Tribal fears increase in Himalayas after end of Indus Water Treaty
India cancels historic water-sharing agreement with Pakistan
Tribal communities to be targeted by hydropower push
Environmental experts worry about damage to the environment
Anuj Behal & Rohit Singh Parshar
In April, the decades-old conflict between nuclear-armed neighbours flared up again when militants in India-controlled Kashmir killed 26 people. India then retaliated with airstrikes.
A ceasefire that was signed in May brought both countries back from war. However, tensions have risen over another hot spot: the waters surrounding the Indus River basin.
India announced the day after the attack in Kashmir that it would "put into abeyance", the Indus Waters Treaty. This agreement, which was signed during the Cold War, divided the control of river systems with an annual flow of approximately 200 billion cubic meters (7 billion cubic feet).
The World Bank negotiated the agreement in 1960. It has been one the most durable water sharing agreements around the world, having survived even the full-blown wars that raged between Pakistan and India.
The suspension of the treaty has created uncertainty about its fate, and India is now able to pursue energy development along rivers in the Himalaya Mountains.
After announcing that India would no longer participate in the treaty within days, Prime Minister Narendra modi ordered his ministries to speed up the long-stalled projects of infrastructure on the western rivers Chenab Jhelum Indus.
The waterways that were under Pakistan's control irrigate Pakistani farmland downstream and are largely off limits to Indian exploitation.
In India, the idea of hydropower projects being accelerated has also caused alarm.
Tribal communities living in the windswept Lahaul and Spiti valleys in Himachal Pradesh, a state in north India, fear that damming rivers will destroy their centuries-old lifestyle.
BUILDING BOOM
The project's supporters say that the Indus basin will provide clean energy to the most populous nation in the world and can help meet global demand for energy storage.
Himachal Pradesh's government announced plans in January to build 22 hydropower projects, with a total capacity of 828 Megawatts, across five districts including Lahaul Spiti.
According to the plan, the Chenab River, which is formed by the headwaters of Lahaul-Spiti will receive the most, with nine plants totaling 595MW.
India could also build four reservoirs along the tributaries to the Chenab River and Jhelum River.
Experts in policy see India's approach as an attempt to gain control of the Himalayan rivers.
Srinivas Chokkakula of the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, said that the suspension of the Indus water treaty allowed India to "pursue their development interests on western rivers".
He said that India has "the time and the means" to build infrastructure in order to gain irrevocable leverage.
Existential Threat
Such political calculations can threaten the livelihood and traditions of people in Lahaul and Spiti.
Bodh and Swangla are two tribes whose cultures and languages are closely linked to Tibet. These communities are isolated for most of the year due to snow-covered passes. They farm the rugged mountain sides during the warmer months.
Lahaul-Spiti Ekta Manch is a collective that advocates for tribal rights and environmental protection. They have identified at least fourteen large dam projects along the Chenab River and its tributaries.
Rigzin Harpa, senior member of the collective, stated that the push for hydropower is an existential danger to the landscape as well as the people who are nourished by it.
"We don’t know what the outcome will be for Pakistan but it’s going to ruin out lands and leave us with nothing," Harpa said, who lives in Kawaring village, a sparsely-populated Spiti settlement nestled between glacial streams.
The Himalayan Valleys are home to India's largest glaciers, and a fragile ecosystem already suffering from the effects of climate change.
The glaciers are retreating rapidly, and the springs which have irrigated monocrop farming on a small scale for many years are drying up.
The majority of households in this region depend on a single cycle of peas or potatoes, which are fed by irrigation networks managed by the community.
Ramlal Markanda is a former Himachal Pradesh agriculture minister. He said that these traditional systems were designed for the dry landscape. They may not be able to withstand dam building, which can result in rerouted river, disturbed aquifers or altered microclimates.
He said that "any such advancement would wipe out the very essence of Lahaul & Spiti."
Guman Singh is a conservationist with the Himalaya Niti Abhiyan grassroots group in Mandi. He warned that the Chenab River and Chandrabhaga River are already vulnerable to glacial outburst flooding (GLOF), and they are being treated like blank slates by mega-infrastructure.
GLOFs are meltwater releases that occur when an ice dam fails. They can cause catastrophic flooding in the downstream area.
Singh stated that "in the race to assert nationalalism through water management, India is accelerating the construction in one the most vulnerable climate zones in the nation."
When you block and dam natural systems, it invites more landslides and floods, and ultimately collapse.
Harpa has been campaigning against dam projects since 2007. He said that he is concerned not only about environmental degradation, but also cultural erasure.
He said that "these projects will bring an influx of commercial activity and outsiders into a region which has limited capacity to absorb these people."
(source: Reuters)