UNITED NATIONS, Nov 07 (APP): A senior Pakistani diplomat voiced great concern in the UN Security Council on Thursday over the deliberate weaponization of shared natural resources, citing in this regard the unilateral suspension of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty by India earlier this year, as he called for New Delhi’s early return to compliance to the pact.
“Such acts do not just harm one country; they weaken confidence in international water law and set a precedent for resource-based and driven coercion elsewhere,” Ambassador Asim Iftikhar, permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN, said, while highlighting the crucial issue in the 15-member Council.
India suspended the major, World Bank-mediated treaty governing water sharing of six rivers in the Indus basin between the two countries after the Pahalgam incident in April.
In a wide-ranging discussion on climate and security, the Pakistan envoy called India’s unilateral action a “textbook example”of deliberate weaponization of shared natural resources.
“For more than six decades,”Ambassador Asim Ahmad said, “This Treaty has stood as a model of cooperation, ensuring equitable and predictable sharing of the Indus Basin’s waters between Pakistan and India, even in times of war.
“India’s unlawful unilateral decision to suspend this framework undermines the letter and spirit of the Treaty, threatens ecosystems, disrupts data-sharing, and endangers the lives of millions who depend on the Indus river water system for food and energy security, for their survival,” he added.
“This should be of grave concern for every member of this Council and for the international community as a whole.”
Pointing out that no provision of the Indus Waters Treaty permits unilateral suspension or modification, the Pakistani envoy said, “The Court of Arbitration’s 2025 award reaffirmed the continuing validity of the Treaty and its dispute-settlement mechanisms, upholding Pakistan’s position that all issues must be resolved within its legal framework.
“We therefore expect full respect for the Treaty and an early return to compliance and normal functioning through the established channels”.
The Council’s debate coincided with International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict.
In order to address the environmental impacts of armed conflict and climate driven security risks, Ambassador Asim Ahmad called for focusing on prevention and early resolution of conflicts.
Environmental considerations could be integrated into UN peace operations and political missions, where relevant, he said, referring to Pakistan’s work in this field in peacekeeping missions. “These actions should be embedded in planning, budgeting, and mandate design.”
The Pakistani envoy also underscored the need for upholding international law, especially international humanitarian law, including the obligations for parties to distinguish between civilian and military objectives, to take care to spare civilians, and to avoid methods of warfare expected to cause widespread, long-term, and severe damage to the natural environment.
In addition, he called for promoting coherence in the UN system, with greater coordination among UN Country Teams as well as with relevant regional and international bodies.
In this context, he emphasized the need for providing climate and biodiversity finance that is new, additional, predictable, and grant-based, not debt-creating, or double counted with development, humanitarian, or peace-and-security finance.
Ambassador Asim Ahmad said Pakistan’s believes that measures to address the phenomenon of climate change can be best pursued through universal platforms under a cooperative approach based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibility and commitments of parties and ensure that shared natural resources serve as avenues for cooperation, not contention.
At the outset, Inger Andersen, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), outlined how “environmental damage caused by conflicts continues to push people into hunger, disease and displacement”, noting that the Gaza Strip has, since 2023, lost 97 per cent of its tree crops and 95 per cent of its shrub land, while in Haiti conflict has worsened soil and water contamination in lowland slums.
While climate-conflict pathways are complex, the UNEP chief said, “Climate change is not infrequently one of the peels of the onion”. A 2024 World Bank study found that “most contexts affected by fragility and conflict also experience consistently drier, more severe drought periods”. Increased rainfall can also make violent conflict more likely in certain settings, for example, through the targeting of rich agricultural areas by armed groups or States.
She also drew attention to the “yawning gap” in adaptation finance for conflict-affected countries.
“Between 2014 and 2021, people living in severely conflict-affected countries received just $2 per capita in climate finance compared to $162 in more stable countries,” she said. Stressing the need to support conflict-affected countries rebuild their national capacity for environmental management, Ms. Andersen said the UN system can act as a trusted knowledge facilitator for this.