GS Analyst
Daily Current Affairs

India has announced to reconsider its Indus Water Treaty (IWT) with Pakistan citing disputes over the Kishenganga and Ratle hydropower projects in Jammu & Kashmir.

• India has called for modifications to the treaty under Article XII (3) of the IWT which deals with the “final provisions” of the treaty.
• India also boycotted the Pakistani case at the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague in the Netherlands.
• India mentioned that they were left with no choice but to demand that Pakistan come to the table to negotiate amendments to the treaty.
• The clarification of the dispute mechanism was at the top of the agenda for renegotiation with that new inter-governmental negotiation on the IWT would be an opportunity to incorporate the “lessons learned” since 1960.

Indus Water Treaty (IWT), 1960:

• The Indus system comprises of main Indus River, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej.
• The basin is mainly shared by India and Pakistan with a small share of China and Afghanistan.
• Under the treaty signed between India and Pakistan in 1960, all the waters of three rivers, namely Ravi, Sutlej, and Beas (Eastern Rivers) were allocated to India for exclusive use.
• While, the waters of Western rivers - Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab were allocated to Pakistan except for specified domestic, non-consumptive, and agricultural use permitted to India as provided in the Treaty.
• India has also been given the right to generate hydroelectricity through run-of-the-river (RoR) projects on the Western Rivers which, subject to specific criteria for design and operation is unrestricted.

What is the Dispute all about between India and Pakistan?

• Both countries held different positions when Pakistan raised objections regarding the technical design features of the Kishanganga (330MW) and Ratle (850 MW) hydroelectric power plants located on the tributaries of the Jhelum and the Chenab, respectively, designated as “Western Rivers”.
• However, under Articles III and VII of the treaty, India is permitted to construct hydroelectric power facilities on these rivers (subject to constraints specified in Annexures to the Treaty).
• Differences were also discernible when Pakistan approached the World Bank to facilitate the setting up of a court of arbitration to address the concerns related to these two projects referred to in Article IX Clause 5 of the treaty, and when India requested the appointment of a Neutral Expert referent to Clause 2.1 of Article IX on the settlement of differences and dispute of the treaty, respectively.
• Pakistan, invoking Article VII Clause 2 on future cooperation, raised objections on the construction and technical designs of the Pakal Dul and Lower Kalnai hydropower plants located on the Marusudar River, a tributary of the Chenab, in the Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir.
• India has raised concerns on issues such as Pakistan’s blockade of the Fazilka drain, which resulted in water contamination in the border areas.

The Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati has mentioned in the Supreme Court answering a plea against the government’s efforts to conserve Wildlife that the Tiger population has increased by 6% since the last census.

• India had about 2,967 tigers in its wildlife as per the last count in 2018, which shows their population was growing at an annual rate of 6 per cent.
• Every 4 years the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) conducts a tiger census across
• The first was conducted in 2006, followed by 2010 and in
• The Census (2014) reported 2,226 tigers in the country, up from 1,706 in 2010.

India’s Tiger habitat:  

Conservation efforts:

PROJECT TIGER:

• Project Tiger was launched in 1973 for conserving our national animal
• It is a Centrally sponsored scheme of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and climate change
• The project is administered by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)

NATIONAL TIGER CONSERVATION AUTHORITY:

• It is a statutory
• Established in 2005 following the recommendations of the Tiger Task
• It was Established in 2005, following the recommendations of the Tiger Task
• It was given statutory status by the 2006 amendment of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 for strengthening tiger conservation, as per powers and functions assigned to it.
• Functions under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change

TIGER RELOCATION PROJECTS:

• The tiger relocation project was initiated in 2018 wherein two big cats, a male (Mahavir) from Kanha Tiger Reserve and a female (Sundari) from Bandhavgarh from Madhya Pradesh were relocated to Satkosia Tiger Reserve in Odisha, to shore up the tiger population in the
• The relocation was meant to serve two purposes:
  • Reducing the tiger population in areas with excess tigers majorly reduces territorial
  • To reintroduce tigers in areas where the population has considerably reduced due to various reasons.

TIGER SPECIAL PROTECTION FORCE:

• It will be effective in checking illegal human intrusion into the reserve through villages located on its fringes and serve as a second layer of protection for tigers
• The decision is in line with Central Government’s guidelines for providing three-tier protection to tigers at reserves
• Three-tier protection for tigers at reserves
• 1st layer of protection: It is provided in the inner range by beat-level forest guards through regular patrols.

2nd layer of protection: It is provided by STPF.

3rd layer of protection: it comes from intelligence-gathering mechanisms in which forest, police and central intelligence agency personnel work together to prevent crimes like the poaching of tigers.

GLOBAL TIGER FORUM:

• It is an Inter-Governmental international body working exclusively for the conservation of
• Established in 1994, the Global Tiger Forum (GTF) has its headquarters in New
• The General Assembly of GTF meets every three
• It is a global commitment to double the world's wild tigers by 2022
• The base year is 2006
• The goal has been set by the world wildlife Fund (WWF) through the Global Tiger Initiative, Global Tiger Forum, and other critical platforms
• All 13 tiger range governments came together for the first time at the Petersburg Summit(Russia- 2010) where they committed to double the number of wild tigers by 2022

GLOBAL TIGER INITIATIVE:

• Global Tiger Initiative (GTI) was launched  in  2008  as  a  global  alliance  of  governments, international organizations, civil society, conservation, and scientific communities, and the private sector, with the aim of working together to save wild tigers from
• In 2013, the scope was broadened to include Snow
• The GTI’s founding partners included the World Bank, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Smithsonian Institution, the Save the Tiger Fund, and International Tiger Coalition (representing more than 40 non-government organizations).
• The initiative is led by the 13 tiger range countries (TRCs).

INTEGRATED TIGER HABITAT CONSERVATION PROGRAM (ITHCP):

• ITHCP was launched in 2014. It is a strategic funding mechanism that aims to save tigers in the wild, and their habitats and to support human populations in key locations throughout
• It has already facilitated 12 projects in six countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Nepal and Myanmar) to better manage Tiger Conservation Landscapes.
• It is contributing to the Global Tiger Recovery Programme (GTRP), a global effort to double tiger numbers in the wild by 2022.

1. PETERSBURG DECLARATION:

• It aimed at promoting a global system to protect the natural habitat of tigers and raise awareness among people on white tiger conservation
• This resolution was adopted In November 2010, by the leaders of 13 tiger range countries (TRCs) assembled at an International Tiger Forum in Petersburg, Russia
• The resolution’s implementation mechanism is called the Global Tiger Recovery Program whose overarching goal was to double the number of wild tigers from about 3,200 to more than 7,000 by
• 13 Tiger range countries are Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Challenges:

Although we are moving progressively towards conserving more and more tigers, a few threats are still there standing as a resistance in the conservation practices:

• Three tiger reserves of India: Mizoram's Dampa reserve, West Bengal's Buxa reserve and Jharkhand's Palamau reserve have no tigers left.
• The tiger reserves are having poor interconnectivity with each other due to which the gene exchange among the tiger population can barely take
• There has occurred a human-tiger conflict as the tiger conservation practice has grown but their natural habitats are already shrinking and hence, they are seeking their habitat in human habitation.
• Poaching of tigers is taken as pride and every part of a tiger has a market value therefore they are being hunted indiscriminately for personal as well as commercial
• The constrained mentality of the local communities regarding tiger poaching as their only job is a major challenge to tiger conservation.
• Linear developments such as that railways and roadways are critical issues in creating conservation.

Recently, the world has experienced a rare three consecutive La Nina event since 2020 and it has been predicted that the coming El Nino can have consequences across the globe, including India.

• So, let us see its possible implications.

The upcoming El Nino:

• The change in sea surface temperature associated with El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) might seem marginal but is enough to disrupt weather patterns globally.
• It can affect even the large-scale circulation of air in the polar stratosphere i.e. 8km above the Earth.
• The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has reported that the equatorial Pacific Ocean will return to its neutral state between March and May of 2023, and it is likely that El Niño conditions will develop during the northern hemisphere’s autumn and winter.

How El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Operates?

• The combined phases of La Nina and El Nino are termed El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO).
• The phenomenon affects rainfall patterns, global atmospheric circulation, and atmospheric pressure across the planet.
• In the neutral state, (neither El Niño nor La Niña) trade winds blow east to west across the surface of the tropical Pacific Ocean, bringing warm moist air and warmer surface waters towards the western Pacific and keeping the central Pacific Ocean relatively cool.
  
  

Possible Consequences:

• Likely to exceed 5°C above the target of the Paris agreement:
  • During the process of ENSO, the rise and cooling process of seawater is simultaneous, however, the rise for a prolonged period can make significant changes in the upper atmosphere.
  • El Niño adds some extra heat to the atmosphere and is estimated can exceed to the 1.5°C threshold of the Paris agreement.
• On the Australian coast:
  • During El Niño, scientists expect less rain, higher temperatures and increased fire risk, especially during winter and spring in the southern hemisphere.
  • As the globe heats up, some regions are warming faster than others. Australia can become 1.4°C hotter now than in the early 20th century.
• In South America:
  • South American weather is significantly disrupted every time an El Niño event occurs;
  • flooding on the west coasts of Peru and Ecuador and
  • Drought in the Amazon and northeast, where the consequences of crop failures can reverberate across the continent.
• Disease outbreak: During El Niño events, due to fall in precipitation and rise in temperature in Colombia, is linked to outbreaks of diseases spread by insects, such as malaria and dengue fever.
  • Higher temperatures during El Niño boost the rates at which mosquitoes breed and bite.
• Less carbon intake: Later on, the Amazon rainforest dries and vegetation growth slows so that less CO? is absorbed from the atmosphere, a trend repeated in the tropical forests of Africa, India and Australia.
• In Northern Europe:
  • The balance between high pressure over the Azores and low pressure over Iceland determines where the rain goes in Europe during winter by pushing the jet stream.
  • During El Niño winters, both pressure centres lose strength, and the jet stream brings wetter conditions to southern Europe.