Dhaka Resolution


Dhaka Resolution on Rivers, 2004

adopted at an International Conference on Regional Cooperation on Transboundary Rivers organised by Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon and Bangladesh Environment Network held on 17-19 December 2004 in Dhaka, Bhangladesh

Preamble

  1. Noting that rivers are one of the most important elements of nature;
  2. Observing that rivers are pro-genitors of eco-systems, and each river gives rise to a unique eco-system in its basin;
  3. Recognizing that diversity of the eco-systems is an integral characteristic and possibly the most attractive aspect of nature;
  4. Noting that rivers gave rise to civilizations, that river valleys continue to have centuries old culture, that river valley populations have built up a life based on the land, water, forests, and fisheries that rivers and their floodplains provide, so that these populations have inalienable riparian rights to the river resources and to planning processes that harness and use these resources;
  5. Observing that people in pre-industrial ages by and large had a harmonious relationship with rivers, reaping their benefits without trying to contravene their natural courses and flows;
  6. Realizing that industrialization has greatly enhanced human technological and engineering capability to intervene in nature;
  7. Observing that enhanced technological capability of industrial societies has led to the Commercial Approach to rivers according to which rivers need to be ‘conquered’ and 'consumed' at any economic, social, human, and environmental costs;
  8. Noting that the Commercial Approach has led to the tragic notion that 'any river water passing to the sea is a waste;
  9. Observing that the Commercial Approach led to structural interventions into major rivers in the form of dams, barrages, and canals for abstraction of large volumes of water, and that the benefits of such interventions have been associated with huge and unjustifiable costs, as brought out by the World Commission on Dams (WCD).
  10. Noting that the large-scale interventions inspired by the Commercial Approach lead to centralized decision making, depriving the river valley populations of their rights to determine the best use of the river resources;
  11. Observing that the Commercial Approach to rivers and its implementation first progressed in developed industrial countries;
  12. Noting that encouraged by the examples of developed countries, developing countries also embraced the Commercial Approach and set on a course of structural interventions in rivers, so much so that China and India together now account for 57 percent of all dams in the world;
  13. Observing that the enthusiasm for structural interventions in rivers continues to reign in developing countries, as exemplified by the Three Gorges Project on Yangtze River in China;
  14. Noting that the Indian River Linking Project (IRLP) is a culmination of the Commercial Approach, and that it beats all other river intervention projects in terms of its scope and size as it envisages simultaneous interventions in several major rivers of the world;
  15. Noting that IRLP envisages transfer of 334 billion cubic meters of water by constructing 30 inter-river links, involving 36 big dams, 94 tunnels, and 10,876 kilometer of canals, costing about $215 billion, by preliminary estimates;
  16. Observing that the Himalayan component of IRLP directly involves such transboundary rivers as the Brahmaputra and the Ganges;
  17. Observing further that the Peninsular component of IRLP is connected with the Himalayan component via the Ganga-Damodar-Subarnarekha, Subarnarekha-Mahanadi, and Mahanadi-Godabari Links;
  18. Noticing that IRLP's main objective is to transfer water from the Ganges and Brahmaputra basins, which it considers to be 'surplus' in water, to western and southern (Peninsular) river basins, which it considers to be 'deficit' in water;
  19. Noting that ecologically the concept of some rivers being water 'surplus' and others water 'deficit' is erroneous, because specific to the eco-system generated by a river, its water is neither surplus nor deficit, and large scale water transfer from one river basin to another have long term deleterious effects on the ecology of both river basins;
  20. Observing that even from a non-ecological point of view, the notions of water 'surplus' and 'deficit' are not absolutes, as regarded by IRLP, and are rather relative notions depending on both supply and demand conditions, which are themselves amenable to conscious policy influence;
  21. Being aware that the record of large scale river intervening projects in alleviating problems of flood and draught is poor, as the experience of both India and China shows;
  22. Observing that surface water irrigation based on publicly financed large scale nature-defying river intervention projects generally lead to waste and misallocation of resources in terms of crop and technology choice, and often leads to new problems of water logging, salinity, and pollution;
  23. Noting that hydropower generated by Dams is neither clean nor cheap when all the long-term economic, social, environmental, and human costs are taken into consideration, and that power needs can be satisfied through harnessing renewable energy sources (such as wind and solar power), alternative cleaner fuel (such as natural gas), and through conservation in use of energy;
  24. Noting that structural interventions inspired by the Commercial Approach damage the river potential with respect to navigation and fisheries;
  25. Realizing that the Commercial Approach leads to a situation of 'Beggar-Thy-Neighbor' rivalry among co-riparian countries (states), often characterized by a vicious race to abstract water as much possible, a race that proves to be a 'race to kill' the rivers, causing serious injustice to the river valley populations and having adverse impact on the downstream areas;
  26. Noting that the Commercial Approach to rivers leads to 'Tragedy of Commons' situation for sea, because the 'race-to-kill' the rivers leads to serious diminution of water flowing into the sea, causing severe damage to the marine eco-system, giving rise to sea-ingress leading to increased salinity of both land and water;
  27. Observing that in view of the mostly negative experience, a realization has dawned that large scale nature-defying interventions in rivers ultimately do more harm than good, and based on this realization a new Ecological Approach to rivers has emerged in the developed countries;
  28. Noting that inspired by the Ecological Approach more than 500 dams have already been decommissioned in the United States, enabling the restoration of fisheries and riverine ecological processes;
  29. Noting that the Ecological Approach does not negate use of rivers as resources and instead urges harvesting river resources in a sustainable way within river basins without contravening the natural course and flow of rivers;
  30. Observing that adoption of the Ecological Approach can actually be a better way in reaping the benefits of river;
  31. Observing for example that the meager amount of power generated by the Kaptai dam in Bangladesh has been obtained at much social, human, and environmental costs resulting from submergence of a large part of the tribal homeland, sowing thereby the seeds of tribal insurgency that caused Bangladesh much in terms human lives and financial resources;
  32. Observing that the Farraka barrage, while causing irreparable damage to the economy and ecology of Bangladesh, has proved to be hardly of any benefit to India in terms of increased navigability of the Kolkata port; that Farakka instead has now become an engineering and financial liability; that Farakka is disrupting the pre-existing ecological balance in the Bhagirathi-Hoogly basin and is often creating water-logging; that, by creating upstream water pressure, Farakka has now become the source of flooding in Bihar, so much so that there is now a strong people’s movement there to demolish Farakka barrage; that Farakka has become a sore point in Indo-Bangladesh relationship, serving as a stumbling block on the way to fruitful cooperation between these two countries in many other areas;
  33. Noting that the Commercial Approach has also spawned the Cordon Approach to rivers practiced extensively in Bangladesh and many parts of India, particularly in Bihar;
  34. Observing that while in deltaic conditions, river channel and floodplain constitute one organic whole, the Cordon Approach strives to separate the two through solid embankments along rivers;
  35. Noting that projects of the Cordon Approach have proved to be lose-lose propositions, increasing flood intensity and bringing in devastation for people outside the cordons, while depriving people inside cordons from the benefits of regular inundation with regard to soil revitalization, recharge of surface water bodies and ground water table, fisheries, navigation, irrigation, moisture retention, temperature balance, environmental cleansing, etc.
  36. Observing that perennial water-logging inside Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra (DND) project, recent havoc caused by breaches in the Gumti, Kikri, and Brahmaputra Right Hand embankments, 2004 deluge of Dhaka city provide ample evidence of the perils associated with the Cordon Approach; observing further that the decay of the fabled Chalan Bil and its unique aqua ecology in Rajshahi-Pabna-Bogra districts of Bangladesh is a direct consequence of the Brahmaputra Right Hand Embankment Project; noting that decay of surface water bodies in different parts of Bangladesh is in part a result of the Cordon Approach;
  1. Noting that the South Asian people have a long and deep tradition of revering rivers as mothers; that the river Ganges is worshipped by many in India; that Bangladesh itself is called a 'nodimatrik desh,' i.e., a country which was born of rivers; that the name of the river Brahmaputra means 'Son of Brahma,' the Hindu God of creation; that the economy and culture of much of South Asia have evolved around rivers and center around land, water, and forests of the river basins;
  2. Observing that while the Commercial Approach and the efforts inspired by this approach to block and divert water have led to sub-regional conflicts within a country (such as conflicts among states within India), and that similar efforts have made transboundary rivers a source of contention among neighboring countries, the Ecological Approach can make these rivers bonds of neighborhood friendship and mutual benefit;
  3. Being aware that proceeding from the Commercial Approach, the governments of South Asian countries have failed to produce encouraging results with regard to reaping the transboundary river resources for mutual benefit;
  4. Realizing that people's movement in South Asian countries can persuade the governments of the respective countries to adopt the Ecological Approach and thereby can be of much help in reaping the benefits of the transboundary rivers;
  5. Noting that the recently concluded International Conference on Regional Cooperation on Transboundary Rivers (ICRCTR), held on December 17-19, 2004 in Dhaka Bangladesh, brought together river experts and activists from India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and other countries of the sub-continent as well as from the rest of the world and the overwhelming majority of the delegates of this conference confirmed the views expressed above;

Recommendations

Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (BAPA) recommends

At the International Level

  1. That all countries of the world abandon the Commercial Approach to rivers and adopt the Ecological Approach.
  2. That countries who have progressed along the Ecological Approach enhance their efforts to disseminate the benefits of this approach;
  3. That developing countries conduct review of their Commercial Approach inspired water projects in order to determine which of these need to be decommissioned;
  4. That multilateral lending agencies, mostly based in developed countries, refrain from promoting and funding water projects inspired by the Commercial Approach to rivers;
  5. That international efforts are strengthened to protect the rights of co-riparian countries, in particular the rights of the lower-riparian countries;
  6. That international efforts are made to minimize abstraction of river water and to retain as much as possible of the natural flow of river water to the sea;
  7. That international efforts are made to reduce pollution of rivers and of river water flowing into the sea;
  8. That more close connections be built up among various national and regional movements working for the Ecological Approach to rivers;
  9. That BAPA reaches out to international organizations that shares and promotes the Ecological Approach to rivers and establishes relationship of solidarity with them;

At the Regional Level

  1. That countries of South Asia abandon the Commercial Approach to rivers and embrace the Ecological Approach;
  2. That the South Asian countries undertake a thorough review of the benefits and costs (including human and environmental costs) of their already implemented Commercial Approach inspired river intervening projects in order to determine which of these need to be decommissioned; that in conducting such reviews repercussions beyond individual nation states are given due consideration;
  3. That the governments of South Asian countries make all information regarding the experience of the river-intervening projects available to the public so that it can participate in the reviewing process on an equal footing;
  4. That the government of Bangladesh and India (and other countries of the region to which it applies) assess the record of the Cordon projects, involving solid embankments along rivers, and involve the civil society in this exercise by proving it with all the necessary information;
  5. That the government of India undertakes a review of the Farakka barrage, including the issue of its decommissioning;
  6. That India refrains from proceeding with other water diversionary projects on transboundary rivers along the border of Bangladesh;
  7. That India addresses legitimate concerns of Nepal regarding transboundary rivers shared by the two countries;
  8. That the government of India realizes that IRLP is based on an ecologically unsound premise and stops proceeding further with the Himalayan component of the project, as it additionally affects the flows of transboundary rivers directly;
  9. That even with regard to the Peninsular component, the government of India heeds to the concerns that have been expressed on the ground of ecological, social, economic, financial, and human considerations;
  10. That Bangladesh puts on hold the idea of a Padma Barrage, and instead tries to persuade India to restore the natural pre-Farakka flow of the Padma river;
  11. That in the meantime the countries of South Asia try to reap the benefits of the rivers following the Ecological Approach, harnessing thereby the water, land, and forests of the river catchment basins beginning with the smallest unit in the watershed and limiting it to the river basin in such a way as to ensure minimum displacement of people and environmental damage;
  12. That even in implementing Ecological Approach consistent water projects, governments of all South Asian countries followed the principle of prior informed consultation of the local communities requiring the project authorities to demonstrate public acceptance; that in each case various options to utilizing river water be assessed, and only such option be adopted that has no or minimum socio-ecological harm and that is most effective in fulfilling the developmental goals of equity, justice, energy-security, and ensuring food, water, and shelter; that the project-affected populations in a river valley is rehabilitated, with alternative livelihood and habitat, before undertaking any project entailing displacement of people;
  13. That in particular South Asian countries emphasize water conservation through appropriate choice of crops to grow, method of irrigation (with particular emphasis on sustainability and potentiality of rain-fed agriculture), settlement pattern, life-style, industrial technology, etc.
  14. That people-to-people contact among South Asian countries be enhanced;
  15. That in order to facilitate and sustain people-to-people contact and to foster the Ecological Approach to rivers in South Asia, an alliance of peoples' organizations agreeing on this approach be launched, and that organizations belonging to this alliance will promote a sustainable, equitable, and decentralized approach to water management, asking for more equitable and restrained distribution and utilization of water resources, reducing the losses and settling the priorities correctly;

At the National Level

  1. That Bangladeshis be made aware about the importance of rivers for her economy and ecology and the threat that these rivers face;
  2. That while demanding fair treatment from the upper riparian countries, Bangladesh realizes that she has much to do right with respect to her rivers within her own borders;
  3. That, in particular, Bangladesh stops immediately further pollution of her river by industrial effluent, chemical runoff from agriculture, urban waste, etc.
  4. That, in particular, Bangladesh stops immediately further encroachment, legal or illegal, of rivers and other water bodies;
  5. That Bangladesh abandons the Cordon Approach, which derives its inspiration from the Commercial Approach, and embraces the Open Approach, which is consistent with the Ecological Approach under deltaic conditions; and that Dhaka Declaration on Bangladesh Environment adopted by ICBEN-2000 andupdated by ICBEN-2002 already enjoins Bangladesh to do so;
  6. That Bangladesh undertakes a review of all major Cordon Approach projects already in place and identifies the most egregious ones for decommissioning;
  7. That Bangladesh refrains from going ahead with any further Cordon projects; including the proposed Eastern Bypass project, which can instead be constructed by and large in the form of a flyover;
  8. That in particular, the government of Bangladesh undertakes a review of the costs and benefits of theKaptai Dam project;
  9. That Bangladesh undertakes a major campaign of excavation and re-excavation of all her surface water bodies, including rivers, with the primary goals of mitigation of flood in monsoon and retention of water in the dry season;
  10. That Bangladesh makes the best use of the monsoon precipitation occurring within her own borders so as to minimize her dependence on the inflows carried by the transboundary rivers;
  11. That BAPA reaches out to all Bangladeshi organizations that share the Ecological Approach to rivers in order to build a broad-based alliance within Bangladesh in support of this approach.
Organizational Tasks

That BAPA sets before itself the following organizational tasks:
  1. To build an alliance within Bangladesh in favor of the Ecological Approach to rivers as elucidated in this resolution;
  2. To build an alliance with forces in other countries of the region, in particular in India and Nepal, who are in favor of the Ecological Approach to rivers;
  3. To forge alliances with international forces that are in favor of the Ecological Approach to rivers as elucidated in this resolution.