Hydro-diplomacy Towards Peace Ecology: The Case of the Indus Water Treaty Between India and Pakistan

Abstract

This chapter presents the institutional characteristics of the Indus Water Treaty (IWT Indus Waters Treaty, 1960: “The Indus Waters Treaty”, signed in Karachi on 19 September 1960: 300–365, 1960) between India and Pakistan in the literature of peace ecology and discusses the complexities of including climate change discourse in the Treaty using the hydro-diplomacy approach in transboundary water management. The introduction to the chapter is followed by the conceptual framework of the study, the historical background of the Indus Water Treaty and the Indus River Basin, and the key aspects of the Indus Water Treaty. The second part includes institutional analysis of the Indus Water Treaty from the peace ecology and climate change perspectives. Towards the end this chapter notes that the challenges of the Indus Water Treaty justify the importance of hydro-diplomacy in the transboundary water management. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the convergence of hydro-diplomacy and peace ecology with climate change supplements for the rich and vulnerable Indus River Basin.