The steering committee sponsored by IFC is organizing a three day international workshop on Sustainable Management of Himalayan Rivers from 23-25 April 2011 at Dhaka, Bangladesh. Experts from different countries specially from India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh are participating in the workshop.
IFC since it’s formation is engaged in different activities for the conservation of the ecosystem in Bangladesh for its sustainable development. For the last few years IFC organized many workshops and conferences in Bangladesh. In 2006,  IFC organized a two-day international conference on ‘Upstream water Diversion: A disaster for Bangladesh’ at the Institution of Engineers Bangladesh on 4-5 January. Eminent scientists, policy planners, intellectuals and journalists participated in the conference and had deliberations and interactions of ideas. Leading figures from different political parties attended the conference and expressed their views on this agenda of utmost national and international importance.
Then in 2006, again IFC  organized an international conference on ‘Trans-boundary water issues: South Asian cooperation’, on 9-10 August at the Local Government Engineering Department, Agargaon, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Experts from India, Nepal, China, Japan and Bangladesh participated as resource person in this conference. Prominent leaders of political parties and leaders of opinion also joined the conference and contributed ideas for such an important issue.
A day long conference was organized by IFC on ‘Tran-boundary rivers with special  reference to Tipaimukh Dam’ on 18 July 2009 at National Press Club, Dhaka. Then on July 14, 2010 IFC organized a conference on ‘water problems of Bangladesh: National and regional perspectives’ at National Press Club, Dhaka.  
The eco-disaster and untold miseries already inflicted on Bangladesh by upstream water diversion will be multiplied thousand times, if serious attempts are not taken for equitable sharing of water.  
A sense of justice and eco-consciousness is emerging in the region. We hope and believe that a Regional River Commission comprising all countries of the Himalayas river basins under the supervision of the United Nations will be able to usher a new era of cooperation and prosperity in the region.
We also hope that the workshop conference and the valuable information emerging from it, would be able to encourage the participants and would usher a new era of cooperation between Bangladesh and the countries of the region for sustainable management of the Himalayan rivers. We would like to thank the authors and contributors for their valuable contributions. We sincerely believe that we would be able to overcome this impending danger by forming a great unity for a common cause of saving the rivers.

Prof. Dr. Jasim Uddin Ahmad
Mostafa Kamal Majumder

Address of Welcome
Sayed Tipu Sultan, Secretary General, IFC

Honourable Chief Guest, Dr. Hasan Mahmud, honourable Minister of State for Environment and Forest, Special Guest, Dr. Durga P. Paudal, Director General, CIRDAP, Excellencies, distinguished members of the diplomatic missions, foreign experts, guests, journalists, ladies and gentlemen,
As Salamu Alaikum and Good Morning.
Rivers are the cradles of human civilizations; water is life. But in the Indian Subcontinent, it is more than life. Here river is divine; River is Goddess to vast majority of the population. Rivers and river water have always played the central role in the economic and cultural development of the Indian subcontinent. A growing population and the recent accelerated economic activities in this region have made water resource management more complicated in this area. More than 500 million people live in the Ganga (Padma in Bangladesh)-Brahmaputra-Meghna basins. The region comprises some of the world’s most fertile lands of the world. Proper utilization of natural resources can change the lives of many in this region.
Nature has no respect for national borders, but human beings seem incapable of managing their affairs without them. Nature does not endow every place or nation on earth with the same type and amount of resources. Herein lie the roots of all conflict over scarce natural resources within and among nations. Unfortunately, water is one of the most politicized natural resources not only in the developing world, but also in the developed world. Human interventions on the Ganga river have already created serious environmental and ecological problems to Bangladesh. In addition to that a river-linking project in India to divert the other major Himalayan River, the Brahmaputra, now threatens the ecology of entire Bangladesh. The third major river of Bangladesh, the Meghna, is threatened by the construction at upstream of a dam at Tipaimukh over its feeder flows from the Barak. A dam at Gajaldoba in India has rendered the Teesta in Bangladesh dry at many parts.In order to get free insignificant amount of power the Manipur State of India will be loosing around 293.6 km2 under submergence of reservoir water which includes 4760 ha of gardens, 2053 ha of rice cultivable land, 178.2 km2 of forest land besides affecting a large number of villages (105). Decades of experience has made the stakeholders cynical about bilateral negotiations. After successful examples of the Danube Commission, the Nile Basin Agreement and the recent  Mekong Basin Treaty, it is now widely accepted that transboundary water courses are best managed if a basin-wide approach is taken. For a permanent solution to the problems in the GBM basins, which are threatening the historical ties of the people nourished by “Mother Ganga” for centuries, the inclusion of all the water courses states in the negotiation in inevitable. The 1997 UN Convention can and should play the guiding role here and in all other transboundary watercourses disputes, as was originally envisaged. Apart from advocacy of the cause of those distressed by random river diversions, a purpose of our campaign is to persuade concerned countries to form a transnational River Commission, particularly for the river Brahmaputra for the resources of which China, India, Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh are co-riparian.
We have adequate surface water in this region. All we need is good management practice. We propose that a Brahmaputra River Commission be formed at government, non-government and expert levels, to benefit equitably all the co-riparian countries taking into account multinateral dimension of the river’s resources, in the pattern of the Commission for the protection of the Danube River or the Mekong River Commission. Ganga and other river commissions can also be formed under the auspices of the United Nations conventions.
Let me repeat the verse composed by me:
“Let us pray for our renewed birth, Let our mind settle down on earth,
Let our people strive for the best, Let us bow our head to the nature Goddess.”
I on behalf of the Steering Committee on the International Workshop on Sustainable Management of Himalayan Rivers, and IFC, welcome you all here at the CIRDAP auditorium.
We need your full support and cooperation. Thank you all. Thank you indeed.

Words of Appreciation
Mohammad Hossain Khan
Senior Assistant Secretary-General, IFC

Today, I first extend my heart-felt thanks to Honourable Minister of State for the Environment & Forests, Dr. Hasan Mahmud for his support in advancing our cause to ensure Bangladesh’s rightful share in the water of cross boarder rivers.

I am also extending my gratitude from the bottom of my heart to all distinguished guests and speakers, especially to those friends who have come from far away to see personally the devastation caused by the upstream water diversion.

The Farakka Barrage has destroyed the livelihood of millions of people, and contributed to the arsenic contamination of ground water. Today thousands of people in Bangladesh as well as in West Bengal are suffering from various life-threatening arsenic related diseases.

The Farakka Barrage is also changing a vast area of the fertile Ganges delta into a desert, causing huge loss of bio-diversity and threatening the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forests. Thus, it is also causing ecological damages to West Bengal and the entire Ganges basin area.

The International Farakka Committee (IFC) is a non-profit, non-political environmental organization. Its main objective is to raise awareness about the ecosystem damage in Bangladesh caused by water diversion projects in the upper riparian trans-border river systems. 

Ultimately, an acceptable and rightful solution to the problem has to be negotiated by the governments of all relevant countries. That’s why the IFC does not align itself with any political party. We want to strengthen the hands of the government in achieving Bangladesh’s rightful share of water of the trans-border rivers. We also believe that the opposition has also role to play. Not only the opposition has to keep a watchful eye on the government’s negotiating efforts, it will also have to carry out the task while in the government.

The IFC believes that a lasting and equitable solution to the problem can only be achieved through co-operation among the countries sharing these rivers. It is only through genuine cooperation and respect for each other’s rights by which we can harness these rivers for the benefits of the people of all countries concerned.

I am extending my sincere gratitude to all of you. Your support today will go a long way in achieving our objectives. We count on your continued support.

I would like to thank the member of steering committee for organizing this important workshop of utmost national importance. My thanks also go to all the sponsors both from Bangladesh and USA.

Thank you all once again

Water Problems of Bangladesh
Professor M. Maniruzzaman Miah
Former Vice-Chancellor, Dhaka University

Fifty Seven of our rivers, including 54 from India, enter the country from outside bringing in an estimated volume of 1010 BCM of water annually. An additional 340 BCM is available from local rainfall. Of this huge total an estimated 190 BCM is lost through evaporation and evapo-transpiration.
Eighty percent of the remaining huge total of 1160 BCM is concentrated during the five-month Monsoon period from June to October.
How much water do we need today and in about a quarter of a century (2025) from now? Demands on water is there mainly for irrigation, for domestic consumption and commercial and industrial activities, for forestry, for maintenance of water bodies and protection of biodiversity, besides non-consumptive demands for fish, navigation, dilution, and salinity control of coastal areas.
Demand for irrigation water is indeed great. Bangladesh, as is known, is heavily densely populated. In an area of 147570 sq. km its total population in 2001 was 133 m which will reach to about 147 million by 2003 (The state of world population 2003) and this has a propensity to rise further. When will it reach a plateau is yet uncertain. On the other hand, an amount of 80-85 thousand hectares of land is being lost to agriculture every year. This is putting a heavy pressure on already scarce land suitable for agriculture, in turn intensity of cropping is increasing. This would mean an ever increasing demand on irrigation water.
No less important is the accessibility of the people to safe drinking water. The target 10 of Millennium Development Goals is to halve by 2015, the proportion of people without suitable access to safe drinking water. The MDG also enjoins on the states to achieve by 2020 a significant improvement in the lives of slum dwellers, their demands, in particular, for sanitation, sewerage and the like.
The total water requirement today for domestic purposes is approximately 1.33 BCM a year. All in all we need a quantity of 93881 MCM of water for the period from November to May (WARPO 2001)
Other Problems
It is not only the issue of supply and demand that is important. Our problems related to water are, in fact, multi-faceted. They comprise, in the main, floods, droughts, river erosion on the one hand and provision for such essential non-consumptive demands like maintenance of ecology, environment and bio-diversity on the other.
Floods do visit us regularly each year during the Monsoon. It is both a bane and a boon to us. When flood waters submerge more than a quarter of the country’s landmass it causes immense sufferings to the people, human lives and cattle wealth are lost, crops are damaged and infrastructure and important installations suffer large scale destruction. To give one example, the loss in monetary terms due to the floods of 1998 alone was to the tune of USD 3000 m (BWDB).
Floods however can be a boon also as they replenish the lost fertility of the soils, ward off ingress of saline water into the mainland, resuscitate the dying and derelict channels and river courses, and most important of all, the water bodies and wetlands thus help preserve the essential ecosystem and bio- diversity of the country. The need for preservation of eco-system and bio-diversity is very vital for us.
Bank erosion is yet another disaster that happens consequent upon floods. River-erosion makes at least 20000 families homeless every year. According to a World Disaster Report (2001) published by the IFRCS some 100000 people suffer and 9000 hectares of precious cultivable land are eroded. A majority of the affected people lose their hearth and home never to recover them again, and enter into a cycle of poverty from which they hardly can extricate themselves. It has been estimated that in 2000 alone (Bangladesh Disaster Report) the area and number of people affected were 219310 acres and 415870 respectively causing a financial loss on the order of USD 3286 m.
Drought is another water related disaster that we are facing with increasing intensity. From the quantity of water that is available during the Monsoon months both due to inflow from outside and that generated inside due to rainfall one may have the impression that we have “excess” water in the country. This notion of excess however is fraught with danger.
This is because there is a wide disparity between the wet Monsoon months and dry winter. Monsoon waters available from one year to the other also vary, besides the fact that within the same season the distribution is not uniform.
Variability in total rainfall and its distribution from the normal pattern are frequent indeed. As a general rule whenever that occurs it does affect agriculture, besides impacting on other aspects of our socio-economic life like fisheries, navigation, salinity incursion, wetland bio-diversity and the like. Loss of agricultural output apart, other ills that may be brought about in its wake seriously jeopardize the delicate food security balance.
Bangladesh experienced serious drought in 1979, 1981, 1982, and 1989 in recent years. Records also show that between November 1998 and April 1999 there was practically no rain over a period of 150 days at a stretch. Our calculation based on data collected from WARPO suggests that in the month of March, 2025 we will have a huge shortage of water to the tune of 6306 MCM.
As if that was not enough, now we hear about the Indian mega project of river linking. The essence of this project is that Himalayan rivers will be diverted from their present day course of flowing through Bangladesh and disgorging their waters into the Bay of Bengal to carry waters to the south of India instead. As our water courses are largely fed by the Indian rivers one can imagine what disastrous consequences it will lead to.
We have mentioned above that a major portion of waters in our rivers are contributed by inflow from upstream. This is true not only for the Monsoon but also for the dry months. More and more withdrawal by the upper riparian to meet the increasing demand on freshwater and absence of an all encompassing water-sharing agreement between India and Bangladesh are complicating matters for us. After a tortuous negotiation for over quarter of a century a deal was struck for sharing the Ganges water for a 5-year period from 1977. Then for 14 years again there was no agreement till a treaty on sharing the Ganges water was signed in December, 1996. We have no sharing arrangement with India in respect of other rivers.
We may mention here that water conflicts between riparian countries is nothing new. In fact, one of the important agreement reached at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 was a consensus on principles of navigational use of the Rhine. USA and Mexico entered into sharing of the Rio Grande in 1908. The USA Supreme Court while adjudicating on water conflicts between states set certain principles some of which were later applied in other cases for resolving disputes between riparian countries elsewhere.
Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM)
There has been an awareness among water experts that unless judicious use is made of a finite resource like water there is bound to be a crisis. The UN conference on Environment and Development in its agenda 21 of Chapter 18 in Rio therefore emphasized the need for Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM). This principle has gradually become a practical tool for all water experts almost everywhere. The World Water Council, a UNESCO created body has adopted the Global Water Partnership (GWP) as its instrument for implementation of IWRM. The GWP itself works through a network of Regional Water Partnership, the Country Water Partnership and also local level partnership. The network functions through participation of all levels of water users.
Unnecessary jargon has however clouded the definition of IWRM. GWP uses it as a process that promotes the co-coordinated development and management of water, land and related recourses in order to maximize the resultant economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystem.
The essential elements of the concept of IWRM are:

1. That planning of water resources use should be for the entire basin, and not based on a single project with limited objectives;
2. That it should envisage development of all aspects of water of an entire basin;
3. That all relevant agencies of the government and all water users must be involved in the planning process;
4. That the goal should be use of water resources in a manner that is sustainable, taking into account environment protection, economic development and social well-being.

Our water-related problems have been outlined above. But being at the lowermost reaches of the big river basins we have no control over situation upstream. We only serve as the conduit of flood waters, sometimes leading to disastrous consequences. Yet, we believe that the problems of water of the Himalayan watershed however intractable they may appear can be solved satisfactorily applying the principles of IWRM regionally with all the co-basin countries of the region sitting under one umbrella. The pre-requisite for this however is neighbourly good will.

Rivers do not ‘die’ but are killed

Ramaswamy Iyer
Former Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources
Government of India

River Conservation is not just a question of rescuing a river from pollution and contamination, but much more. There were some references to rivers dying, but in fact they do not ‘die’ but are killed by human action and neglect. Instead of trying to rescue a heavily polluted river or revive a dead or dying river, we must see that these things do not happen and that rivers remain alive and healthy. This calls for a change in the way we think about rivers. Before we talk of ‘conserving’ a river, we must learn to respect it.
From this point of view, I shall give (this meeting) four catchphrases or slogans: (1) a river is not a drain; (2) a river must flow; (3) a river must have space; and (4) a river is an ecological system in itself, and part of a larger ecological system. Let me explain what I mean.

1. “A river is not a drain”: In the language of engineers, a river is a drain in the sense that it drains a catchment. That is an accurate technical statement, but it does not give us an idea of the multiple dimensions of a river. A river is not just a conduit taking the water that falls on a watershed to the sea. It performs many other functions in the ecological system and on Planet Earth. It is a sustainer of aquatic life and the ecological system, and it has a life and a personality of its own; it is a part of a people’s history and culture; it is also a sacred resource. It is only if we remember all this that we are likely to respect a river. If we think of the river in reductionist terms as a drain, we are unlikely to respect it, and we will not flinch from throwing waste into it and polluting it.
2. “A river must flow”: References were made to the self-purifying capabilities of a river, but that would be true only if there is water in the river. That is why I said that a river must flow. It is not a question of ‘minimum flows’. That expression implicitly regards abstraction from the river as the norm and leaving some water in the river as a necessary evil. We have to reverse this and regard flows as natural and abstraction or diversion as a deviation from the norm, to be kept to the minimum. In other words, what we need is not minimum flows; but minimum interference with the flows.
3. (3) “A river must have space.” Floods are natural phenomena. They occur from time to time, and will continue to occur with varying severities. We must learn to live with them and minimise damage. When floods come, the river needs to spread to accommodate them. In other words, a river needs space. If we keep reducing the space available to a river the consequences will be serious. The natural flood-plains of a river must be respected.
4. “A river is an ecological system in itself, and part of a larger ecological system”. This is obvious and needs no explanation. It follows that we cannot protect or conserve a river unless the ecological system as a whole is protected and conserved. This calls for a re-examination of lifestyles and our understanding of what constitutes ‘development’.

Among other things, this means a stringent re-examination of ‘water demand’. Reversing the usual practice of proceeding from projections of demand to supply-side answers, we must proceed from recognition of finite supply to managing the demand within that availability. In every kind of water-use major economies are possible and necessary. An important reason for such an approach is the fact that much of the water supplied for any use returns to plague us as waste of one kind or another. The greater the supply of water, the greater the generation of waste. That is a very strong reason for minimising supply-side answers. In agriculture, there is great scope for getting much more out of each drop of water; in industry we must move towards maximum re-cycling and re-use of the same water and minimum new supply; and in urban and rural water supply, we must re-examine the per capita norms and reduce them, and ensure a more equitable redistribution of the water that is supplied, providing some more water to areas and groups that get too little and imposing severe restraints and penalties on those who over-use water. This will not merely ease the pressure on a scarce resource and ensure greater social justice but will also reduce the generation of waste and the consequent pollution of rivers.
* Remarks made at a meeting at the Indian Prime Minister’s Office on 7 July 2007

1. I was pleased by the fact that some of the phrases that I had used at the earlier preparatory meeting were cited, but the approaches suggested are not fully reflected in the paper on ‘Revamping the Strategy’. For instance, the principle that the river needs space implies that we should not encroach into its space. We are already doing so. (Can we do something about this? Akshardham is a fait accompli, but can we at least reconsider the siting of the Commonwealth Games Village, or is that a fait accompli too?)
2. Shri Vir Bhadra Misra’s points at the earlier meeting are not really reflected in the Strategy paper, but he repeated his points at the meeting on 6 Nov. I hope they will now be taken on board. This is particularly important in the context of ‘technology options’.
3. While the idea of a `minimum flow’ or `environmental flow’ in streams and rivers is welcome in so far as some flow is better than no flow, there is a danger here: people may feel that so long as they have left a small quantity of water in the river, they are entitled to divert the rest. Flows are needed for maintaining the river regime, making it possible for the river to purify itself, sustaining aquatic life and vegetation, recharging groundwater, supporting livelihoods, facilitating navigation, preserving estuarine conditions, preventing the incursion of salinity, and enabling the river to play its role in the cultural and spiritual lives of the people. These multiple and diverse functions and purposes are not fully captured by phrases such as ‘minimum flow’, `ecological flow’, or `environmental flow’.
4. The treatment of waste is important but even more important is the minimisation of the generation of waste. Three points need to be noted here. First, practically every drop of water that is supplied for any kind of use (domestic, agricultural, industrial) will return to plague us as waste (sewage, agricultural residue, industrial effluent). The greater the quantum of supply, the greater the generation of waste. (Sunita Narain also made this point.) This is one more reason (apart from other more familiar ones) for a minimal resort to supply-side answers to real or imagined requirements. Secondly, the use of enormous quantities of fresh water for the transportation of human waste is doubly foolish: it imposes a burden on supply and pollutes that supply. Alternatives to flushing toilets need to be purposefully explored. Also, at the domestic level, the feasibility of a dual supply system with recycling for uses other than drinking and cooking needs to be examined. Thirdly, maximum recycling and re-use must be brought about in regard to water for industrial use, with the goal (not too long-term) of zero effluent.
5. It is true that rivers in the West (Thames, Seine, and so on) form beautiful parts of the cities that they flow through, and the idea that our rivers should do likewise seems attractive. However, this should not lead to the commercialization of the river front. The prospect of the river front becoming valuable real estate with huge residential and commercial complexes crowding the river is disturbing.
6. I have no quarrel with a selective approach to river-cleaning projects like the Ganga Action Plan. By all means, let us take up dead or dying rivers carefully and selectively. However, let us try and prevent others rivers from dying. We cannot be selective in that matter. All our rivers, and indeed our ecological systems, are at risk. Let us not kill our rivers first and then adopt plans for reviving them. We must ensure that other rivers in the country do not reach the state of the Ganga and the Yamuna, necessitating desperate rescue efforts. That enlarges the canvas considerably. The conservation of a river cannot be isolated from the conservation of the total ecological system of which it is an integral part. This calls for a rethinking of our ideas of ‘development’. That is too large a subject to be discussed here, but it needs to be kept in mind.
7. The ‘polluter must pay’ principle is good, but it must not be allowed to degenerate into ‘if you pay, you can pollute’. (Nor should we plan on the basis of the revenues arising from pollution penalties: if the revenues are large, then clearly pollution is not being controlled; minimal or zero revenues would be the best indication of success in minimizing pollution.) 

* At the meeting on 9 November 2007

(Respected Ramaswamy Iyer could not come to the workshop because of his preoccupations with some important activities planned earlier. Responding to our request to give us a write up for the benefit of the workshop he was kind enough to share with us these notes he spelt out at two meetings at the Indian Prime Minister’s officee in July and November 2007. These are not only very relevant but very  close to the core of the central theme of our workshop) 

Rivers must continue to flow
Mostafa Kamal Majumder
Editor, The New Nation, Dhaka: Adviser, IFC and coordinator of the workshop

South Asia is home to 1.5 billion people. ‘The countries of South Asia except Sri Lanka and Maldives lie within the large Himalayan river systems–the Ganges, the Brahmmaputra, the Meghna, the Indus and the Irrawaty which are transboundary in nature. These river systems directly support agriculture-based livelihoods of about 650 million people.’
Over 40 percent world’s poor live in South Asia. About 35 percent of the population (over 515 million) lives in absolute poverty well below the $1 a day and about 75 percent below $2 a day due to underdeveloped agriculture, and industry, unplanned urbanisation and unsustainable development.
South Asia region faces recurrent floods, droughts, flash flood associated with land slides, river erosion. Bordered by the Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea the region is also frequently visited by cyclones, storm induced tidal surges, tornadoes and is vulnerable to climate change. Being in seismic belt, the region faces disasters like earth quake and earth quake induced floods (tsunami) and experience change of river courses.
Despite the poor socio economic conditions, the region is endowed with considerable natural resources. The four major rivers–the Ganges, the Brahmmaputra the Meghna, and the Indus; flowing down the Himalayas-‘The Water Tower of Asia’-have largely shaped the environment of the region starting from the mountains and the glaciers from where they originate all the way through the innumerous water streams, water falls and the floodplains, where they have created and are sustaining ecosystems on which diverse life forms and in turn life and livelihood of people depend, falling finally into the sea. These river systems have fostered civilizations from ancient times and have fertile agricultural flood plains.
These vast natural resources of the region have been shaped over the millennia by nature that respects no political boundary. The southwest monsoon that brings the rains and the winter that brings cold waves from the northwest are no respecters of these boundaries. Same is the case with cyclones, storms and earthquakes. But management of the region’s resources has been obscured not only by political boundaries, perceptional differences and a legacy of mistrust, but also by unsustainable development practices.
The countries have little experience of basin-wide water resources management for regional cooperation on flood and drought management, hydro power generation and navigation. As against this the Commission for the Protection of the Danube River and the Mekong River Commission are shining as successful examples of cooperation in regional management of water resources in a win-win situation for the countries through which the rivers pass.
Unsustainable development activities are leading to deaths of rivers in our region with adverse environmental and economic consequences and talks are increasingly becoming louder on revival or rescue of dead of polluted rivers. But reviving a dead river is easier said than done. In the words of Ramaswamy Iyer, former secretary for water resources of the Government of India, “Instead of trying to rescue a heavily polluted river or revive a dead or dying river, we must see that these things do not happen and that rivers remain alive and healthy. This calls for a change in the way we think about rivers. Before we talk of ‘conserving’ a river, we must learn to respect it. From this point of view, I shall give…four catch phrases or slogans: (1) a river is not a drain; (2) a river must flow; (3) a river must have space; and (4) a river is an ecological system in itself, and part of a larger ecological system.”