ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Monday renewed concerns over India’s handling of the Indus Waters Treaty, marking World Wetlands Day with a warning that water must not be used as a tool of coercion.

World Wetlands Day marks the 1971 adoption of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, to which Pakistan is a signatory. The convention promotes the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands, which experts increasingly view as cost-effective defense against climate shocks. Pakistan is among the countries least responsible for global emissions but among the most vulnerable to climate impacts.

In a statement issued on the occasion of the UN-designated day, President Asif Ali Zardari said wetlands were critical to Pakistan’s ability to withstand floods, droughts, heatwaves and sea-level rise, while cautioning that disruptions to river flows posed serious risks to millions of people in a country heavily dependent on the Indus Basin.

“Water security in our region depends on responsible and lawful transboundary cooperation,” Zardari said in the statement. 

“Pakistan remains concerned over unilateral actions by India affecting the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, a legally binding agreement that has governed equitable water sharing in the Indus Basin for decades.”

The Indus Waters Treaty, brokered by the World Bank in 1960, governs the sharing of six rivers between neighbors India and Pakistan and is widely seen as one of the most durable agreements between the two nuclear-armed rivals. Under the treaty, Pakistan relies on the western rivers of the Indus Basin for the bulk of its agriculture, drinking water and hydropower, while India controls the eastern rivers.

In 2025, India announced it was suspending its participation in treaty mechanisms after accusing Pakistan of involvement in a deadly attack in Indian-administered Kashmir — an allegation Islamabad strongly denies. Pakistan has said the unilateral suspension undermines a legally binding international agreement and heightens water security risks in a region already facing climate-driven volatility.

“The suspension of [Indus Water] treaty mechanisms, including the sharing of hydrological data, undermines trust and predictability when climate pressures require greater cooperation,” Zardari reiterated, adding that “water must never be used as a tool of coercion.”

Islamabad has also long objected to India’s construction of hydropower projects on western rivers, arguing that inadequate consultation and reduced data sharing further weaken trust and predictability under the treaty. India rejects the accusations and maintains its actions comply with treaty provisions.

Zardari said Pakistan’s wetlands function as “frontline climate defenders,” noting that healthy wetlands reduce flood risks, protect coastlines, sustain livelihoods and help cut emissions, while their degradation multiplies climate-related losses.

Pakistan’s wetlands range from alpine and glacial lakes in the north to riverine floodplains, inland lakes and mangrove ecosystems along the Arabian Sea. The president said these systems were under mounting pressure from erratic monsoons, glacial melt variability, prolonged heatwaves, pollution and shrinking flood buffers.

Zardari singled out the southern Sindh province that his Pakistan Peoples Party rules as bearing a disproportionate burden due to historical water stress and sea-level rise, warning that the Indus Delta and mangrove forests, once among the world’s richest, now face salinity intrusion, coastal erosion and the loss of fish breeding grounds. Inland wetlands such as Keenjhar, Haleji and Manchar, he said, were experiencing reduced freshwater inflows and concentrated pollution, affecting fisheries, drinking water supplies and migratory bird routes.

For millions of Pakistanis, wetlands are central to daily life, providing fish, grazing land, reeds for shelter and fuel, and natural protection during extreme weather, the statement said. Their degradation, Zardari warned, leads to income loss, rising food costs, unsafe water and greater exposure to floods and droughts.

The president urged citizens, policymakers and local communities to integrate traditional and indigenous knowledge into wetland management, saying sustainable protection of these ecosystems was essential not only for biodiversity but for public welfare, economic stability and national resilience.