West Bengal Minister raises Teesta water sharing issue Formation of River Basin Organisations (RBOs) between basin neighbouring countries is at the heart of an international conference here on Hydro-Diplomacy: A Tool for Sharing Waters Across Waters. “Good governance is required for establishment of strategies on sustainable management of international river basins,” said Thailand Minister for Natural Resources & Environment Preecha Rengsomboonsuk, opening the conference. More than 120 delegates from 26 countries are gathered here on this picturesque river island to test the waters, as it were, on how far hydro-diplomacy can work. International river basins are said to be home to 40 per cent of the global population. However, highlighting the challenges involved in transboundary sharing of river waters, West Bengal Minister Subrata Mukherjee raised the issue of sharing Teesta waters with Bangladesh. “West Bengal’s concerns about water security for its northern region cannot be overlooked and need to be allayed,” the Minister in charge of Panchayats and Rural Development said. “The proposal for allocation of equal shares to India and Bangladesh was opposed by the State as it would cause problems in the northern region, especially during the drier months. There should be more dialogue,” he later told The Hindu . In his keynote address, former West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi pointed out: “When India and Bangladesh discuss the rivers that cross into each other’s sovereign territories, one has to remember that West Bengal has to have its own perception. India is the house where these rivers belong, but West Bengal is their home.” Appreciating the hydro-diplomacy role played by the then Chief Minister Jyoti Basu “in a fine balancing of this factor” in the signing of the Ganges Treaty of 1996, Mr. Gandhi said no hydro-agreement can work on ground unless it has the endorsement and the support of the users on ground. He described the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan as “a calibrated grace,” especially when the scars of Partition were fresh and the Kashmir issue loomed large. To make it into a “new core issue” now would be to give in to hardliners. However, he added, if there is a new complication, a new process of negotiation and a new third element have emerged which must be factored in. That is the new consciousness about the environmental impact of large numbers of projects on river systems to arrive at solutions. At the same time he cautioned that the process of discussing cross-border river issues requires technological expertise, socio-psychological sensitivity at local levels, counter-lobbying skills and political courage. The former MP from Nepal and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Regional Councillor for South and East Asia, Arzu Rana Deuba, raised the subject of “compensation” and “revenues” from India’s hydro-power projects on shared Gandak and Kosi rivers. “We understand that, being a larger country, India has bigger water and power needs, but then it should compensate,” she said. The conference has been organised by IUCN, an inter-governmental organisation with multiple financers. After working on it for 15 years, IUCN succeeded with the help of the Finland Foreign Affairs Ministry in the formation of the Mekong Water Commission between the basin countries of Cambodia, Laos PDR, Thailand and Vietnam. China has not joined the Mekong commission, nor was it represented at the conference here. Accoding to IUCN’s Regional Director Aban Marker Kabraji, the issue of hydro-diplomacy was particularly relevant in Asia where IUCN was increasingly being asked to work on transboundary ecosystem levels. “Water use issues are particularly complex as they involve diverse stakeholders from farmers to industry and urban developers who are all competing for a limited resource,” Ms. Kabraji said. Conflicts over transboundary waters are attributed to disagreements on shares of consumptive uses and abstractions for irrigated agriculture, municipal and industrial withdrawals, which are usually in water scarce regions, pointed Khaled M. AbuZeid of Arab Water Council. The world lacks a legal framework that is universally acceptable and technically sound to manage transboundary waters in an equitable manner. The U.N. Convention on the Law of Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in May 1997. However, 15 years later, only 27 countries have ratified it or joined the convention. The minimum number required to join the convention for it to come into force is 35. India is the house where the rivers belong but West Bengal is their home: Gopal Gandhi India has bigger water and power needs, but it should compensate: ex-Nepal MP