South Asia, home to nearly a quarter of the world’s population but possessing less than 5% of global freshwater resources, depends heavily on transboundary rivers, making water simultaneously an asset for development and a potential source of regional conflict.

Water as an Asset in South Asia

• 1. Agricultural Lifeline: The Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Indus systems support irrigation and regional food security across India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal.
  • Example: The Ganga Water Treaty (1996) facilitates lean-season water sharing, supporting irrigation and food security in Bangladesh.
• 2. Clean Energy Generation: Bilateral cooperation converts Himalayan water into clean hydropower, export revenues, and energy security (e.g., India-Bhutan Punatsangchhu-II project, 1,020 MW).
• 3. Institutional Water Security: The Indus Waters Treaty (1960) provides a resilient framework for sharing river flows, surviving multiple bilateral wars.
• 4. Development Cooperation: Infrastructure like the India-built Salma Dam (Afghan-India Friendship Dam) on the Hari Rud provides essential irrigation and electricity.
• 5. Transboundary Disaster Warning: Sharing hydrological and rainfall data protects downstream populations during monsoons (e.g., India-Nepal data sharing along the 2026 Bhote Koshi River in Rasuwa, Nepal).

Water as a Source of Conflict in South Asia

• 1. Upstream-Downstream Tensions: Upstream dams can alter seasonal flows; China’s dams on the Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) raise concerns in India and Bangladesh, while the Teesta water-sharing agreement remains unresolved.
• 2. Climate-Induced Water Stress: Glacier retreat creates immediate flood risks and long-term deficits; ICIMOD’s 2025 assessment recorded exceptionally low snow persistence in the HKH region, reducing dry-season discharge across the Indus, Ganga, and Brahmaputra basins.
• 3. Competing Demands: Agriculture, drinking water, urban growth, and hydropower compete for identical flows, increasing reliance on depleted aquifers.
• 4. Weak Multilateral Governance: The absence of comprehensive basin-wide multilateral treaties and limited real-time data sharing fosters regional mistrust.

Way Forward: From Water Conflict to Water Cooperation

• 1. Transition beyond river-specific bilateral treaties towards integrated, basin-level management involving all riparian states.
• 2. Ensure real-time sharing of rainfall, snow, glacier, and discharge data to build trust and strengthen early-warning systems.
• 3. Undertake collaborative management of Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs), droughts, and siltation risks across the Himalayan region.
• 4. Strengthen institutional platforms like Joint River Commissions, ICIMOD, and BBIN for collaborative research and climate adaptation.
• 5. Shift from merely dividing volumetric quotas to sharing broader mutual benefits through navigation, grid connectivity, and flood buffering.
• 6. Update historical water pacts to make them climate-resilient by incorporating snowmelt dynamics and shifting monsoon patterns.

South Asia’s challenge is shifting from “who gets how much water” to collective basin stewardship; climate change makes hydro-cooperation an indispensable strategic necessity.