Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Water use · India / Pakistan · 2025

Indus Waters Treaty suspension

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
  • The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
What the record lacks: 1 not measured · 1 disputed · 1 unclear See the gaps

India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty in April 2025. In August 2025 a Court of Arbitration issued an award on the treaty's general interpretation, which Pakistan welcomed and India did not recognise.

Suspended by India (April 2025)Status of the treaty
India keeps the treaty suspended and does not recognise the Court of Arbitration (award of August 2025).

Status As of August 2025: India kept the treaty suspended and did not recognise the Court of Arbitration's award; no further development found.

What?
India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty in April 2025; a Court of Arbitration issued an award on its general interpretation in August 2025, which India did not recognise. Al Jazeera
Where?
India and Pakistan (the Indus basin). Al Jazeera
When?
Suspension in April 2025; Court of Arbitration award in August 2025. Al Jazeera
Who?
Gained
None on record
Lost
None on record
Harmed
None on record
Why?
None on record
How?
India suspended the treaty and does not recognise the Court of Arbitration; Pakistan welcomed the award. Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs
4 of 6 questions answered from the record · open: who, why

What happened

The record, in order.

In April 2025 India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan. Al Jazeera reported on the suspension on 24 April 2025.

In August 2025 a Court of Arbitration rendered an award on the issues of general interpretation of the treaty. Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the award. India keeps the treaty suspended and does not recognise the court.

As background on the basin, a NASA Earth Observatory summary of 24 July 2015 described a satellite study (GRACE) of the world's 37 largest aquifers in 2003–2013. It found eight overstressed, the worst being the Arabian Aquifer System (60 million people), followed by the Indus and Murzuk-Djado.

  1. 201524 July: NASA Earth Observatory summary of the GRACE aquifer study (2003–2013), listing the Indus among the most stressed aquifers
  2. 2025April: India suspends the Indus Waters Treaty (Al Jazeera, 24 April)
  3. 2025August: Court of Arbitration award on general interpretation of the treaty; Pakistan welcomes it; India does not recognise the court

What was said

Claims, in the words of those who made them.

Where accounts differ

Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.

Is the Court of Arbitration's August 2025 award recognised?
Government and regulators
Government of Pakistan (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

Welcomed the award of the Court of Arbitration on the issues of general interpretation of the treaty.

Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Government and regulators
Government of India

Keeps the treaty suspended and does not recognise the court.

Courts
Court of Arbitration

Rendered an award on the issues of general interpretation of the Indus Waters Treaty (August 2025).

Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

    Recorded

    • India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty in April 2025 and, as of August 2025, kept it suspended
      Al Jazeera
    • A Court of Arbitration rendered an award on the issues of general interpretation of the treaty in August 2025; India does not recognise the court
      Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs
    • GRACE study, 2003–2013: 8 of the 37 largest aquifers overstressed; the Indus ranked among the three worst after the Arabian Aquifer System
      NASA Earth Observatory

    Who gained

    Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

    Reached nature or the ground

    Not published
    No figure published.

    Gained elsewhere

    Not totalled
    Currency: USD · Window: . All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

    Responses on record

    • pakistan-mofa (2025-08): Welcomed the award of the Court of Arbitration on the issues of general interpretation of the Indus Waters Treaty. · Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs
    • india-gov (2025-08): Keeps the treaty suspended and does not recognise the Court of Arbitration.

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    1. 2025-08Outcome not on record
      Indus Waters Treaty, general interpretation
      Court of Arbitration · Arbitration · →

      The court rendered an award on the issues of general interpretation of the treaty in August 2025. Pakistan welcomed it; India does not recognise the court. The parties to the proceedings are not named in the record. Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs

    Insurers

    No insurer decision on record.

    What nature saw

    Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

    Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

    Aquifers overstressed (GRACE, 2003–2013)
    8 of 37
    The Indus aquifer was listed after the Arabian Aquifer System as one of the worst (NASA Earth Observatory, 2015)

    What we don't know

    Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
    Court ruling exists

    Nature

    • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

    Court

    • Unclear Indus Waters Treaty, general interpretation: outcome not on record.

    Accounts

    • Disputed Is the Court of Arbitration's August 2025 award recognised?

    Did the harm stop?

    As of August 2025, the latest record, India kept the treaty suspended.

    Who paid?

    Not established in the record.

    Sources

    Voices on record: — Company or project✓ Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

    Government and regulators

    2. Global groundwater basins in distress
      NASA Earth Observatory · 2015-07-24

    Press and investigations

    Connected cases

    Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
    Terms used on this page

    Law and courts

    Arbitration
    A private dispute process in which an appointed arbitrator, instead of a court, decides the case.

    Science and environment

    Groundwater
    Water held underground in soil and rock, drawn through wells.
    Hectare (ha)
    A unit of area equal to 10,000 square metres, about 2.5 acres. 100 hectares make one square kilometre.

    Insurance

    Premium
    The price paid for an insurance policy.
    Similar cases
    Mining / tailings dam · Chemical pollution · Water use · Indonesia · 2020–2026
    IMIP nickel waste landslides and Obi island (Indonesia)
    Same type: Water useSame regionCourt: outcome not on record
    Water use · Pakistan · 2018
    Pakistan Supreme Court sets Rs1 per litre levy on groundwater pumped by bottlers
    Same type: Water useSame countryHarm to nature not measured
    Data centre · Water use · Chile · 2024
    Google data centre, Cerrillos (Chile)
    Same type: Water useCourt: outcome not on recordHarm to nature not measured
    Insurance declined or withdrawn · Chemical pollution · Water use · United States · 2020–2026
    PFAS insurance disputes (3M, Chemours, DuPont)
    Same type: Water useCourt: outcome not on recordHarm to nature not measured
    Plastic waste and recycling claims · Water use · India · 2019–2026
    Alliance to End Plastic Waste and Renew Oceans (Ganges)
    Same type: Water useSame regionHarm to nature not measured
    Mining · Water use · India · 2023–2026
    Tamil Nadu sand quarries measured by drone
    Same type: Water useSame regionHarm to nature not measured