Environmental peacebuilding in South Asia: Establishing consensus on hydroelectric projects in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) Basin

Geoforum ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 96 ◽  
pp. 160-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirza Sadaqat Huda ◽  
Saleem H. Ali
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
Hydroelectric Projects ◽  
The Ganges ◽  
Gbm Basin

scholarly journals War or Peace on the Rivers of South Asia?

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 242-254
Author(s):  
Muhammad Imran Mehsud ◽  
Azam Jan ◽  
Tariq Anwar Khan
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
Water Relations ◽  
South Asian ◽  
The Other ◽  
The South ◽  
Water Sharing ◽  
The Ganges

The renowned water expert, John Briscoe, predicted a bleak future for India-Pakistan water relations across the Indus attributing it to Pakistan’s downstream anxieties vis-à-vis upstream regional hegemon-India. Do the other co-riparian states of India share the same bleak future across the South Asian rivers of the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna or are the water relations across these rivers peaceful as compared to the Indus? To answer this question, this study first explores India-Pakistan water disputes on the Indus and then analyses India-Bangladesh water disputes on the Ganges and Brahmaputra, India-Nepal, India-Bhutan, and Pakistan-Afghanistan water relations. The methodology adopted for this study is descriptive, historical, and analytical in its nature. The study concludes that India has not only failed to adopt a conciliatory approach towards Pakistan on the Indus but has generated mistrust amongst other neighbouring countries over water sharing due to its hegemonic hydro-behaviour. It recommends that India should adopt a conciliatory approach to have peaceful relations across the rivers of South Asia.

scholarly journals Arktocara yakataga, a new fossil odontocete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Oligocene of Alaska and the antiquity of Platanistoidea

PeerJ ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. e2321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra T. Boersma ◽  
Nicholas D. Pyenson
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Phylogenetic Relationships ◽  
New Genus ◽  
Indus River ◽  
New Genus And Species ◽  
Southeast Alaska ◽  
Early Oligocene ◽  
The Ganges ◽  
Freshwater River

The diversification of crown cetacean lineages (i.e., crown Odontoceti and crown Mysticeti) occurred throughout the Oligocene, but it remains an ongoing challenge to resolve the phylogenetic pattern of their origins, especially with respect to stem lineages. One extant monotypic lineage,Platanista gangetica(the Ganges and Indus river dolphin), is the sole surviving member of the broader group Platanistoidea, with many fossil relatives that range from Oligocene to Miocene in age. Curiously, the highly threatenedPlatanistais restricted today to freshwater river systems of South Asia, yet nearly all fossil platanistoids are known globally from marine rocks, suggesting a marine ancestry for this group. In recent years, studies on the phylogenetic relationships in Platanistoidea have reached a general consensus about the membership of different sub-clades and putative extinct groups, although the position of some platanistoid groups (e.g., Waipatiidae) has been contested. Here we describe a new genus and species of fossil platanistoid,Arktocara yakataga, gen. et sp. nov. from the Oligocene of Alaska, USA. The type and only known specimen was collected from the marine Poul Creek Formation, a unit known to include Oligocene strata, exposed in the Yakutat City and Borough of Southeast Alaska. In our phylogenetic analysis of stem and node-based Platanistoidea,Arktocarafalls within the node-based sub-clade Allodelphinidae as the sister taxon toAllodelphis pratti. With a geochronologic age between ∼29–24 million years old,Arktocarais among the oldest crown Odontoceti, reinforcing the long-standing view that the diversification for crown lineages must have occurred no later than the early Oligocene.

What Governance Lesson Does Mekong Bear for Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna (GBM) Basin?

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-234
Author(s):  
Nilanjan Ghosh ◽  
Sayanangshu Modak
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Mekong River ◽  
Institutional Form ◽  
Jel Codes ◽  
Mekong Basin ◽  
Mekong River Commission ◽  
Ecological Problems ◽  
The Ganges ◽  
Gbm Basin

This article talks of the various governance lessons that the Mekong basin bears for the Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna (GBM) basin. It highlights the existing hydropolitical and ecological problems associated with the GBM basin, the reasons for which are attributed to the reductionist colonial engineering paradigm also delineated in this article as ‘arithmetic hydrology’. The transboundary interactions in the GBM to resolve the problems have largely relied on an issue-based, piecemeal, fragmented approach that has further complicated the problems. It is in this context, the article brings in how a cooperative mechanism in the institutional form of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) has been attempting to promote a participative and integrated approach to river basin governance. The article, therefore, talks of some of the replicable practices and learnings that may help in takeaways for the GBM riparians and stakeholders from the Mekong system. JEL Codes: F02, N50, Q01, Q22, Q24, Q25, Q28

Dirty, Sacred Rivers

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryl Colopy
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
Indian Subcontinent ◽  
Soft Drink ◽  
Industrial Effluents ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
The West ◽  
Spiritual Meaning ◽  
Barren Ground ◽  
Gangotri Glacier ◽  
The Ganges

I wanted to see the source of what we in the West call the Ganges. Here in South Asia people call it Mother Ganga, Gangaji, the Great Ganga. At the edge of the icy river that flows from the Gangotri glacier I scooped Gangajal—Ganges water—into plastic soft drink bottles. I planned to take some of this water to friends in Kathmandu, practicing Hindus for whom the drops of glacial melt would have spiritual meaning. Along with its tremendous religious and ritual value, the water of the Ganga has been shown to be both antimicrobial and richer in oxygen than that of other rivers. Revered beyond all others, this river is now abused in equal measure: harnessed for hydropower near its holy mountain source, polluted with every imaginable waste as it runs its course for more than 1,500 miles across the widest part of the Indian subcontinent. One of the Ganga’s main and equally sacred tributaries, the Yamuna, flows through Delhi. Delhi, a city of more than fifteen million, owes its existence to this river, which is now dead at its doorstep. Industrial effluents pour in upriver, then Delhi adds its sewage. During my first trip to Delhi in January 2007, I went down to the edge of the Yamuna. I wanted to see just how bad the river’s reputed pollution might be. First I saw the barren ground along the riverside, strewn with rubble from the construction of a nearby bridge. There was little to tell me that this area was also the site of regular religious practice where people come to do puja, take a little of the water to splash on their heads, throw some flowers into the river. Bunching up in the eddies under the bridge pylons were stray bits of colored plastic and plastic shopping bags bloated with garbage, floating like sagging baloons half filled with air. They mingled with broken yellow marigolds scattered in the water and bright red flowers set afloat in little cups by those who had come to worship by the river.

scholarly journals The Adoption of the Declaration of the Principles on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and Lessons for South Asia

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 17-24
Author(s):  
Surya Nath Upadhyay ◽  
Prakash Gaudel
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
Water Security ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Transboundary River ◽  
Riparian Country ◽  
Water Right ◽  
Benefit Principle ◽  
Contested Terrain ◽  
Strategic Project ◽  
The Ganges

This paper discusses how an upper riparian country can establish its water right of fulfilling own water needs through development of a transboundary river in a contested terrain of water management. Citing the case of the development of Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) and adoption of the Declaration of the Principles by the Eastern Nile Basin States, this paper highlights the major lessons that South Asia need to learn to achieve water security in the region through cooperation. This paper further argues that if, economically weak upstream riparian country, Ethiopia can initiate such an important and strategic project, then Nepal must also be in similar position to fulfill own demand without causing significant harm, rather benefiting the downstream countries. Like Egypt and Sudan, the lower riparian countries Bangladesh and more importantly India need to be in a position to acknowledge the downstream benefit principle. This paper states that without cooperation among riparian states of the Ganges basin, the sustainable development of the region seems limited. HYDRO Nepal JournalJournal of Water Energy and EnvironmentIssue: 21, July, 2017Page: 17-24Upload Date: July 18, 2017

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