Opportunities for Benefit Sharing in the Meghna Basin, Bangladesh and India
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Opportunities for benefit sharing in the Meghna Basin, Bangladesh and India Scoping study Vishwa Sinha, Raphael Glémet and Md. Golam Mustafa Building River Dialogue and Governance (BRIDGE) Opportunities for benefit sharing in the Meghna Basin, Bangladesh and India Scoping study Vishwa Sinha, Raphael Glémet and Md. Golam Mustafa 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 or Oxfam, TROSA partners, the Government of Sweden or The Asia Foundation 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 do not 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 Asia Regional Office (ARO), 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: V. Sinha, R. Glémet and Md. G. Mustafa (2018). Opportunities for benefit sharing in the Meghna Basin, Bangladesh and India. Scoping study. Bangkok, Thailand: IUCN ARO.viii + 50pp. Cover photo: (Left to right, top to bottom): © Asian Confluence, © IUCN, © Balaram Mahaldar, © IUCN, © Enamul Mazid Khan Siddique/Oxfam Bangladesh, © Balaram Mahaldar Back cover photo: (Top to bottom): © Enamul Mazid Khan Siddique/Oxfam Bangladesh, © Sabya Dutta Layout by: IUCN Asia Regional Office 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 address: [email protected] www.iucn.org/resources/publications CONTENTS Acronyms .............................................................................................................................. v Preface ................................................................................................................................. vi Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................. vii Methodology ....................................................................................................................... viii 1 Introduction to the Meghna Basin ..................................................................................... 1 1.1 Location and description ............................................................................................ 1 1.2 Population and demography ...................................................................................... 1 1.3 Cities ......................................................................................................................... 2 1.4 Governance of the Meghna Basin: Institutional aspects ............................................. 3 2 Geophysical profile ........................................................................................................... 7 2.1 Topography ............................................................................................................... 7 2.2 River network ............................................................................................................. 7 2.3 Hydrology .................................................................................................................. 8 2.4 Climate ...................................................................................................................... 9 2.5 Soil .......................................................................................................................... 10 3 Land use and economic acivities .................................................................................... 11 3.1 Agriculture ............................................................................................................... 11 3.2 Forest ...................................................................................................................... 13 3.3 Protected areas and biodiversity .............................................................................. 14 3.4 Wetlands ................................................................................................................. 15 3.5 Fisheries .................................................................................................................. 16 3.6 Dams and hydropower ............................................................................................. 19 3.7 Mineral and mining .................................................................................................. 20 4 Scoping the benefits of transboundary water cooperation in the Meghna Basin ............. 22 4.1 Benefit sharing in a shared river basin: conceptual framework ................................ 22 4.1.1 From theory to practice .................................................................................. 22 4.1.2 Six steps to operationalise benefit sharing agreements ................................. 23 4.2 Application of the six step process in the Meghna Basin .......................................... 26 4.2.1 The benefits from TWC in the Meghna Basin ................................................. 26 4.2.2 Key stakeholders in the Meghna Basin .......................................................... 27 4.2.3 Benefit enhancing opportunities in the Meghna basin .................................... 29 4.3 Next steps in the development of the Meghna TBSS ............................................... 31 iii Annex I: Key water governance institutions in Bangladesh and India .................................. 33 Annex II. Transboundary rivers in the Meghna Basin .......................................................... 35 Annex III: List of protected areas in the Meghna Basin ........................................................ 42 Annex IV: Participants of the first Meghna BOAD, July 2018, Dhaka .................................. 44 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................ 47 iv ACRONYMS BAPA Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon BBS Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics BIWTA Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority BOAT Benefit Opportunity Analysis Tool BOAD Benefit Opportunity Analysis Dialogue BRIDGE Building River Dialogue and Governance BUET Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology BWDB Bangladesh Water Development Board CBFM Community Based Forest Management CBO Community Based organisation CEGIS Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services CGWB Central Ground Water Board CNRS Center for Natural Resource Studies CRDS Center for Resource Development Studies Ltd CSMR Central Soil and Materials Research Station CUTS Consumer Unity & Trust Society 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 IGAD Intergovernmental Authority on Development IWM Institute of Water Modelling JRC Joint River Commission LGED Local Government Engineering Department MBDA Meghalaya Basin Development Authority MoWR Ministry of Water Resources NWRC National Water Resources Council PES Payment for Ecosystem Services REDD+ Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation SCBRM Sunamganj Community-Based Resource Management Project SHA Statistical Handbook of Assam SHM Statistical Handbook of Meghalaya SHT Statistical Handbook of Tripura SMM Sio-Malaba-Malakisi SRDI Soil Resource Development Institute TBSS Transboundary Benefit Sharing Strategy TROSA Transboundary Rivers of South Asia UNECE United Nations Economic Commission for Europe WARPO Water Resources Planning Organization v 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 its borders rather than across the shared basin. Significantly different than the traditional approach, negotiations based on benefit-sharing focus on allocating the benefits derived from various uses (and non-uses) of water, rather than the water itself at the basin level. In this construct,