The document summarizes information about the Brahmaputra River basin including its geography, hydrology, utilization, and major issues and concerns. It then discusses: 1) The Brahmaputra River basin spans China, India, and Bangladesh and faces issues of unstable physiography exacerbated by climate change, as well as tensions over water sharing. 2) Regional cooperation is needed on water sharing agreements and management, but faces challenges of lack of bilateral treaties, technological bias, and lack of information sharing between countries. 3) Moving forward will require hydro-diplomacy, consultation backed by science, treating the issue multilaterally, and building confidence between countries through non-governmental diplomacy

1. Workshop on
Transnational Policy Dialogue for Improved
Water Governance of Brahmaputra River
Anjal Prakash and Poulomi Banerjee
September 10, 2013
Guwahati, India

4. The Brahmaputra River Basin..
Principal arm of GBM System; Total basin area 651,335 sq km
Total 58 tributaries (22 in Tibet, 33 in India and 3 in
Bangladesh)
China (50%) India (33.6%) Bangladesh (8.1%), Bhutan(7.8%)
Highest specific discharge system in the world , highly braided
channels, large flood prone areas, bank erosion, channel
migration
Seismically unstable zone, part of indo-Burma bio diversity
hotspots

7. Arunachal Pradesh(41.95), Assam (36.3%), Meghalaya(6.1%), Nagaland (5.6%),
Sikkim (3.8%) west Bengal (6.3%)
Accounts 30% of the total water resources and 40 % of the hydel power potential of
the country
Utilization is much less with <5% in hydropower, 10% in irrigation, 4%
groundwater
Arunachal Pradesh (69350 sq km ) is the greenest state of the region; it has been
called the State with highest hydropower potential of 50,000 MW
Assam is the worst flood affected state of the country with 15 major floods (19542012)
High dependence on agriculture, widespread practice of traditional farming, low
usage of modern farm inputs, inadequate agricultural infrastructure, low
productivity, low income

10. Some facts on Bangladesh part of Brahmaputra basin
 Brahmaputra-Jamuna system constitute of Rajshahi, Dhaka and




shyllet divisions of Bangladesh with total catchment area of
5,83,000 sq km
Enters at Kurigram district (at the border of Kurigram Sadar and
Ulipur upazilas)
Brahmaputra-Jamuna is 276 km long, of which Brahmaputra is
only 69 km
The Teesta is principal tributary inputs, while Old Brahmaputra
and the Dhaleswari are major distributaries
Experiencing large-scale avulsion, widening and westerly
migration and rapid bank erosion in response to large floods

11. Major issues and concerns
Unstable
physiography
Climate
change
Water
sharing
Basin
management
Rights ,
acts and
policies

12. physiographic conditions aggravated by
climate change
Rising temperatures,
recession of glaciers,
intense rainfall triggered
by cloud burst impacting
the entire eco and human
system
Districts of north east
India ranked high in
agricultural, water and
forest vulnerability index
Salt water ingression; sea
level rise impacting the
hydrology of the system
High seismicity and
sedimentation impacting
the hydrologic
characteristics and
morphology of the river
Floods and drought coexist

13. Water sharing between Dhaka and
Delhi
On 12
December
1996,
Bangladesh
and India
signed 30 years
Ganges treaty,
and no further
treaty after
that
Contentions in
water sharing
of Teesta, Feni
(interim
agreement of
2011 on sharing
of Teesta water
for 15 years)
rivers
Large scale
hydroelectric
projects in
India and
diversion of
water to Ganga
erupting
tensions at
different levels
4 hydro power
projects
(1297MW) on
Teesta in India
have potential
conflict

14. Issues for regional cooperation on water sharing
 Lack of bilateral/multilateral agreements, treaties(none of the
riparian countries signed the UN water convention 1997)
 Lack of apathy of the government to understand the fragility of the
system, widespread corruption, deteriorating law and order and lack
of transparency
 Technological biasness (India largely focusing on hydro-power ) and
its slow reach of leading to poor adaption
 Lack of sharing of scientific information, lack of joint researches
 Modification of river flow due to barrage, sluice gate and water
retention structures affecting connectivity and river depth

15. Way forwards..
Hydro-diplomacy
and consultation
backed by
technical
knowledge to
manage riparian
relations between
the two
Shift from the issue
being bilateral to
multilateral
Co-management of
the Brahmaputra
River in integrated
framework
Track III and IV
diplomacy
required to build
confidence
between two
countries

16. Thank You

17. Actor and Stakeholders’ mapping for
Organisationsinstitutions that influence the
management of Brahmaputra River
Key actors
Policy Makers
Executors
Users
Experts
What is their
mandate?
How
interested
they are in
the
managemen
t?
(High, Med,
Low)
How much
power do
they have?
(High,
Med, Low)
Degree of
Key means to
involvement influence
(Active,
them?
Passive, Fence
sitter)