Climate stress means South Asia needs new formulas to share water

Amid scorching heatwaves and intensifying drought across South and Southeast Asia, water availability is reaching critical levels in many places.

April temperatures shattered records globally. This added to the pressure of below-normal rainfall last year in many parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and along the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers in India and Bangladesh.

These climate disruptions are not anomalies, and the escalating global water crisis is heightening concern about food and energy insecurity. Water scarcity also risks becoming a significant driver of geopolitical tensions, with far-reaching implications for global stability.

Against this backdrop, this month’s World Water Forum in Bali could have profound significance. The event will present a pivotal opportunity for leaders and stakeholders to embrace sustainable solutions that prioritize collective action, comprehensive governance reform, educational initiatives and collaborative frameworks.

The imperative to address water-related challenges is particularly acute in South Asia, where the intersection of water stress and climate vulnerabilities presents a formidable challenge.

In addition to coping with disruptions to normal rainfall patterns, South Asia is expected to face a drastic drop in water availability in the coming years due to rapidly melting Himalayan glaciers. As the glaciers retreat, freshwater supplies will diminish, particularly from glacier-fed rivers like the Indus. This will adversely affect irrigation, agricultural productivity and overall food availability, driving resource competition among the countries sharing these beleaguered river systems.

Regional water stress is further compounded by the geopolitics of South Asia.

Here, shared river basins are vital for millions of people in different countries. But geopolitical tensions and historical disputes have frequently seen water resources politicized.

This has been particularly evident with the Brahmaputra, where China’s ongoing upstream dam construction has raised concerns about potential water diversion away from downstream India and Bangladesh. Currently, only nonbinding agreements on data and information sharing are in place between India and China in regard to the river.

In the case of the Indus, a treaty has long been in place between India and Pakistan to share water resources, but concerns persist over equitable distribution of supplies from the river amid strained political relations.

These problems underscore the urgent requirement for cooperative frameworks and robust mechanisms to facilitate effective collaboration among riparian countries in the region. This includes establishing formal water-sharing agreements where none exist, and updating those that do to address contemporary challenges such as population growth, climate change impacts, conflict resolution and changing water usage patterns.

A protest march in Karachi in 2018 against dam construction along the Indus River.    © Reuters

The ratification of international legal frameworks, such the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe’s 1992 Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes and the 1997 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses could also strengthen enforcement mechanisms within South Asia.

These frameworks encourage equitable water management practices, discourage unilateral decision-making by upstream countries and are helping mitigate transboundary water-related disputes.

The World Water Forum will offer global and regional leaders the opportunity to bring water-related issues to the forefront of policy discourse. The forum can be a platform to highlight the specific challenges faced by South Asia, and the desperate need for adaptation finance, as well as to advocate for integrated decision-making and better water governance frameworks.

The mobilization of financing for sustainable water and sanitation infrastructure and the introduction of innovative financing mechanisms will be critical in debt-ridden regions like South Asia. Leaders should emphasize the urgency of scaling up capacity-building initiatives, fostering knowledge-sharing platforms and engaging nongovernmental stakeholders and the private sector in a holistic decision-making process that enhances the effectiveness of water-related policies.

This effort must extend to other influential platforms, such as the upcoming World Water Week in Stockholm, the U.N. General Assembly, the One Water Summit to be held in New York and the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The goal must be to move these gatherings beyond rhetoric to reaffirm and fortify commitments, as well as deliver actionable solutions. Catalyzing effective diplomacy and political will are essential for building the trust and cooperation among riparian countries needed to achieve sustainable sharing of water resources.

The recent announcement of the formation of a Group of Seven “water coalition” by the bloc’s environment and climate ministers represents a welcome and hopefully pivotal step in prioritizing water for sustainable development, prosperity and peace on an international scale.

This new grouping has called for implementing integrated water resources management and advancing transboundary cooperation through facilitating collective action. Embedding water security into broader international agendas through such initiatives could help generate urgently needed support for South Asia and other regions facing water security crises.

Historically, water security has often been viewed as a secondary concern on the global agenda, but as the problem becomes more acute, there is a growing recognition of its importance.

However, to sustain this momentum, dedicated platforms like the World Water Forum must continue to hold governments and institutions accountable, spur them to make progress and provide support where it is most required. Water access is not just an economic or security concern, it is a fundamental humanitarian imperative. All other development goals will remain unattainable without it.

Farwa Aamer is director of South Asia Initiatives at the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York.

source : asia.nikkei