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29 May 2018 - 02 June 2018
Vienna and Laxenburg

Knowledge sharing and stakeholder engagement in the Indus Basin

A two-part event bringing over 100 researchers and policy makers from the four basin countries and beyond to share knowledge and advance collaborative efforts for sustainable resource management

Photo:Getty Images

Why the Indus?
The Indus River basin – shared by Afghanistan, China, India, and Pakistan – is critical for over 268 million people who call it home. But rapid changes, such as population growth, urbanization, and climate change are putting strain on the basin’s limited natural resources. If the Indus is to continue providing ecosystem and livelihood services, development must be cooperative, equitable, and sustainable. To ensure that it is, we must understand the challenges facing the Indus and establish a baseline understanding to respond to future impacts, which will aid policymaking and improve how the basin is managed.: With the aim of supporting knowledge generation and sharing for the sustainable management and future of the Indus, IIASA in partnership with International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the World Bank is convening two interlinked events from May 29^th through June 2^nd 2018.

29th-30th May: ISWEL Stakeholder Workshop ‘Developing water, energy, and land nexus scenarios for the Indus Basin’

This workshop is organized in the context of the Integrated Solutions for Water, Energy, and Land (ISWEL) project, led by IIASA, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

The purpose of this meeting is to bring together stakeholders from India, Pakistan, China and Afghanistan to discuss current challenges related to water, energy, and land in the Indus Basin, and engage in a participatory exercise to develop future visions and pathways for the Basin and its riparian countries.

The specific main goals of the workshop include:

Co-development of a number of visions and pathways to desirable futures for the Indus basin taking into account different global developments and climate scenarios
Enhanced and shared understanding on the implications of different investments in the basin and their consequences cascading through the water-energy-land sectors
Develop partnerships to support the agenda on nexus research and management in the basin and its riparian countries

The workshop is based on scientific approach but it also aiming to produce policy relevant results. Its ambition is to contribute solutions to otherwise intractable problems.

Beyond the project goals, this workshop also responds to the commitment IIASA made during the II Indus Basin Knowledge Forum (IBKF) meeting held in Colombo, Sri Lanka (see Conference Report) to lead Knowledge Action 9 on “Development of scenarios for the Indus Basin”.

Workshop outcomes and presentations

Presentations

1. Introduction to Integrated Solutions for Water, Energy, and Land (ISWEL) project, Simon Langan, IIASA

2. Why do we need visions? David Grey, Oxford University

3. Water, Energy, and Land Challenges from country perspective, Afghanistan, Sediqa Hassani, Ministry of Energy and Water

4. Water, Energy, and Land Challenges from country perspective, China, Jiang Tong, National Climate Centre and Chinese Academy of Sciences

5.Water, Energy, and Land Challenges from country perspective, India, Shakil Ahmad Romshoo, University of Kashmir

6. Water, Energy, and Land Challenges from country perspective, Pakistan, Khalid Mohtadullah, Upper Indus Basin Network

7. Overview on the Indus Nexus Modeling tool, Simon Parkinson, IIASA

8. Introduction to the Indus Scenario Process, Piotr Magnuzewski, IIASA

Download Draft Workshop Report

Summary of the process and main outcomes

Reviewing current situation in the Indus Basin and its major challenges

The process of stakeholder-led pathway development started with characterizing the current situation of a basin, represented in a simplified visual format. To this end, a predefined set of materials such as maps and cards with descriptions of infrastructure, economic activities and resources uses were provided to facilitate discussions. These materials provide sufficient information and knowledge without narrowing down participants’ scope of exploration and breadth of choices – they could always add additional elements be it physical, social, economic or environmental. Such visual representation provided an opportunity for better understanding and a deeper discussion of key issues among stakeholders.

Participants developed this representations of the current situation separately for different riparian countries (China, India, Pakistan; participants from Afghanistan joined the workshop on the second day so this map was not developed).

Identifying country challenges

What if we continue “business as usual”?

Based on the joint assessment of the current situation participants developed “business-as-usual” pathways – i.e. a series of changes of the existing situation that is likely to happen if current policies will continue. These changes were represented visually by adding or changing existing elements on the map. Additionally, the changes (new investments or initiatives) were represented separately in a timeline depicting the pathway from “now” into the future.

Example of an Indus vision and pathway under BAU

What if we explore alternative desired futures?

Three visions of “desired futures” were developed together with their corresponding pathways. Unlike the business-as-usual that continues existing policies and directions, the desired futures started from clear, ambitious but realistic visions of what can be achieved. Three different groups worked assuming 3 different priorities: economy, society, and environment respectively. The focus on priorities were not supposed to eliminate other important concerns - all the visions were aimed to be desired and holistic. They included both hard (e.g. infrastructure) and soft (e.g. behavioral change) elements. The pathways leading to the crafted visions were represented on the timeline including specific initiatives and investments.

Example of a possible pathway to a desired future

Testing the robustness of the basin visions and pathways under different global scenarios

In order to test robustness of the chosen solutions under unfavorable external circumstances (scenarios) it was also beneficial to consider some undesired global scenarios. The differences between alternative global scenarios are represented with a set of externally imposed challenges along the analyzed regional pathways. Although a sustainability scenario (consistent with Shared Socioeconomic Pathway 1, SSP1) is often attractive, strategies designed by stakeholders should also be robust to unfavorable external conditions. Implications of other global scenarios (based on SSP2-5) on regional pathways were considered and basin pathways revised to improve their feasibility.

Testing robustness of basin visions and pathways against different global scenarios

Next steps

IIASA will draft a workshop report and shared among participants around mid-August seeking for clarifications and further comments if needed. This report will constitute the basis for refining the Nexus tool IIASA is developing and at the same time will provide the input for the quantitative Basin scenarios.

The results of the scenario assessment will be shared with stakeholders during the 3rd workshop (2019) providing an opportunity for further revising and improving visions and pathways.

31st May-2nd June: Third Indus Basin Knowledge Forum ‘Managing Systems Under Stress: Science for Solutions in the Indus Basin'

The 3rd Indus Basin Knowledge Forum was held at IIASA in Laxenburg, Austria and brought together researchers, policy makers and stakeholders from the four basin countries and beyond to share knowledge and advance collaborative efforts for sustainable resource management. The event was hosted by IIASA and co-convened by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), IIASA, and the World Bank.

The meeting built on the outcomes of the last IBKF, held in Colombo, Sri Lanka in July 2017.

Follow the event on twitter using #IBKF

For further information about the IBKF ands its aims click MORE