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Opportunities for Benefit Sharing in the Meghna Basin, Bangladesh And

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Opportunities for Benefit Sharing in the Meghna Basin, Bangladesh And Opportunities for benefit sharing in the Meghna Basin, Bangladesh and India Scoping study Building River Dialogue and Governance (BRIDGE) Opportunities for benefit sharing in the Meghna Basin, Bangladesh and India Scoping study The designation of geographical entities in this report, and the presentation of the material, do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of IUCN concerning the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The views expressed in this publication don’t necessarily reflect those of IUCN, Oxfam, TROSA partners, the Government of Sweden or The Asia Foundation. The research to produce this report was carried out as a part of Transboundary Rivers of South Asia (TROSA) programme. TROSA is a regional water governance programme supported by the Government of Sweden and implemented by Oxfam and partners in Bangladesh, India, Myanmar and Nepal. Comments and suggestions from the TROSA Project Management Unit (PMU) are gratefully acknowledged. Special acknowledgement to The Asia Foundation for supporting BRIDGE GBM Published by: IUCN, Bangkok, Thailand Copyright: © 2018 IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Reproduction of this publication for educational or other non-commercial purposes is authorised without prior written permission from the copyright holder provided the source is fully acknowledged. Reproduction of this publication for resale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without prior written permission of the copyright holder. Citation: Sinha, V., Glémet, R. & Mustafa, G.; IUCN BRIDGE GBM, 2018. Benefit sharing opportunities in the Meghna Basin. Profile and preliminary scoping study, Bangladesh and India. Bangkok, Thailand: IUCN. vi+53pp. Cover photo: ©Roop Dey Back cover photo: (Top to bottom): ©Enamul Mazid Khan Siddique/Oxfam Bangladesh, ©Sabya Dutta Available from: IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Asia Regional Office BRIDGE Programme 63 Sukhumvit Soi 39 Klongtan – Nua, Wattana 10110 Bangkok, Thailand Tel +66 2 662 4029 Fax +66 2 662 4387 [email protected] CONTENTS Abbreviations ......................................................................................................................................................... iv Preface .................................................................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................................ vi Methodology............................................................................................................................................................ 1 1 Introduction to the Meghna Basin ...................................................................................................................... 2 1.1 Location and description ........................................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Population and demography ..................................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Cities ......................................................................................................................................................... 3 1.4 Governance of the Meghna Basin: Institutional aspects ........................................................................... 4 2 Geophysical profile ............................................................................................................................................ 8 2.1 Topography ............................................................................................................................................... 8 2.2 River Network ........................................................................................................................................... 9 2.3 Hydrology .................................................................................................................................................. 9 2.4 Climate .................................................................................................................................................... 10 2.5 Soil .......................................................................................................................................................... 11 3 Land use and economic activities .................................................................................................................... 12 3.1 Agriculture ............................................................................................................................................... 13 3.2 Forest ...................................................................................................................................................... 14 3.3 Protected areas and biodiversity ............................................................................................................. 15 3.4 Wetlands ................................................................................................................................................. 16 3.5 Fisheries ................................................................................................................................................. 17 3.6 Dams and hydropower ............................................................................................................................ 20 3.7 Mineral and mining .................................................................................................................................. 21 4 Scoping the benefits of transboundary water cooperation in the Meghna Basin ............................................. 23 4.1 Benefit sharing in a shared river basin: conceptual framework ............................................................... 23 4.1.1 From theory to practice ............................................................................................................... 23 4.1.2 Six steps to operationalise benefit sharing agreements .............................................................. 24 4.2 Application of the six step process in the Meghna Basin ........................................................................ 27 4.2.1 The benefits from TWC in the Meghna Basin ............................................................................. 27 4.2.2 Key Stakeholders in the Meghna Basin ...................................................................................... 29 4.2.3 Benefit enhancing opportunities in the Meghna basin ................................................................. 30 4.3 Next steps in the development of the Meghna TBSS .............................................................................. 33 Annex I: Key water governance institutions in Bangladesh and India ................................................................... 34 Annex II. Transboundary rivers in the Meghna Basin ............................................................................................ 36 Annex III: List of protected areas in the Meghna Basin ......................................................................................... 43 Annex IV: Participants of the first Meghna BOAD, July 2018, Dhaka.................................................................... 45 Bibliography .......................................................................................................................................................... 49 iii ABBREVIATIONS BIWTA Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority BOAT Benefit Opportunity Analysis Tool BBS Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics BWDB Bangladesh Water Development Board BRIDGE Building River Dialogue and Governance BUET Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology CGWB Central Ground Water Board CNRS Center for Natural Resource Studies CSMR Central Soil and Materials Research Station CRDS Center for Resource Development Studies Ltd DAE Department of Agriculture Extension DBHW Department of Bangladesh Haor and Wetland Development DoE Department of Environment DoF Department of Fisheries FD Forest Department FFWC Flood Forecasting and Warming Centre FRSP Fisheries Research Support Project FRSS Fisheries Resources Survey System GBM Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna HILIP Haor Infrastructure and livelihood Improvement Project IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature IWM Institute of Water Modelling JRC Joint River Commission LGED Local Government Engineering Department MoWR Ministry of Water Resources MBDA Meghalaya Basin Development Authority NWRC National Water Resources Council SCBRM Sunamganj Community-Based Resource Management Project SHA Statistical Handbook of Assam SHM Statistical Handbook of Meghalaya SHT Statistical Handbook of Tripura SRDI Soil Resource Development Institute TROSA Transboundary Rivers of South Asia UNECE United Nations Economic Commission for Europe WARPO Water Resources Planning Organization iv PREFACE Traditionally, negotiations on shared rivers have focused on sharing water, the example being the 1996 Ganges Water Treaty which provides a volume-based formula for sharing water between Bangladesh and India. Once the water is divided, each country (or user group) then seeks to optimise management within
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