Regional Water Sharing
Solution lies in 2 factors
Int’l seminar focuses on cooperation, understanding
Regional cooperation and understanding are the two main ingredients for resolving water sharing and management issues in the region.
And the impact of climate change in the region is yet to be wholly perceived. So, all the countries concerned must conduct joint studies and research, and act accordingly to face the problem.
This was the unanimous view of participants at an international seminar in the capital yesterday.
“The Himalayas, the rivers Brahmaputra and Padma, and the largest mangrove forest in the world — the Sundarbans– are natural heritage which several countries share. So, we have to sit down together and solve our problems,” said Ramaswamy R Iyer, former secretary of Indian water resources ministry.
The seminar on “Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna Region: Water-based Regional Coopearation” was organised by Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation and held at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre.
Speaking as chief guest, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said since the signing of the Ganges Treaty in 1996, it is taking so long to strike a treaty on the sharing of Teesta water. If the pace of talks remains the same, it will take a millennium to reach agreements on all the 54 trans-boundary rivers.
She mentioned that 10 percent of the world population live only in 1.2 percent of the global landmass in this region. And it is home to 40 percent of the world’s poorest people. “So, we need to change our mindset,” she said.
The foreign minister went on, “We have to go beyond the narrow and shallow national interests for the sake of attaining sustainable development and managing the common heritage of the people of this region.”
Referring to the on-going talks on the Teesta water sharing, Sheikh Wahiduzzaman, water resources secretary, said there has already been some progress on regional cooperation. “During the secretary-level talks (in March) in Delhi, the Indian side agreed in principle to include Nepal in the water talks.”
Wahiduzzaman said, “The government will start construction of the Ganges Barrage in 2012 and re-excavate the Gorai river to ensure fresh water for the Sundarbans, where salinity is already causing havoc.”
Nepalese water resources expert Iswer Raj Onta said, “It has to be studied what will be the impacts on India, Bangladesh and Nepal if China diverts the Brahmaputra water for its increasing demand for water.
“Water issue should be people-oriented rather than country-oriented. It is also becoming a political issue. So, politicians of all these countries must unite to solve it.”
Dr Kashem, a local expert, suggested that basin management approach for solving water issues must be taken up as a development issue.
Citing Article 9 of the Ganges Treaty, Kashem said that for regional basin management programme for water sharing, the principles of no harm to any country, equity and fairness must be strictly followed.
A member of the Bangladesh-India Joint Rivers Commission, Mir Sajjad, informed the seminar that since the prime minster’s visit to India (in January), Delhi is regularly sharing all water-related information with Dhaka. And it is vital for flood warning.
Economist Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, who chaired the seminar, said talks on regional cooperation have continued since 1990 without much success. “It is time, may be not too late, to agree on common interests, and act.”
Common issues such as water sharing, arsenic contamination and ground water depletion must be addressed by all unanimously, he said.
