Climate change threatens India-Pakistan pact over major river system

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By Sushmita Pathak, Science. 

Excerpt: In response to the 22 April attack that killed 26 people, India said it was putting “in abeyance” its participation in the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), a 65-year-old pact that governs how Pakistan and India share water from one of Asia’s major river systems. Pakistan, in turn, said it would consider any move by India to withhold Indus water, which irrigates most of its farmland, as an act of war. Researchers say the jousting highlighted not only the political sensitivity of the treaty, but also the increasingly urgent need to update the IWT to reflect the ongoing impacts of climate change and population growth.... 

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