News & Updates (Archives)

ITANAGAR, Nov 20: Minister for WRD, Geology & Mining Kamlung Mossang has compared the Brahmaputra river with a milk-giving cow, saying the mighty river has immense potential which needed to be harnessed sustainably.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony of three-day Brahmaputra Knowledge Exchange Program organized by SaciWATERs in a city hotel here this evening, Mossang said, “Brahmaputra is like milk giving cow. We need to protect it and harness its resources in a sustainable manner.” Click here to read the story.

More than 90 percent of the world’s population live in countries that share watercourses, and almost every country with land borders shares some waters with its neighbors (Benjamin et al., 2014). Since water plays a vital role in the lives, livelihoods, production, and ecosystems of the region, the amount of water available will therefore have an impact on the social, political, economic and environmental conditions of each country. The resultant interdependencies (political, economic, social and environmental) on shared waters makes transboundary water management inherently a political process and an issue of state sovereignty. Click here to read the story.

The operational commissioning of the Zam Hydropower Station earlier this month on the Yarlung Zangbo river, also known as the Zangmu Hydropower Project, located in Gyaca county of the Shannan prefecture in China, and considered to be Tibet’s largest such facility, has raised fresh concerns in downstream India, especially in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. New Delhi had information about Beijing’s plans of developing hydropower on the Yarlung Zangbo for over five years now, with other projects such as Dagu, Jiacha and Jiexu in different stages of planning/construction. Click here to read the story.

Dr. Anamika Barua, Executive Director of SaciWATERs, welcomed the delegates and thanked them for accepting the invitation to participate in the dissemination workshop of the Brahmaputra Dialogue project. She extended her gratitude to the participants from government departments of India and Bangladesh (WRD of Assam and AP, CWC, New Delhi and Water Board, Bangladesh) for attending the workshop. She then briefed the participants about SaciWATERs, the thematic areas where SaciWATERs work and the type of projects that SaciWATERs is presently involved. She informed the participant that among all the projects BD is a project, which is very close to her heart, as she belongs to Assam and she has grown seeing the river. She also mentioned of the huge potential that social and economic development has for the region but that is only possible if the river is co-managed by the riparian countries. Click here to read the story.

Towards effective management of Brahmaputra river basin an international dialogue involving co-riparian of China, Bhutan, India and Bangladesh was organized in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 23rd May 2015. The workshop is a part of series of dialogue that has been initiated in 2013 with the support from The Asia Foundation and facilitated by South Asia Consortium for Integrated Water Resources Management Studies (SaciWATERs) in partnership with Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Bangladesh and Indian Institute of Technology-Guwahati (IIT-G), India. The purpose of this workshop is to understand the key challenges and opportunities across co-riparian countries positioned differently in terms of knowledge, power and development initiatives. The dialogue took place at a multitract track (2+3) diplomatic mode being bringing in bureaucrats and technocrats from India (Assam, Arunachal Pradesh), Bangladesh, Bhutan and China. The outcome of the discussion will feed into the consortium’s long-term agenda of pushing for a regional level institutional transformation for effective and good governance of the Brahmaputra River basin. Click here to read the story.

Towards effective management of Brahmaputra river basin an international dialogue involving co-riparian of China, Bhutan, India and Bangladesh was organized in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 23rd May 2015. The workshop is a part of series of dialogue that has been initiated in 2013 with the support from The Asia Foundation and facilitated by South Asia Consortium for Integrated Water Resources Management Studies (SaciWATERs) in partnership with Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Bangladesh and Indian Institute of Technology-Guwahati (IIT-G), India. The purpose of this workshop is to understand the key challenges and opportunities across co-riparian countries positioned differently in terms of knowledge, power and development initiatives. The dialogue took place at a multitract track (2+3) diplomatic mode being bringing in bureaucrats and technocrats from India (Assam, Arunachal Pradesh), Bangladesh, Bhutan and China. The outcome of the discussion will feed into the consortium’s long-term agenda of pushing for a regional level institutional transformation for effective and good governance of the Brahmaputra River basin. Click here to read the story.

China’s grand plans to harness the waters of the Brahmaputra River* have set off ripples of anxiety in the two lower riparian states: India and Bangladesh. China’s construction of dams and the proposed diversion of the Brahmaputra’s waters is not only expected to have repercussions for water flow, agriculture, ecology, and lives and livelihoods downstream; it could also become another contentious issue undermining Sino-Indian relations. Click here to read the story.

Dr. Anamika Barua, the Executive Director of SaciWATERs welcomed the participants and gave a brief overview of the main events that occurred in the first phase of the dialogue. She stated the importance of having a dialogue that begins with understanding perspectives from each side and forming bonds of goodwill that will enable future action. Click here to read.

The country level workshop for improved water governance of Brahmaputra River was jointly organised by Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati (IITG) and South Asia Consortium for Interdisciplinary Water Resources Studies (SaciWATERs), India on September 10, 2013 at Guwahati. The goal of the meeting was to create an enabling environment for a discussion on issues critical to the future of Brahmaputra River’s water resources, the peoples and ecosystems dependent on them, and in the interest of the co-management of the Brahmaputra by Bangladesh and India. The program brought together researchers, academicians, water professionals, representatives from NGOs and CSOs, and the media to have a dialogue on policy issues related to co-management of the Brahmaputra and to exchange ideas regarding probable platform of mutual interactions in the future. The program was funded by The Asia Foundation, New Delhi under the project titled “Transnational Policy Dialogue for Improved Water Governance of Brahmaputra River”. The partner institutions in this project are: the South Asian Consortium for Interdisciplinary Water Resources Studies (SaciWATERs) and the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati (IITG) from India; and the Institute of Water and Flood Management, BUET from Bangladesh. Click here to read.

The Bangladesh country level dialogue meeting for improved water governance of Brahmaputra River was jointly organized by the Institute of Water and Flood Management, BUET and South Asia Consortium for Interdisciplinary Water Resources Studies, India on 21 August 2013 at Institute of Water and Flood Management, BUET. The goal of the meeting was to create an enabling environment to discuss on issues, which are in the interest of the co-management of the Brahmaputra River by Bangladesh and India and are critical to the future of Brahmaputra River’s water resources, people and ecosystems dependent on them. The program brought together the researchers, academicians, water professionals, representatives from NGOs and CSOs and representatives from the media to discuss Brahmaputra-related dialogues or policy for co-management of the river and to exchange ideas for future probable platform of mutual interactions. Click here to read the news.

Greenwatch ReportA day-long dialogue in Dhaka on August 21 discussed issues of creating an enabling environment in the interest of the co-management of Brahmaputra River and improved water governance by Bangladesh and India.It’s aim was to develop collective information contributing to collective knowledge of the basin that is expected to provide insights into co-management of this transboundary river with a view to addressing the future of the river’s water resources, the people and the ecosystems dependent on them. Click here to read the news.

Noted environmentalist Prof Dr Ainun Nishat Wednesday stressed the need for holding multilateral dialogues between Bangladesh and India for co-management of the Brahmaputra river, reports BSS.

He identified lack of 'political integrity' as a barrier to equitable sharing of waters in the region and said proper management of rivers has a bearing on people's welfare and eco-system. Click here to read the news.

DHAKA, Aug 21, 2013 (BSS) - Noted environmentalist Professor Dr Ainun Nishat today stressed the need for holding multilateral dialogues between Bangladesh and India for co-management of the Brahmaputra River.

He identified lack of 'political integrity' as a barrier to equitable sharing of waters in the region and said proper management of rivers has a bearing on people's welfare and eco- system.

The expert was presenting the keynote paper at the inaugural session of a dialogue on 'Transitional Policy Dialogue for Improved Water Governance in Brahmaputra River', arranged by Institute of Water and Flood Management (IWFM) of BUET.

Click here to read the news.

The Bangladesh country level dialogue meeting for improved water governance of Brahmaputra River was jointly organized by the Institute of Water and Flood Management, BUET and South Asia Consortium for Interdisciplinary Water Resources Studies, India on 21 August 2013 at Institute of Water and Flood Management, BUET. The goal of the meeting was to create an enabling environment to discuss on issues, which are in the interest of the co-management of the Brahmaputra River by Bangladesh and India and are critical to the future of Brahmaputra River’s water resources, people and ecosystems dependent on them. The program brought together the researchers, academicians, water professionals, representatives from NGOs and CSOs and representatives from the media to discuss Brahmaputra-related dialogues or policy for comanagement of the river and to exchange ideas for future probable platform of mutual interactions. The program was funded by Asia Foundation, New Delhi under the project titled “Transnational Policy Dialogue for Improved Water Governance of Brahmaputra River”. Click here to read.

Arunachal Pradesh and Bangladesh have discussed several measures for better management of the Brahmaputra River for mutual benefit, official sources said on Saturday.

Arunachal Pradesh Water Resources Development Minister Newlai Tingkhatra during a meeting in Itanagar on Friday with the visiting Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Tariq A Khan discussed ways to tackle the problem of siltation through river dredging and building embankments so that proper water depth was developed for inland water transportation. Click here to read the news.