Climate change and water scarcity will increase risk of nuclear catastrophe in South Asia

ABSTRACT

Climate change poses grave challenges to global peace and stability. Nowhere is the relation between the climate crisis and the increased threat of nuclear war clearer than in South Asia, where approximately 700 million people in India, Pakistan, China, and Bangladesh depend on the shared waters of the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra river basins. These river systems, fed by Himalayan glaciers, are diminishing markedly due to climate change. As geopolitical tensions in the region intensify, it becomes even more crucial to address and eliminate the two intertwined existential threats of water scarcity (caused by climate change) and the risk of nuclear war. This paper analyses the Indus River conflict and the Brahmaputra conflict in turn and offers effective strategies and recommendations for dealing with the threats.

KEYWORDS:

• Climate change
• water scarcity
• nuclear weapons
• South Asia
• global security
• geopolitics
• conflicts

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Additional information

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Notes on contributors

Asha Asokan

Asha Asokan is an international peace and security policy expert. Her policy research and public speaking focus on nuclear weapons, human rights and humanitarian law, conflict prevention, and global security. Most recently, Asha was the Director of NuclearBan.us. Before that, she served in the United Nations. She holds a bachelor’s degree in law from M. G. University, India, a master’s in international human rights law from CUSAT, India, and a master’s in policy from Duke University. Asha is Rotary Peace Fellow Alumna.

Ira Helfand, MD, is a member of the International Steering Group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the recipient of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize. He is also immediate past president of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), the founding partner of ICAN and itself the recipient of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize. He is also co-founder and past president of Physicians for Social Responsibility, IPPNW’s US affiliate. In addition, he has lectured globally on the health effects of nuclear weapons.