Hydro-diplomacy and the prospects of environmental peacebuilding between Pakistan and India

Bilal Aslam

doi:10.47264/idea.jhsms/3.1.14

Authors

Bilal Aslam Centre for South Asian Studies, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan | 2. Department of Community and Environmental Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2733-9704

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47264/idea.jhsms/3.1.14

Keywords:

Indus Water Treaty, South Asia, Pak-India peacebuilding, hydro diplomacy, environmental peacebuilding, ecological peace, transboundary water sharing

Abstract

Pakistan and India have a history of animosity on many issues including transboundary water sharing but in 1960 both states agreed on sharing the rivers of the Indus basin by signing the Indus Water Treaty (IWT). IWT ensures sustained cooperation on the issue of transboundary water sharing and sets the parameters for the hydro-diplomacy between Pakistan and India. In recent times, mutual vulnerabilities around the environmental issues and the water scarcity, have again brought in a possibility of extending cooperation on water sharing by revisiting the IWT. Consequently, the hydro-diplomacy has the potential of spill over effect for the settlement of outstanding disputes between Pakistan and India thus paving the way for the regional peace and integration of South Asia. The paper reviews the literature on hydro-diplomacy and incorporates the document analysis to analyse the efficacy of the principles of cooperation laid down in IWT and evaluates the forces that have been behind the treaty and the possibilities for the future of environmental peacebuilding between Pakistan and India. The paper also evaluates the hydro-diplomacy as characterized by the power dynamics, hegemony, and the nature of political and economic relations between Pakistan and India.

References

Abitbol, E. (2014). Hydropolitical peacebuilding. Israeli-Palestinian water relations and the transformation of asymmetric conflict in the Middle East. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Bradford.

Alam, U. Z. (2002). Questioning the water wars rationale: A case study of the Indus Waters Treaty. Geographical Journal, 168(4), 341-353. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0016-7398.2002.00060.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0016-7398.2002.00060.x

Ali, S. H. (2008). Water politics in South Asia: Technocratic cooperation and lasting security in the Indus basin and beyond. Journal of International Affairs, 61(2), 167-182. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24358117

Ali, S. H., & Zia, A. (2017). Transboundary data sharing and resilience scenarios: harnessing the role of regional organizations for environmental security. In Z. Adeel, & R. Wirsing (Eds.), Imagining Industan (pp. 121-139). Springer. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-32845-4_7 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32845-4_7

Arsel, M. (2011). Fuelling misconceptions: UNEP, natural resources, the environment and conflict. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7660.2011.01684.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7660.2011.01684.x

Bächler, G. (1994). Desertification and conflict: The marginalization of poverty and of environmental conflicts. Swiss Peace Foundation, Center for Security Studies and Conflict Research/Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH-Zentrum.

Bandyopadhyay, S., Magsi, H., Sen, S., & Dentinho, P. T. (2020). Water management in South Asia: Socio-economic, infrastructural, environmental and institutional aspects (Contemporary South Asian Studies) (1st Ed.). Springer. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35237-0

Beck, A. (2015). The UN Peacebuilding Commission and the potential of water in post-conflict development, governance and reconciliation. Water International, 40(2), 215-230. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508060.2015.1012284 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02508060.2015.1012284

Birnie, P. (2002). Salman M. A. Salman and Kishor Uprety, Conflict and Cooperation on South Asia’s International Rivers (London, The Hague, and New York: Law International, 2002), 399 pages. Yearbook of International Environmental Law, 13(1), 855–859. https://doi.org/10.1093/yiel/13.1.855 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/yiel/13.1.855

Boutros-Ghali, B. (1992). An agenda for peace: Preventive diplomacy, peacemaking and peace-keeping. International Relations, 11(3), 201-218. https://doi.org/10.1177/004711789201100302 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/004711789201100302

Bowen, G. A. (2009). Document analysis as a qualitative research method. Qualitative Research Journal, 9(2), 27-40. https://doi.org/10.3316/QRJ0902027 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3316/QRJ0902027

Darwish, A., & Bulloch, J. (1993). Water Wars: coming conflicts in the Middle East.

Chellaney, B. (2011). Water: Asia's new battleground. Georgetown University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1355/cs34-2j

Conca, K., & Dabelko, G. D. (Eds.). (2002). Environmental peacemaking. Woodrow Wilson Center Press.

Ekbladh, D. (2002). “Mr. TVA”: Grass-roots development, David Lilienthal, and the rise and fall of the Tennessee Valley authority as a symbol for U.S. Overseas Development, 1933–1973. Diplomatic History, 26(3), 335–374. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-7709.00315 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-7709.00315

Farinosi, F., Giupponi, C., Reynaud, A., Ceccherini, G., Carmona-Moreno, C., De Roo, A., ... & Bidoglio, G. (2018). An innovative approach to the assessment of hydro-political risk: A spatially explicit, data driven indicator of hydro-political issues. Global Environmental Change, 52, 286-313. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2018.07.001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2018.07.001

Farnum, R. L. (2018). Drops of diplomacy: Questioning the scale of hydro-diplomacy through fog-harvesting. Journal of Hydrology, 562, 446-454. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.05.012 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.05.012

Gleditsch, N. P. (1998). Armed conflict and the environment: A critique of the literature. Journal of peace research, 35(3), 381-400. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0022343398035003007 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0022343398035003007

Gleick, P. H. (1991). Environment and security: The clear connections. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 47(3), 16-21. https://doi.org/10.1080/00963402.1991.11459956 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00963402.1991.11459956

Haines, D. (2017). Rivers divided: Indus basin waters in the making of India and Pakistan. Hurst & Company. https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/rivers-divided-indus-basin-waters-in-the-making-of-india-and-paki

Harari, N., & Roseman, J. (2008). Environmental peacebuilding theory and practice: A Case study of the good water neighbours project. Friends of the Earth Middle East.

Hefny, M. A. (2011). Water diplomacy: A tool for enhancing water peace and sustainability in the Arab region. Technical Document (Draft), Cairo. http://www. unesco. org/pv_obj_cache/pv_obj_id_7210C01E64EB51064895352368C55EFA95151100/filename/Water% 20Diplomacy% 20in% 20Action% 20Strategy% 20Doc, 203

Hensel, P. R., Mitchell, S. M., & Sowers II, T. E. (2006). Conflict management of riparian disputes. Political Geography, 25(4), 383-411. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2005.11.001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2005.11.001

Homer-Dixon, T. F. (1991). On the threshold: environmental changes as causes of acute conflict. International security, 16(2), 76-116. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/447281/summary DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2539061

Huntjens, P., Yasuda, Y., Swain, A., de Man, R., Magsig, B. O., & Islam, S. (2016). The multi-track water diplomacy framework: A legal and political economy analysis for advancing cooperation over shared waters (1st Ed.). The Hague Institute for Global Justice.

Ide, T., Bruch, C., Carius, A., Conca, K., Dabelko, G. D., Matthew, R., & Weinthal, E. (2021). The past and future (s) of environmental peacebuilding. International Affairs, 97(1), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiaa177 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiaa177

Iqbal, N. (2002). Economic threat may push Pakistan to go nuclear. Asia Times, 6.

Islam, S., & Susskind, L. E. (2012). Water diplomacy: A negotiated approach to managing complex water networks. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203083659 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203083659

Jayaram, D. (2020). India–Pakistan river water sharing: Prospects for environmental peacebuilding. In S. Bandyopadhyay, H. Magsi, S. Sen, & T. P. Dentinho (Eds.), Water management in South Asia (pp. 175-202). Springer https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-35237-0 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35237-0_11

Levy, M. A. (1995). Time for a third wave of environment and security scholarship? Environmental Change and Security Project Report, 1, 44-46. https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/136118/ECSP%20report_1.pdf#page=44

Libiszewski, S. (1992). What Is an Environmental Conflict? (Occasional Paper No. 1). Environment and Conflicts Project, Swiss Peace Foundation, Berne and Center for Security Studies and Conflict Research, Zurich, Switzerland.

Lowi, M. R. (1993). Bridging the divide: Transboundary resource disputes and the case of West Bank water. International Security, 18(1), 113-138. https://doi.org/10.1162/isec.18.1.113 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2539034

Malik, B. A. (2005). Indus waters treaty in retrospect. Brite Books.

Miller, J. D., Immerzeel, W. W., & Rees, G. (2012). Climate change impacts on glacier hydrology and river discharge in the Hindu Kush–Himalayas. Mountain Research and Development, 32(4), 461-467. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-12-00027.1

Mitha, F. (2010). The Jordanian?Israeli relationship: The reality of “cooperation”. Middle East Policy, 17(2), 105-126. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4967.2010.00442.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4967.2010.00442.x

Pepper, K. (2018). Map of river Indus and its flow through India along with its tributaries. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Indus_River_basin_map.svg

Shah, T. (2007). The groundwater economy of South Asia: An assessment of size, significance and socio-ecological impacts. In M. Giordano, K. G. Villholth (Ed.), The agricultural groundwater revolution: Opportunities and threats to development (pp. 7-36). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1079/9781845931728.0007

Singh, R. T. (2011). India's Water relations with her neighbours. Vij Books India.

Sinha, U. K. (2010). 50 years of the Indus water treaty: an evaluation. Strategic Analysis, 34(5), 667-670. https://doi.org/10.1080/09700161.2010.501580 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09700161.2010.501580

Soffer, A., Rosovsky, M., & Copaken, N. (1999). Rivers of fire: The conflict over water in the Middle East. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Swain, A. (2009). The Indus II and Siachen peace park: Pushing the India–Pakistan peace process forward. The Round Table, 98(404), 569-582. https://doi.org/10.1080/00358530903151854 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00358530903151854

Tabassum, S. (2001). The role of CBMs in resolving non-military issues between India and Pakistan: A case study of the Indus Water Treaty. The Challenge of Confidence-Building Measures in South Asia.

Tripathi, N. K. (2011). Scarcity dilemma as security dilemma: geopolitics of water governance in South Asia. Economic and Political Weekly, 46(7),67-72. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27918149

Watto, M. A., & Mugera, A. W. (2016). Groundwater depletion in the Indus Plains of Pakistan: imperatives, repercussions and management issues. International Journal of River Basin Management, 14(4), 447-458. https://doi.org/10.1080/15715124.2016.1204154 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15715124.2016.1204154

Weinthal, E., Troell, J., & Nakayama, M. (2011). Water and post-conflict peacebuilding: introduction. Water International, 36(2), 143-153. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508060.2011.561772 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02508060.2011.561772

Weinthal, E., & Johnson, M. (2018). Post-war environmental peacebuilding: navigating renewable and non-renewable resources. In Routledge Handbook of Environmental Conflict and Peacebuilding, Edited by Ashok Swain and Joakim Öjendal, 85-96. Taylor and Francis Group. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315473772-7

Wolf, A. T., & Hamner, J. H. (2000). Trends in transboundary water disputes and dispute resolution. In M.R. Lowi & B. R. Shaw (eds.), Environment and security (pp. 123-148). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230596634_8 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230596634_8

Zawahri, N. (2009). Third party mediation of international river disputes: Lessons from the Indus River. International Negotiation, 14(2), 281-310. https://brill.com/view/journals/iner/14/2/article-p281_4.xml DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/157180609X432833