Floods Devastate India and Pakistan: Climate Change and Regional Tensions
Floods are devastating India and Pakistan and climate change is making it a lot worse. Over the past couple of months, intense flooding and landslides have claimed the lives of over 880 people in Pakistan and 150 in India. The Punjab region in eastern Pakistan in particular has been badly hit with 1.8 million people displaced by the flooding which continues to destroy villages and farmland.
A flooded village in Pakistan, highlighting the devastating impact of recent floods.
Now, heavy rains across the Indian subcontinent are expected between June and September. It's the monsoon, and they're relied on to irrigate crops, to replenish rivers, and to alleviate the summer heat. But what should be routine monsoon seasons have become increasingly erratic and intense because of climate change. Climate change warms the air, which means it can hold more moisture, in this case, from the Indian Ocean. And that extra moisture tends to get released all at once. Which is how rather than a sustained pattern of rainfall, we end up with flash flooding like this and what happened just 3 years ago when over 1,800 people were killed in Pakistan.
Monsoon rains intensify, leading to flash flooding across India and Pakistan.
Since monsoon rainfall is expected to become more frequent and more intense, both India and Pakistan need to develop adaptations to this. But at the moment, it looks like that process is not going to be particularly collaborative. Tensions have long been high between the two countries. But this year, India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty which helped manage their joint water basin. And during the floods, Pakistan accused India of making them worse with dam releases. Experts have debunked this as a massive oversimplification. The dam releases have not caused flooding. But it's an example of how as well as making the monsoon more severe, climate change risks making human conflicts more severe as well. And it also shows how climate change isn't a problem for the future.
Dams in India, part of the Indus Waters Treaty, have sparked tensions with Pakistan.
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