Diplomacy of cooperation: Way for resolving water sharing issues

DIPLOMACY means the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of states. Usually it refers to international diplomacy; the conduct of international relations through intercession of professional diplomats with regard to peace making, trade, war, economics, culture, water resources sharing, environment, human rights and so on. Water resources sharing between countries situated in the same basin of a particular international river has, of late, occupied a very important place in diplomatic relationship between countries for obvious reasons.
In this context, in General Comment 15 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the UNO recognised water as a human right. Without water numerous fundamental human rights cannot be fully realised. This declaration was an important step at the international level in terms of legal protection of the right to water. But it was not a legally binding document.
Let us now look at the ground reality. There are 263 water basins in the world. The river basins occupy nearly half of the earth's surface and are home to 40% of the world population. These international rivers are sources of 60% of the world's fresh water flows. As the demand for water grows in all countries, these shared resources are being increasingly drawn upon to meet the competing needs of billions of people for drinking water, food, energy and industrial production. Less water would be left, often of inferior quality, to sustain ecosystems and meet people's future demands. When we look at the Himalayan Region, we find that the countries of the region offer vast opportunities for optimal water resources development and management through collaborative efforts.
It was probably from that future collaborative point of view that Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the then Indian Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi set up a bilateral working group, called Joint River Commission, under the auspices of Indo-Bangladesh Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Peace signed on March 19, 1972. As per the treaty, the two nations established the Commission to work for common interests and sharing of water resources, irrigation, and flood and cyclone control. It is now recognised that the studies and reports of the Commission contributed directly towards resolving the dispute over the sharing of the Ganges waters in 1996 under the initiative of Sheikh Hasina, the then prime minister of Bangladesh.
As to cooperative development of the Himalayan countries, we see that this can enable the people of the region to achieve multiple benefits like hydro-power, and dry season flow augmentation, resulting in expansion of irrigation, increased fish production, etc. For example, there is tremendous potential for construction of reservoirs in Nepal, which would augment the dry season flows of the Ganges by about 188,500 cusecs. The dams in Nepal would also provide multi-purpose benefits like hydropower with potential of about 83,000 MW, flood moderation, expansion of irrigation, and navigation. Bhutan, too, has a hydropower generation potential of about 30,000 MW. The production of such hydro-electricity will not only meet the needs of Nepal and Bhutan, but will also meet power demands of Bangladesh and India.
An initiative for regional cooperation among the Himalayan countries to raise awareness of the people of the region began in 2006 with commendable support of the World Bank. The initiative, known as the Abu Dhabi Dialogue Group (ADDG), was formed with seven Himalayan countries—Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal and Pakistan. The ADDG has so far held more than eight meetings. At its second meeting held in Bangkok in July 2007, it adopted a long term vision: “A cooperative and knowledge based partnership of states fairly managing and developing the Himalayan River Systems to bring economic prosperity, peace and social harmony, and environmental sustainability from the source to the sea.”
Bangladesh is a low-lying delta formed by the alluvial deposits of the three mighty Himalayan rivers—Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna. Bangladesh has 57 trans- boundary rivers, of which 54 are common with India and only 3 are common with Myanmar. 51 rivers common between Bangladesh and India are within the catchment areas of Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna. The catchment areas of these three mighty rivers are about 1,72 million sq.km, of which only 7% lies in Bangladesh. The lives and livelihood of millions of people in Bangladesh have been revolving around the waters of these rivers over the ages. The present government of Sheikh Hasina has planned to construct the Ganges Barrage to meaningfully utilise the water that it receives as per the Ganges Water Treaty.
Dredging of all the major rivers of the country under a nationwide mega project has been undertaken. The effect of such dredging is already being felt as the country has not witnessed any major flood during the last five years, resulting in protection of crops and establishments including railway, roads and highways worth roughly Tk.70,000 crore. On the other hand, we have seen that India, Pakistan, China, and Thailand have faced several severe floods during the last five years.
There are a number of glowing success stories of regional cooperation for management of international rivers, like: (a) Mekong River Commission (Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam),  (b) Convention and Protection of the Rhine (Germany, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Switzerland under EU Framework), (c) Nile Basin Initiative (Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Congo and Eritrea-observer), and (d) Senegal River Basin Water and Environmental Management Project( Guinea, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal).
Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Bhutan offer vast opportunities for optimal water resources development and management through collaborative efforts, and the key to prosperity in the region is basin-wide development of the rivers following the principles of Integrated Water Resources Management.
The immediate need is a pragmatic approach to the management of water resources in the region. For this to happen, political commitment of the leadership of the countries concerned is required. The governments of this region would, therefore, need to agree on a broad framework for regional cooperation by fostering mutual understanding and accommodation. As such, diplomacy of cooperation is the need of the hour.

The writer is former Principal Secretary, Prime Minister's Office (PMO), Government of Bangladesh.