Connecting the Drops: an Indus Basin Roadmap for Cross-Border Water
CONNECTING THE DR PS An Indus Basin Roadmap for Cross-Border Water Research, Data Sharing, and Policy Coordination 1111 19th Street NW, 12th Floor Washington, DC 20036 p 202.223.5956 | f 202.238.9604 www.stimson.org Photo Credits: On the road to Kullu, Himachal Pradesh, India (CGIAR Climate via Flickr). Indus River delta, Pakistan, as seen from space (NASA via Flickr). CONNECTING THE DROPS An Indus Basin Roadmap for Cross-Border Water Research, Data Sharing, and Policy Coordination Indus Basin Working Group Copyright © 2013 Observer Research Foundation, Stimson, and Sustainable Development Policy Institute All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written consent. ISBN: 978-1-939240-02-6 Preface Decision makers in India and Pakistan will have to overcome a host of overlapping socio-economic, environmental, and political pressures as they endeavor to ensure their countries’ future water needs and sustainably manage the resources of the Indus River Basin that both nations share. Continuing population growth will significantly reduce per capita water availability over the coming decades. Increasing industrialization and urbanization are driving important shifts in water use. Climate change will exert additional, chronic strains on water resources, potentially shifting the seasonal timing or shuffling the geographical distribution of available supplies. Increasingly subject to soaring demand, unsustainable consumption patterns, and mounting environmental stresses, the Indus is swiftly becoming a “closed” basin; almost all of the river’s available renewable water is already allocated for various uses — with little to no spare capacity. Scientists, policy makers, and the broader public in both Pakistan and India will need to better apprehend, assess, and act on the links between water resources management, global and regional environmental change, sustainable development, and social welfare in the Indus Basin in order to meet these emerging challenges.
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