Climate Change Threats: Experts Call for Collaboration on River Basins of Indus, Ganga, Brahamputra

Patna: Amid climate change posing a threat to water security in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region, experts have stressed the need for collaboration over three key river basins in Asia -- the Indus, the Ganga, and the Brahmaputra.

The three rivers provide food and water security to some of Asia’s most vulnerable communities, as well as underpinning industry, and industrial and economic policies in one of the most populous and geopolitically sensitive zones in the world, said water and river experts in various new studies.

The Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and the Australian Water Partnership (AWP) describe climate change as the “urgent catalyst” for collaboration over three key river basins.

Studies by ICIMOD and AWP have pointed out that with climate change compounding the existing pressures on water resources, and increasing risks from floods, land erosion, and salinity, there is need for researchers, scientists, civil society, communities, and officials around the three crucial river basins that span Pakistan, China, Afghanistan, Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Bhutan to join forces to avert “enormous and growing” humanitarian, ecological, and economic risks.

The studies said the Indus provides water to 268 million people in Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and China (including nine out of Pakistan’s largest cities); the Ganga to 600 million people in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and China (including 50 Indian cities); the Brahmaputra to 114 million people in Bangladesh, India, China and Bhutan – and accounts for 30% of India’s freshwater sources.

The Indus, which holds a hydropower potential of 35,700 MGWatts, only 12% of which is currently being harnessed, is important for Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and China’s energy strategies. The Brahmaputra, too, has the immense hydropower potential that both China and India aim to tap.

Russell Rollason of eWater, the lead author of the Indus report, said: “For too long, water security has long been cast as a zero-sum game, but as this research shows it is possible for countries and stakeholders with varied interests to identify areas for collaboration – protect vulnerable communities, maintain biodiverse ecosystems, and grow economies. The reports emphasise the importance of harnessing Indigenous and local knowledge systems. These hold so many insights into how local communities can act to resolve problems quickly and effectively during a crisis. Governments need to empower local communities with knowledge and technology to nurture their resilience in the face of rising uncertainty."

Arun Shrestha, strategic group lead, Climate and Environmental Risks, ICIMOD, says: “A water-secure future for all is still within reach, but we need to think beyond borders, and think of win-win approaches to water management. The humanitarian, economic and environmental cost of our failing to embrace these new approaches now hugely outweighs the risks: and this is one arena in which science can galvanise action.”

The Elevating River Basin Governance and Cooperation in the HKH Region report series zeroes in on key economic, ecological, energy, social, geopolitical, and governance issues and opportunities specific to the three rivers, and provides key recommendations to mitigate risks, the studies noted.

The authors of these studies describe collective action in the region as fraught but, with governments’ water, food, energy, and security strategies at stake, also “hugely urgent.”

The reports flag ways to encourage negotiations and build fresh consensus, especially by rejuvenating existing treaties and potentially new forms of cooperation through the deployment of ‘integrated river basin management’ (IRBM) approaches.

IRBM takes a “basin-wide” approach to river planning – underpinned by increasing the availability and sharing of high-quality and reliable data around water availability, needs, biodiversity, pollution, and other indicators of ecological health, and disaster and other risks and by the opening up discussions on water to wider stakeholder groups, especially local and Indigenous knowledge holders, and vulnerable communities especially women, disabled people and lower caste groups.

The IRBM framework also encourages riparian countries to focus on shared challenges and opportunities, paving the way for future collaboration.