Transboundary cooperation a potential route to sustainable development in the Indus basin

Adriano Vinca (), Simon Parkinson, Keywan Riahi, Edward Byers, Afreen Siddiqi, Abubakr Muhammad, Ansir Ilyas, Nithiyanandam Yogeswaran, Barbara Willaarts, Piotr Magnuszewski, Muhammad Awais, Andrew Rowe and Ned Djilali
Additional contact information
Adriano Vinca: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Simon Parkinson: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Keywan Riahi: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Edward Byers: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Afreen Siddiqi: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abubakr Muhammad: Lahore University of Management Sciences
Ansir Ilyas: Lahore University of Management Sciences
Nithiyanandam Yogeswaran: TERI School of Advanced Studies
Barbara Willaarts: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Piotr Magnuszewski: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Muhammad Awais: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Andrew Rowe: University of Victoria
Ned Djilali: University of Victoria

Nature Sustainability, 2021, vol. 4, issue 4, 331-339

Abstract: Abstract With a rapidly growing population of 250 million, the Indus river basin in South Asia is one of the most intensively cultivated regions on Earth, highly water stressed and lacking energy security. Yet, most studies advising sustainable development policy have lacked multi-sectoral and cross-country perspectives. Here we show how the countries in the Indus basin could lower costs for development and reduce soil pollution and water stress by cooperating on water resources and electricity and food production. According to this analysis, Indus basin countries need to increase investments to US$10 billion per yr to mitigate water scarcity issues and ensure improved access to resources by 2050. These costs could shrink to US$2 billion per yr, with economic gains for all, if countries pursued more collaborative policies. Downstream regions would benefit most, with reduced food and energy costs and improved water access, while upstream regions would benefit from new energy investments. Using integrated water–energy–land analysis, this study quantifies the potential benefits of novel avenues to sustainable development arising from greater international cooperation.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-020-00654-7 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natsus:v:4:y:2021:i:4:d:10.1038_s41893-020-00654-7

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/natsustain/

DOI: 10.1038/s41893-020-00654-7

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Sustainability is currently edited by Monica Contestabile

More articles in Nature Sustainability from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().