6 CANAL PROJECT: ECOLOGY, ECONOMY, AND SOVEREIGNTY: A NARRATIVE REVIEW

Abstract

Pakistan’s Sixth Canal Project, advanced under the Green Pakistan Initiative, has been presented as a strategic intervention to address food insecurity, stimulate economic growth, and modernize agriculture through large-scale irrigation and corporate farming. Given Pakistan’s acute climate vulnerability, chronic water stress, and entrenched agrarian inequalities, the project has attracted significant public, political, and scholarly attention. This narrative review examines the Sixth Canal within a broader political economy framework, situating it against the backdrop of colonial irrigation legacies, post-colonial development models, and contemporary constraints on national sovereignty. The objective of this review is to critically assess whether the Sixth Canal Project represents a viable pathway toward sustainable agricultural development or whether it perpetuates extractive practices that exacerbate ecological degradation, economic inequality, and geopolitical dependence. The discussion synthesizes key themes including historical continuities in canal-based development, climate-induced stress on the Indus Basin, downstream ecological risks to Sindh and the Indus Delta, and the socio-economic consequences of corporate farming and land concentration. It further explores the role of military-facilitated governance, foreign investment—particularly linked to Gulf food security strategies—and the marginalization of civilian and provincial decision-making. Patterns of social resistance and political contestation are also examined as indicators of governance legitimacy and public consent. The review concludes that the Sixth Canal Project is unlikely to enhance long-term resilience. Instead, it risks undermining ecological stability, food sovereignty, and democratic accountability. Sustainable alternatives require locally grounded water governance, climate-resilient agriculture, agrarian reform, and strengthened civilian oversight to realign development with equity and national sustainability.