-media tools to raise public awareness of climate change within India and
Pakistan. Typifying the treaty itself, it also depends on the inflows of the
Indus Water Basin, which in a larger perspective, affects climate change that
further affects the river system.
The report blames the lax
implementation by India and Pakistan for its ineffectiveness stating that
"both the countries are lax in their implementation (of the Indus Water
Treaty). However, it fails to garner political laxity vis-à-vis its technical
responses, and hinders to offer substantial politico remedies in adhering to
the treaty. It also does not provide ground artefacts that should bind both the
actors in times of observing strict adherence to the treaty. Alternately, the
report should have featured the need for a change in the mind-sets of those who
govern the management of the watercourse between both countries. Since the
cryosphere (snow and glaciers) of the upper Indus Water Basin is rapidly
altering, amounting to a rise in the surface air temperatures by 1.80 degrees
celsius over the past five decades, this is doubling the global average
temperature of the region.
Understanding the dichotomy of
the region, in terms of a change in the geo-strategic structures, urges for an
imperative need which was found missing in the report. As warming temperatures
and changing solid precipitation patterns are altering the duration, timing,
and extent of seasonal snow-covered areas, measures to encapsulate a dialogue
of trust between India and Pakistan are the need of the hour. Although the
report did signify an institutionalised modest exchange of hydrological data
between both countries for future exchanges of water supplies, and, more so,
“to mitigate Pakistan’s legitimate sensitivities”, it failed to reduce the
trust-deficit between both the countries. It is of critical necessity for
contributing to a shift in the timing of peak melt runoff, resulting in low
river flows during the dry summer season when the demand for water in the lower
riparian basins is at its peak. Additionally, the monitored glaciers depict a
17 percent loss in the Suru basin, 15 percent in Zanskar, 6 percent in Nubra,
16 percent in Spiti, 20 percent in Chandra, and 30 percent in Bhaga.
The report enlists equipping
third-party scientific agencies with satellite-based remote-sensing capacities
to disseminate non-politicised, reliable, and timely hydrological data
documenting glacial melt trends to water policymakers and the general public in
both countries for greater transparency. However, it does not envisage
capacities for dealing with disclaiming valedictions to third-party responses,
marked as a popular trend even before the creation of the Indus Water Treaty
(IWT) in 1960. The other missing links that the report could have thrown light
upon is the establishing of a trade-off between environmental recommendations
vis-à-vis developmental recommendations. More so, the report consistently addresses
an effort towards establishing joint partnership and cross-border dialogue in
terms of the various policy and research recommendations highlighted under
Agriculture, Food Security, Energy, Economic Development, Climate Change,
Environmental Pressures, Glaciology, Institutions, Governance, and Diplomacy.
However, it offers insignificant insight as the same has been identified in the
Indus Water Treaty.
It could have also elaborated on
issues related to governance rights, and the perennial influence it fosters
over the watercourse. The Pakistani Army has a direct influence on mostly all
issues related to Pakistan. It manages the rhetoric around water through
proxies and allies, as it has its own vested interest in the resource. It
controls a significant portion of the watercourse (i.e., 11.5 m/hec which
amounts to 12 percent of its total share). The concept of hydro-connectivity
and inter-dependence over the politico-technical discourse of the IWT, and
factors connecting the catchment with the delta, are other aspects that are
found inadequately dealt with in the report.
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