Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-23-2017

Abstract

Transboundary water institutions in the Indus River Basin can be fairlycharacterized as broken in key respects International relations between India andPakistan over the Indus Waters Treaty as well as interprovincial relations withinPakistan over the 1991 Water Accord speak to this sentiment Stemming fromresearch undertaken by the authors for the Harvard Water Federalism Project andthe United States Agency for International Development USAID this Articleseeks to spur the evolution of the Indus River Basin's water institutions by offeringa comparative perspective from North America's most ÔÇ£institutionallyencompassedÔÇØ basin the Colorado River Basin Mindful of the importance ofcontext for comparative water law and policy scholarship the Article begins withoverviews of the Colorado and Indus basins In turn the Article considers ingreater detail major waterrelated challenges facing the latter basin includingclimate change and overallocation Against this backdrop the Article ultimatelyturns to analysis and prescription Examining a host of topics involvingtransboundary water allocation conservation and governance the Articleconsiders key institutions associated with these topics in the Colorado River Basinand reflects on how if at all they may serve as reference points for institutionalevolution in the Indus Basin Many of the proposals in the Article are expensiveBut compared to military operations they are quite modest in terms of expense andminimize the risk of loss of life and destruction of property Still the Articleprioritizes solutions that maximize individual and local freedom to the greatest extent possible This means relying upon voluntary marketbased transfers thatprotect the vulnerable favoring incentives rather than regulations and creating areward structure that includes benefits other than water

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