Introduction
Sir Creek is a narrow tidal estuary in the marshlands of the Rann of Kutch, between Sindh and Gujarat. Its delimitation and the associated maritime boundary between Pakistan and India has remained unresolved for decades. The dispute is often treated solely as a territorial question, yet the landscape on the differing legal interpretations advanced by Pakistan and India rest is itself changing. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned that accelerating sea-level rise is increasing risks across low-lying coastal zones, including erosion, inundation and ecosystem loss.[1]
The central challenge is to distinguish between two related but separate issues. The first is the legal disagreement over the location of the boundary. The second is the growing environmental instability of the creek and the wider Indus Delta. Climate change does not settle the legal dispute, but it makes the status quo harder to manage by shifting channels, weakening natural buffers and increasing the likelihood that fishermen or patrol vessels enter contested waters.
