In the Eastern Himalayas, 700 million people depend on the erratic water supplies from the river system of Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna. How can regional cooperation improve water security and livelihoods in the region? The ECC editorial team has talked to Golam Rasul, Theme Leader for Livelihoods at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Nepal. He is author of a recent paper on opportunities for cooperation in transboundary water resource management in the Eastern Himalayas.

ECC: Why is improved transboundary water cooperation in the Eastern Himalayas so urgently needed, and what are the potential benefits?

From their origin in the Himalayas until they reach the Bay of Bengal, the  Ganges, the Brahmaputra, also known as Yarlung Tsangpo in China and Jamuna in Bangladesh, and the Meghna (GBM) river systems connect China, India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh hydrologically, economically, and environmentally and provide water, energy, food, and livelihoods to millions of people. These river systems have enormous potential in terms of water, energy, irrigation, navigation, and transportation.

The GBM is the third largest river system in the world in terms of freshwater flow volume after the Amazon and the Congo. Its huge potential, however, has remained largely underutilized. As a result, the region, one of the poorest in the world, is facing increasing water stress, severe floods and droughts, energy crises, food insecurity, persistent poverty and vulnerability. About 20% of the population in the Eastern Himalayan region lacks access to safe drinking water, and per capita energy consumption in this region is among the lowest in the world. Moreover, recurrent floods and droughts have devastated economies and threatened food security across the region.

The countries of the Eastern Himalayas depend heavily on water from the GBM river system to produce enough food for their growing populations, provide access to energy for the rural poor, ensure human health, and support environmental protection. Different countries of the region depend on each other for flood management, hydropower development, irrigation, navigation, and the augmentation of dry season flow. For example, floods originating in Nepal affect Bihar in India; a glacial lake outburst flood in China can affect hydropower stations in Nepal; erosion in one country deposits sediment in another country; and hydropower potential lies in one country, while its market lies in another country.  These interdependencies necessitate the collaborative development of water resources in this region.

ECC: What kind of cooperation is needed in this regard?

Regional cooperation using a river basin approach can bring additional economic, environmental, social, and political benefits through multi-purpose river projects, which help by storing monsoon water, mitigating the effects of floods and droughts, augmenting dry season river flows, expanding irrigation and navigation facilities, generating hydropower, and enhancing energy and environmental security. Storing even a fraction of the huge flow of monsoon water in Himalayan rivers to generate hydroelectricity could provide flood control and irrigation benefits and accelerate economic growth and poverty alleviation. Regional cooperation can unleash the potentials of industrial growth and economic development and improve water, energy, food, and livelihood security of millions of people in the region.

ECC: Given these significant advantages of water cooperation, why does it seem so difficult to achieve? What are the main obstacles?

Despite huge potential, the collaborative development of shared water resources in the Eastern Himalayan region has remained sub-optimal. The most important reason for this is that water resource management is viewed primarily from a national perspective, with an over-emphasis on sharing water rather than expanding its benefits through joint development. Within this perspective, water negotiation is often seen as a 'zero-sum game’ in which gains for one country mean losses for another, and decisions are often unilateral and fragmented.

ECC: How could that be changed?

This situation could be improved through the sharing of reliable data and information and the exchange of information among the countries, which can show clearly the benefits of cooperation and cost of non-cooperation. In the absence of proper information, different groups interpret issues from different perspectives, which often fuels suspicion among the co-riparian countries and hinders cooperation. Primary steps to getting past obstacles to the cooperative development of shared water resources in the region are overcoming the nationalistic perspective, providing sound knowledge and information, and engaging diverse stakeholders.

ECC: Given these significant advantages of water cooperation, why does it seem so difficult to achieve? What are the  main obstacles?

Although there are challenges, new driving forces for regional cooperation are emerging that include civil society, NGOs, and scientific communities. Civil society organizations and other non-state actors are actively working to make transboundary water governance and negotiations more inclusive and to create space for civil society and scientific communities. There is a growing realization and demand for the collaborative development of shared water resources to ensure food, water, energy, and livelihood security for an ever-growing population, protecting the environment, promoting socioeconomic development, and alleviating poverty in all of the countries in the region.

There has been a positive shift in the region towards cooperative water management. Though slow, efforts are ongoing to resolve differences over water issues. The policy environment in the region is becoming more favourable, and the physical and institutional basis for energy cooperation is growing. Cooperation between Bhutan and India on hydropower development is a good example in this regard. Thus, good entry points could be sharing data and information and undertaking joint research to provide an objective basis for negotiation and the collaborative development of shared water resources in the region. ICIMOD, with its partners, is working to provide credible information and knowledge through its different research programmes such as Regional Flood Information Systems (HKH-HYCOS) programme funded by the Government of Finland and Koshi Basin Programme funded by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID).

ECC: Thank you very much for this interview.

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