1. Transnational Policy Dialogue for Improved
Water Governance in Brahmaputra River
Water Cooperation for Water Governance
By
Malik Fida A. Khan
Director, Climate Change Study Division
Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services

2. Why Water Co-Operation is Needed
Water is a basic human needs
Needs for environment, socio-economic development and
poverty reduction
demands for water are increasing to satisfy the needs of a
growing world population
Rapid urbanization, pollution and climate change threaten the
resource
Water is unevenly distributed in time and space
Water is a shared resource and its management needs to take
a wide variety of conflicting interests

3. International Policy Directives for Co-operative Management
 International Conference on Water and the Environment,
Dublin, 1992
 1st World Water Forum, Marrakech, Morocco, 1997
 2nd World Water Forum, Hague, Netherlands, 2000

International Conference on Freshwater, Bonn, 2001
 World Summit on Sustainable Development, Rio de Janeiro,
2002
 3rd World Water Forum, Kyoto, Japan, 2003
 4th World Water Forum, Mexico City, Mexico, 2006
 5th World Water Forum, Istanbul, Turkey, 2009
 6th World Water Forum, Marseille, France, 2012

4. International Conference on Water and Environment, Dublin, 1992
 Recommendations for action at local, national and international
levels to reduce the scarcity, through four guiding principles:
o Fresh water is a finite and vulnerable resource, essential to sustain
life, development and the environment
o Water development and management should be based on a
participatory approach, involving users, planners and policy-makers at
all levels
o Women play a central part in the provision, management and
safeguarding of water
o Water has an economic value in all its competing uses and should be
recognized as an economic good
 Major benefits to come from the Dublin recommendations will be:
o Water conservation and reuse
o Agricultural production and rural water supply
o Protecting aquatic ecosystems
o Resolving water conflicts

5. 2nd World Water Forum, Hague, 2000
 Sharing water resources: Promote peaceful co-operation
and develop synergies between different uses of water at
all levels through
o Sustainable River Basin Management or other appropriate
approaches
 Integrated Water Resources Management the forum
concluded that:
o To achieve IWRM a need for coherent national and, where
appropriate, regional and international policies to
overcome
fragmentation, and for transparent and
accountable institutions at all levels

6. International Conference on Freshwater, Bonn, 2001

Ministers agreed that ten years after the UN
Conference on Environment and Development
and the Dublin Conference, and

Several years after the global water conferences
in Paris and The Hague, there is still
o
Need for greater commitment to implement
commonly agreed principles on water resources
management

7. World Summit on Sustainable Development, Rio de Janeiro, 2002

Focus on two themes:
o Green economy in the context of sustainable
development and poverty eradication; and
o Institutional framework for sustainable development.

Water providing a basic reference relating to
international time-bound commitments in the area
of water, with a view to facilitating discussion
around water resources, management and quality

8. 3rd World Water Forum, Kyoto, Japan, 2003
Debate within the context of the new
commitments of meeting the goals set forth at



The Millennium Summit of the United Nations in
New York (2000)
The International Freshwater Conference in Bonn
(2001) and
The World Summit on Sustainable Development
in Johannesburg (2002).

9. 4th World Water Forum, Mexico, 2006
Water management is facing increasing
challenges, including water scarcity, climate
change, urbanization and decentralization
Challenges require more capabilities of people
and institutions strengthened at all levels
Two major reports were released by the WWC
and its partners in 4th WWF-



o
o
The right to water: from concept to implementation
Enhancing access to finance for local governments
and financing water for agriculture

10. 5th World Water Forum, Istanbul, Turkey, 2009
 Recommendations and commitments for
action on bridging water divides
 By the means of
oGovernance and Management
oFinance
oEducation, Knowledge and Capacity Building

11. 6th World Water Forum, Marseille, France, 2012
The regional & cross-continental coordination:
Asia-Pacific Targets
 Develop a strategic flood risk-management
framework through appropriate policies and
practices in the Himalayan region.
 Enhance capacity of River Basin Organizations
to implement IWRM including adaptation to
climate change.

12. Ministerial declaration of 6th World Water Forum
 Enhance cooperation across and beyond water, taking
the interests of all riparian States to foster peace and
stability.
 Cooperative efforts in the field of transboundary
waters
 Promote and encourage
coordinated, equitable, reasonable and optimal water
utilization in transboundary basins
 Deepening mutual trust among riparian countries and
achieve sound cooperation.
 Principles of the relevant international Conventions on
water can be useful in this regard

13. Water: A Resource Without Borders
 There are 276
transboundary river basins
in the world
 Among them 60 are in Asia
 185 out of the 276
transboundary river
basins, about twothirds, are shared by two
countries
 46% of the globe’s
terrestrial surface is
covered by transboundary
river basins
 148 countries include
territory within one or more
transboundary river basins
No of Transboundary River Basin
64
Africa
60
Asia
68
46
38
Europe North South
America America

14. International Agreements on Water Issues:
Success Stories
Nearly 450 agreements on international
waters were signed between 1820 and 2007
(OSU, 2007)
Over 90 international water agreements were
drawn up to help manage shared water
basins on the African continent (UNEP, 2010)

15. Basin Information: South Asia
 Ten large Asian river basins systems- Amu
Darya, Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Irrawaddy, Salween,
Mekong, Yangtse, Yellow, and Tarim
 These
basins
spread
over
the
countriesAfghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal
Myanmar and Pakistan
 The river basins cover an area of about 9 million km2
 Provides water, ecosystem services, and the basis for
livelihoods to a population of around 211 million people
in the region
 Basins of these rivers provide water to 1.3 billion
people, a fifth of the world’s population

16. Major River basins of Asia
Amur
China, Russia
Brahmaputra
Ganges
Indus
Irrawaddy
Mekong
Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal
Bangladesh, China, India, Nepal
India, Pakistan, China
China, India, Myanmar
Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam
Salwen
Tarim
Yangtze
Yellow
China, Myanmar, Thailand
China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan
China
China

17. Regional Basin Map: South Asia

18. Challenges of Regional Co-Operation with
Water: South Asia and the Himalayas
• Receding glaciers
• Increased floods
• Incidents of glacial lake bursts over the coming decades
climate change • Much less water availability
• Occurrence of climatic extremity and variability
• Irrigation needs for food security
• Supply and sanitation needs
• Needs for urbanization and development
• Power generation needs
• Competing national priorities
Socio-Economic
Developments • Management mechanisms
• Economic Issues
• Poverty Reduction
Political
Dimensions
• Political willingness
• Conflicts

19. GBM Basins of the Region
India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China
India, Bangladesh, Nepal, China
India, Bangladesh

20. Catchment areas of Major Rivers
River
Catchment
Area (‘000
Sq. Km)
Brahmaputra
Catchment Area (‘000 Sq. Km)
India
Nepal
Bhutan
China
Bangladesh
552
195
(35%)
-
47
(9%)
271
(49%)
39
(7%)
Ganges
1087
860
(79%)
147
(14%)
-
34
(3%)
46
(4%)
Meghna
82
47
(57%)
-
-
-
35
(43%)
1721
1102
(64%)
147
(9%)
47
(3%)
304
(18%)
120
(7%)
Total

21. Transboundary River of Bangladesh
Hydrological
Region
No of
Rivers
(%) of total
Trans flow
North West
17
7
North East
20
6
South West
5
0.1
South East
9
1
Eastern Hill
3
0.5
River and
Estuary
2
86
North Central
1
South Central
-

22. Water – Regional Co-Operation Needs
 South Asia region is characterized by numerous
international river basins, many of which are shared
with countries beyond the region
 Several countries have almost 100% of their territory
and population within international basins
(Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan)
 Seven countries share rivers in the Himalayas
 As the populations and economies of countries
grow, they will undoubtedly intensify.

23. Regional Water Co-operation: Watershed Management
 To incorporate all of
the physical, political
and economic
characteristics for a
river basin, a process
for co-operative
watershed
management is vital.
 For this, water should
be managed based on
river basins, not only
on administrative
boundaries.
Integrated
Water
Resources
Management
Co-operative
basin based
management
Equitable
Sharing of
Water in
transboundary
issues

24. Cooperation needs for Bangladesh
World Water Forum recommended for building storage reservoir
to store monsoon water which would help to






Moderate floods
Augment dry season flows
Generate hydro-power
Improve navigation facilities
Increase fish production
Improve environment etc.
Bangladesh is holding discussion with the co-riparian countries
with a view to jointly develop water storage projects at suitable
locations in the upstream regions to get the above benefits on an
equity basis.

25. Hydro-Power Generation: Regional Co-operation
 Being a lower riparian country it is quite
impossible for Bangladesh to construct a hydro
power plant in the flat topography
 Bangladesh can purchase electricity generated
by Nepali and Indian hydro power plants
 Bangladesh has already started negotiation with
India and Bangladesh for hydro power market
 The negotiation need to be done at basin level as
common rivers are shared by the countries

26. Potential Hydro-power of GBM Basins
Hydro-power : 1,89,000 MW
Ganges Basin
Bangladesh India
17,859 MW (Installed capacity)
Nepal
83,000 MW (Maximum potential)
42,000 MW (Project so far identified)
Brahmaputra and Barak/Meghna Basins
Bangladesh India
58,200 MW (Installed capacity)
Bhutan
30,000 MW (Potential)
23,760 MW (Technically & Economically feasible for
immediate development)

27. Proposal for Reservoir Construction in Nepal:
Regional Co-operation
 After the devastating floods of 1987 and 1988, a Joint
Nepal – Bangladesh Study was conducted on flood
Mitigation Measures and multipurpose use of Water
Resources. The Joint Study Report was accepted by the two
Governments.
 The Study recommended 30 potential reservoir sites in
Nepal foro Moderation of floods
o Augmentation of dry season flows
o Generation of hydro power

28. Dry season flow augmentation
Ganges Basin
Bangladesh
India
Nepal
Not quantified
1,88,500 Cusec
Brahmaputra and Barak/Meghna basin
Bangladesh
India
1,45,000 cusec
Bhutan
Not available

29. Recent Development for Regional Cooperation
Dialogue is one of the important instruments to initiate
cooperation and building trust
Track I:
Formal and
informal
processes of
governments
(Official)
Track II:
Interactive
forums but
led by an
actor closely
aligned with
States
(Semi official)
Track III:
Research, dial
ogue and
advocacy
efforts led by
civil society
(unofficial)
Track IV: Civil
society
organisations
supporting
locally-led
governance
processes
(Unofficial)

30. Initiative of Abu Dhabi Dialogue
 10-year consensus vision formulated in 2009
of a 'cooperative and knowledge-based
partnership of states fairly managing and
developing the Himalayan River systems'
 Agreements on specific actions to advance
the water cooperation agenda are also
included

31. IUCN Initiative on Bangladesh-India Regional
Co-Operation
16 Situation analysis papers from both countries have
been synthesized to produce on five thematic area
1. Water productivity
and poverty
2. Climate change
3. Inland navigation
4. Environmental
security
5. Biodiversity
conservation

32. What Bangladesh Should Pursue
 Being the lowermost riparian country of the three
mighty Himalayan rivers
 Bangladesh is pursuing since long time to form
o River Basin Commission or
o River Basin Organization or
o River Basin Institute
 Bangladesh and India have signed a Framework
Agreement on Cooperation for Development in
September 2011

33. Way Forward for Water Cooperation
Cooperation is essential to strike a balance between the different needs and priorities
and share this precious resource equitably, using water as an instrument of peace
Promotion of scientific research among the transboundary countries which evolve the
mutual trust for water cooperation
Dialogue should act as triggering instrument for initiation and building up consensus
for water cooperation of transboundary rivers
Water sharing should not be limited between the tranboundary countries, a
reasonable quantum of water should also be allocated to the river as “share of the
river”.
Signed agreement/treaties should by revisited to revise the treaties as per changed
environment.
Formulation of Win-Win Situation by all the countries by agreement of the political
level on a common agenda
To achieve a realistic regional cooperation for long term and sustainable water
resources management regional empathy and co-operation is necessary

34. Water Cooperation for Water Governance

35. Thank you

36. Regional Success Story: Indus Water Treaty
Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) was
signed in early 1960 between
India and Pakistan
IWT allocated exclusive use of
three eastern rivers
(Ravi, Sutlej and Beas) to India
and three western rivers
(Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) to
Pakistan

37. Mekong River Commission, 1995
 In 1995 Mekong
Agreement, which established
the Mekong River Commission
 Management responsibility to
its four member CountriesCambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand
and Viet Nam
 MRC shifted the focus from
development of large-scale
projects to sustainable
development and management
of natural resources

38. Reservoir Locations in Nepal

39. Proposal of Seven Reservoirs in Nepal by
Bangladesh: Regional Co-Operation
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Pancheswar
Chisapani
Kaligandhaki-1
Kaligandhaki-1
Seti
Trisulganga
Saptikosi

40. 2013: the Year of Water Co-operation
In designating 2013 as the
UN International Year of
Water Cooperation.
Cooperation is essential to
strike a balance between the
different needs and priorities
and share this precious
resource equitably, using
water as an instrument of
peace
Needs and
Priorities
Peace
Equitable
Sharing

41. Water Governance

Water governance is defined by the
political, social, economic and administrative systems
that are in place, and which directly or indirectly affect
the use, development and management of water
resources

Water sector is a part of broader social, political and
economic developments and is also affected by
decisions outside of the water sector

It can be done at local, national, regional, basin and
international level.

42. Water Governance Issues
Decentralization
Multi-stakeholder
Participation
River Basin
Management
Co-Ordination
Gender Equity
Reduce
mismanagement
and corruption
between and among
Government
Civil society
Private
companies
Policy Development
and implementation
Knowledge
Development and
Capacity Building
Integrity, Transparency
and Accountability
Assessment and
Monitoring
Develop, dissemin
ate, promote
application of
tools, methodologie
s and knowledge;
Build knowledge
platform to share
experience
Document and
distribute good
practice
Through
practical
tools, applied
research, capacity
development