The dynamics in Indian states flanking Bangladesh

摘要: The high level of precipitation, annual run-off, and a large hydroelectric potential of more than 1, 00,000 MW have been seen as enabling factors for economic development and poverty eradication in the basin (Verghese, 1990). Populations in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal are growing rapidly each year (see Table 1). But other social indicators like literacy, infant and child mortality are lower than the world’s average. Access to safe water has increased, but sanitation remains woefully inadequate. Even the per capita availability of arable land is very low, about one tenth of a hectare. The existing urbanization rates are also low, but likely to rise significantly in India and Bangladesh. Thus the basin remains an exception to the traditional understanding which relates poverty to water scarcity (UNEP, 2008); it is one of the poorest regions of the world, with about 250 million people surviving on less than US $2 per day (Ahmad et al, 2001).Many studies and syntheses of information have demonstrated that trans-boundary cooperation in integrated water management in the GBM region can offer these countries benefits far beyond what can be achieved through isolated national efforts (Revenga et al, 1998; UNEP, 2004), especially in view of the catastrophic floods the lower basin faces. Today, the challenges faced by the GBM region for water management include: increased pressure on water resources from a growing population and water pollution; greater vulnerability to climate change, especially since the monsoon is expected to get more severe, with increased unpredictability; reduced dry-season flows; increased intensity and frequency of water …