Hydropower race and dispute resolution in Indus’ western rivers
J. Catherine
Head, Research & Publication, MRC, Pune
Key Highlights
- Population growth and climate crisis are the two major factors haunting the future of energy demand
- Since China is an upper riparian to India in the Indus Basin, India needs to be wary of its neighbor’s actions
- India and Pakistan can consider the perks of energy transactions and compensations for ecosystem services.
- To create a viable framework for managing the hydropower development in the Indus Basin, Underwater Domain Awareness (UDA) framework can be utilized
Among the riparian countries of the Indus basin, India and Pakistan have put rigorous efforts to develop hydropower, particularly on the western rivers of the Indus Basin namely Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab. China for its part has partnered with Pakistan in developing various projects in Pakistan as a part of the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). India and Pakistan are facing energy crisis which is deemed to get worse with time. Population growth and climate crisis are the two major factors haunting the future of energy demand. In 2016, India set an ambitious goal of reaching 175 GW of renewable energy by 2022, but there has been a target shortage of about 51 GW. Similarly, Pakistan is currently amid an energy crisis. Some 51 million Pakistanis lack access to electricity, while a further 90 million suffer from unreliable power supply and load-shedding daily, which is having a serious impact on the economy.
Given this dire situation and increasing stress on the limited conventional sources of energy, both the countries have shifted their focus to hydropower. With the support and backing of international organizations for hydropower, India and Pakistan have gotten into a mission mode to develop the hydropower in their territory.
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J. Catherine
Head, Research & Publication, MRC, Pune
Catherine is performing her research on Indus Water River system at Maritime Research Centre (MRC), Pune.