International Rivers
Dam building without consent breaches treaties
Say water experts
Construction of a dam by an upper riparian country to draw water from international rivers without the consent of the lower riparian countries is unacceptable and a breach of international conventions, water experts said yesterday.
They suggested intense negotiations at multi-levels to resolve the pending issues on water sharing of the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) basins.
The recommendations came at the end of a two-day regional conference, “Development and Management of River Basins: The Case of the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna”, in the auditorium of Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) in the capital.
BIISS, in collaboration with German-based think tank Konrad Adenauer Stiftung's Saarc Regional Programme, organised the conference.
“Withdrawal of water from an international river by an upstream country, whether it be China or India, is unacceptable,” said Prof Sanjoy Hazarika of Delhi-based Centre for North East Studies.
Former ambassador Farooq Sobhan said low flow rates in rivers of Bangladesh means more salinity intrusion, which has immense adverse effects on farm activities and livelihoods.
This also means that people of the country would migrate outside the country in search of livelihoods, he said.
China has a mutual approach while dealing with the management of river basins of the Ganges, Brahmaputra, Meghna and Teesta, stated Dr Li Zhifei, an assistant professor of Asia-Pacific Security and Diplomatic Studies.
In a presentation, BIISS Research Fellow Sufia Khanom said joint studies must be conducted before any interventions are carried out on the rivers, the lifeline of the GBM basins and sizeable sources of protein, livelihoods and energy.
“Communicate with other stakeholders in the basin, talk to them. Find a solution that all can live with,” she added.
Former state minister for foreign affairs Abul Hasan Chowdhury and BIISS Director General Maj Gen Muhammad Imrul Quayes also spoke at the programme.
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