India, Bangladesh: Water Disputes and Teesta River Diplomacy

India and Bangladesh share 54 rivers between them. Despite setting up a Joint River Commission for water management as early as 1972, tensions between the countries on how to share resources recently came to a head in a dispute over the Teesta River. At stake are the lives of countless people from West Bengal and Bangladesh who depend upon the river for survival. To date, only one comprehensive river pact has been signed by India and Bangladesh – a 1996 bilateral treaty that established a 30-year water-sharing arrangement between the two countries. This was set to change in September 2011 when India’s Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, was due to sign a pact with his Bangladeshi counterpart regarding access and use of the Teesta River. 

 

Aerial View of the Teesta River. Flickr photo by Prato9x (CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The Teesta - which has its source in Sikkim - flows through the northern part of West Bengal in India before entering Bangladesh, where after coursing through about 45km of irrigable land, merges with the Brahmaputra River (or Jamuna when it enters Bangladesh). In 1983, an ad-hoc water sharing agreement was reached between India and Bangladesh, whereby both countries were allocated 39% and 36% of the water flow respectively. The new bilateral treaty expands upon this agreement by proposing an equal allocation of the Teesta River.

However, the deal fell through when the then newly elected Chief Minister of West Bengal, Ms. Mamata Banerjee, refused to approve the treaty, fearing that the loss of higher volume of water to the lower riparian would cause problems in the northern region of state, especially during drier months.

  

The river Ganges, flowing through Hrishikesh, India. Flickr Photo by Sanj@y (CC-BY-2.0)

Given that water is a state issue in India, and that Banerjee’s political party, the All India Trinamool Congress, is a key coalition partner of the ruling central government, the deal could not go through without her approval. While a large section of the Bangladeshi populace as well as the Indian media vilified her rigid stance, her opposition to the terms of the treaty was not without its share of support.

In May 2012, during a visit to India, the Bangladesh Foreign Minister, Ms. Dipu Moni, warned that bilateral relations would be complicated if India fails to deliver on the Teesta water-sharing agreement. Despite this pressure tactic, the treaty remains a slow burner as India continues its efforts of domestic political consensus building. However, the Indian Minister for External Affairs, S.M. Krishna tried to diffuse tensions and assured Bangladesh that India remains committed to an early solution on the issue of sharing Teesta waters. 

 

Jamuna (Brahmaputra) river in Bangladesh. Flickr photo by bengal*foam (CC BY-ND 2.0)

Bangladesh also wants a quick resolution to the issue, and may even be willing to soften their stance because of mounting pressure at home to get the deal done. Bangladeshi journalist and blogger Farid Ahmed writes:

It is apparently quite clear now that…Bangladesh for now has failed to ensure that India inks a deal…to share water of common rivers, mainly Teesta … Now it is Bangladesh which has to do what it should have started long ago. Apart from traditional diplomacy, they should have transmitted the feelings of its public to those on the other side of the border. The sky is locked for Dhaka as no Bangladeshi channels are broadcasted by Indian cable operators… Most Indian newspapers were supportive for Bangladesh’s cause on Teesta. That’s a positive side. What about engaging with West Bengal’s public?

Nevertheless, looking beyond the political rhetoric, West Bengal’s concerns about water security for its northern region cannot be overlooked and need to be allayed. India is already beginning to feel the strain on its water security given the ever rising demands for more water for its burgeoning population. According to a 2010 report ‘Water Security for India: The External Dynamics’ published by the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA):

India is facing a serious water resource problem and as trends suggest, it is expected to become ‘water stressed’ by 2025 and ‘water scarce’ by 2050

Both countries, therefore, need to develop a well thought out, balanced treaty that will enable equitable sharing of the waters of the Teesta, thereby enhancing bilateral ties and reducing the possibility of water conflict.

This post was first published on the ISN blog, cross-posted on Global Voices Online.

India: Renewing The Solar Energy Pledge On World Environment Day

Today, June 5th is World Environment Day and this year's theme is Green Economy: Does it include you? According to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), green economy is described as:

one that results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities. In other words, we can think of a green economy as an economic environment that achieves low carbon emissions, resource efficiency and at the same time is socially inclusive.

World Environment Day 2012 Logo. Image Courtesy UNEP

Renewable Energy is one of the key sectors of a green economy. In India, growing concerns about energy security have led the government to commit to the development of renewable energy, with special focus on harnessing the abundantly available solar energy. In 2008, during the launch of India's National Action Plan on Climate Change, the Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh had stated:

Our vision is to make India’s economic development energy-efficient. Over a period of time, we must pioneer a graduated shift from economic activity based on fossil fuels to one based on non-fossil fuels and from reliance on non-renewable and depleting sources of energy to renewable sources of energy. In this strategy, the sun occupies centre-stage, as it should, being literally the original source of all energy. We will pool our scientific, technical and managerial talents, with sufficient financial resources, to develop solar energy as a source of abundant energy to power our economy and to transform the lives of our people.

In line with this aim, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, which was launched on the 11^th January, 2010 by the Prime Minister, has set an ambitious target of deploying 20,000 MW of grid connected solar power by 2022. Given that high cost is a key challenge in implementing solar projects, the solar mission aims to "reduce cost of solar power generation in the country through (i) long term policy; (ii) large scale deployment goals; (iii) aggressive R&D; and (iv) domestic production of critical raw materials, components and products, as a result to achieve grid tariff parity by 2022".

Solar Panels in Uttaranchal, India. Image by Barefoot Photographers of Tilonia. Used Under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

On 24th May 2012, the Union Minister of New & Renewable Energy Dr. Farooq Abdullah, while addressing the first meeting of the Solar Energy Industry Advisory Council (SEIAC) in New Delhi, called upon the industry leaders to invest in Solar Energy Projects in the country. He assured them of the full support of the Government in setting up solar projects based on both grid connected as well as off grid applications. At the same time, he asked industry leaders to respond favourably and positively to the incentives offered by the Government in this direction. The Minister said that India has a vast scope for developing solar energy applications as still many parts of rural India do not have access to grid connected electricity. He cited the example of high altitude places in Ladakh where solar energy has changed people’s lives.

Solar panels on the walls of Thiksay Monastery, Ladakh. Image by Jessie Hey. Used under CC BY2.0.

Mr. Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of the Indian state of Gujarat, blogged on the occasion of the World Environment Day. He wrote:

Despite being a power surplus state, Gujarat made great advances in solar energy. Our state was the earliest to come up with a solar policy. Just a few months ago, Gujarat dedicated to the nation 600 MW solar power to the nation along with Asia’s largest solar park at Charanka. Today, Gujarat produces 2/3^rd of the solar power in India.

One grassroot initiative that has been focusing on popularizing solar electrification in remote, rural areas since 1984, is the Barefoot College of Tilonia, the brainchild of Sanjit 'Bunker' Roy. In this TED video, Mr. Roy talks bout the Barefoot methodology. The Barefoot College essentially "trains a few members of the community to be ‘Barefoot Solar Engineers’ (BSEs)". These BSEs in turn install, repair and maintain solar lighting units within the community as well as train other community members.  The video below tells the story of the first women Barefoot Solar Engineers of Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh, India.

Today, the Barefoot Solar Engineers are growing in numbers and can be found not only in India but in many countries around the world as can be seen on this map - truly a global movement.

On this World Environment Day, India is renewing its solar energy pledge - to bring down costs, scale up solar infrastructure, train more solar evangelists and perhaps spark a solar revolution.

This post was first published in Global Voices Online

India: Gearing Up for Better E-Waste Management

Today, E-waste, electronic waste or electronic scrap is ‘one of the fastest growing waste streams in the world' and environmentalists everywhere are justifiably concerned about their ‘end of life' disposal.

In India too, the concern about E-waste management has been rising steadily over the years, especially given the huge leap in the quantum of E-waste in the country over the last 7 years. According to a recent report (pdf) by a committee formed by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF):

Dumping of E-waste poses a major challenge in India. Imports are one of the major sources of E-waste in the country, most of it coming illegally. This adds to the huge volume of waste being dumped and processed within the country. The accurate data on such imports is not available largely owing to the nature of the trade. However, estimates suggest that imports account for an almost equal amount to what is being generated in the country. Improper disposal of E-waste causes huge hazards to health as well as the environment and hence is a matter of grave concern.

 E-waste - Leftovers of an irresponsible technological advance. Image by Keren Chernizon. Copyright Demotix.

It is not as if India is new to ‘improper' disposal and recycling  of E-waste. Rather, as Amit Ganguly of Sustainable Sphere points out

Major recycling of e-waste is carried out in the non-formal sector using primitive and hazardous methods.

That this form of recycling is hazardous is undoubted, since the release of toxic chemicals such as lead, mercury, cadmium, dioxins from burnt plastic/PVC etc., can pose serious health risks. Nevertheless, till date, about 90% of India's E-waste is being recycled informally. The E-waste  management market in India is around half a billion dollars and growing at 25 per cent.

This short documentary, uploaded on YouTube by Greenpeace on Feb 22, 2008, shows how E-waste is handled by the non-formal sector in India, with complete disregard and more often complete ignorance about the potential environmental and health hazards posed by this day-t0-day activity, through which they earn their living.

Realizing the need to tackle this growing problem, the aforementioned committee formed by the Ministry of Environment & Forests, has recommended that the management of E-waste be taken up at three levels, viz. Legislative, Administrative and Technological measures. The new E-waste legislation that comes into effect from May 2012 onwards includes legal provisions for Extended Producers' Responsibility (EPR) for recycling, reduction of hazardous substances in electronics and setting up of collection centres. 

Vineet at greenarth.com elaborates on the new, upcoming legislation. He writes:

These rules will be applicable to every producer, consumer and bulk consumer involved in the manufacture, sale, purchase and processing of electronic equipment or components. The Central Pollution Control Board will be an active participant in the whole process in the capacity of a monitoring and watchdog agency – and will be required to submit an annual report (state wise) with regards to the implementation of these rules.

However, environmental activists feel that much more needs to be done, not only towards strengthening the mechanism to check illegal import of E-waste, but also towards acknowledging and integrating the non-formal sector in the ambit of proper E-waste management.

In a post on yourstory.in, blogger Jubin Mehta points out  some of the initiatives which have been launched in India to increase awareness about E-waste disposal and recycling of E-waste in a proper, scientific manner. He writes:

There are startups entering into this field and trying to make a difference but the numbers depicting the rate of production of eWaste are disturbing. Companies like Attero, Recycle Trade India and Ecocentric in India have started activities on this front and should do well because the size of the opportunity here would possibly outstrip any other barrier

Way back in 2008, on the blog Inhabitat, Mahesh Basantani had spoken about another such initiative in Mumbai:

Several efforts have been made, by NGOs and the Government, to make the process of recycling safer and more eco-friendly. In continuation to these efforts a newly launched company, Eco Reco (Eco Recycling Limited), looks promising. It is the first of its kind in the state of Maharashtra and fourth in the country.

Some other similar ventures operating  in the area of reverse logistics in the organized sector are Greendust, Reverse Logistics Company, Future Supply Chain etc. These companies have by and large welcomed the legislation, expecting opportunity growth in their line of business.

E-Waste. Image Copyright Richard Dorrell. Used under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Manufacturers of electronics on the other hand have reacted cautiously to the law which aims to lay a large part of the responsibility and accountability for reverse logistics at their door. Companies such as Hewlett-Packard have stressed on shared responsibility where the end consumers are equally responsible for the way they dispose electronic items and the government for providing proper infrastructure for the same.

With India's not-so successful record of implementing environmental laws, it remains to be seen how sincerely the various stakeholders work towards generating awareness about the issue  as well as tackling the growing E-waste menace effectively.

This post was first published on Global Voices Online.

WOW - Wealth Off Waste: An Encouraging Initiative

Here is an encouraging video about how a group in Bangalore is working with local residents to enable better waste management. Waste segregation is indeed the need of the hour. Let's watch and learn.

The Many Faces Of Madness - A Film by Amar Kanwar & FES India

The Many Faces of Madness, a film made by Amar Kanwar & produced by Foundation for Ecological Security Anand, Gujarat, is an engaging short film that takes a look at ecological destruction and the appropriation of the Commons in India.

I'd like to express my thanks to the Foundation for Ecological Security (FES) for giving me permission to share this informative film

Bangladesh: Widespread Protests Force Government To Back Down On Airport Project

[**This post was first published on Global Voices Online.]

This is the second of the two part series on the debate in Bangla blogosphere over the protests against the proposed international airport at Arial Beel, a low-lying vast wetland in the middle of Bangladesh. Read the first one here.

In August 2010, the government of Bangladesh endorsed an ambitious infrastructure project, namely the construction of a new, modern, world-class International airport. In the first part we highlighted netizens' arguments on the need to protect the Arial Beel - the proposed site of the airport, which is a critical ecosystem that sustains Biodiversity & livelihoods.

In this post we examine other arguments - both for and against the proposed project.

Aerial view of Arial Beel. Image courtesy www.move4world.com. Click on the image for more pictures.

Debating the need for a new airport

A section of bloggers OPPOSING the takeover of the Arial Beel for the proposed airport project were found to be questioning the very need for a new airport. According to them, the current airports themselves were not being used to their full potential so why plan another one in the first place? Some of them suggested that instead, the current airports could be upgraded with better infrastructure and facilities so that they could handle the additional projected load and traffic.

Blogger Sochol Zahid writes on his blog[bn]:

আপাতদৃষ্টিতে এই প্রকল্পকে বাংলাদেশের বর্তমান প্রেক্ষাপটে একটি উচ্চাভিলাসী প্রকল্প বলেই আমি অভিমত প্রদান করব। যেখানে ঢাকার শাহজালাল আন্তর্জাতিক বিমানবন্দরকেই বৈশ্বিক প্রেক্ষাপটে আরো বেশি উন্নীতকরণ করা উচিৎ বা বাংলাদেশ বিমানকে একটি শক্তিশালী বেসামরিক বিমান সংস্থায় পরিনত করা অধিক জরুরী সেখানে নতুন একটি আন্তর্জাতিক বিমানবন্দর বেসামরিক বিমান খাতে বাংলাদেশকে কোন সমৃদ্ধি বয়ে আনবে তা যথেষ্ট আলোচনার দাবী রাখে।

On the face of it, in the current context of Bangladesh, this project appears to be highly ambitious. Where it is more essential to upgrade the current International airport or to turn around Bangladesh Biman into a powerful, profitable, commercial airline, in that scenario, what profitability is going to come from building a new airport instead calls for a thorough debate.

Blogger Dinmojur at Somewherein, echoes his sentiments. According to Dinmojur[bn]:

বাস্তবতা হলো শাহজালাল আন্তর্জাতিক বিমান বন্দরের ক্ষমতাই অবব্যবহৃত রয়ে গিয়েছে। তাছাড়া ঢাকার শাহজালাল বিমানবন্দর ছাড়াও আরো ২ টি আন্তর্জাতিক বিমানবন্দর রয়েছে : শাহ আমানত আন্তর্জাতিক বিমানবন্দর, চট্টগ্রাম ও ওসমানি আন্তর্জাতিক বিমানবন্দর, সিলেট। অভ্যন্তরীণ রুটে চলাচলের জন্য সৈয়দপুর, রাজশাহী, যশোর, বরিশাল এবং কক্সবাজারে মোট ৫টি বিমানবন্দর রয়েছে। এই বিমানবন্দরগুলোকে আপগ্রেড না করে এবং শাহজালাল আন্তর্জাতিক বিমানবন্দরের পুরো ক্ষমতা ব্যবহার না করে ৫০ হাজার কোটি টাকা খরচ করে সম্পূর্ণ নতুন একটি বিমানবন্দর তৈরী করতে যাওয়ার যুক্তি হাস্যকর।

The fact is that the current Shahajalal International airport is not utilised to full potential. Apart from this, we also have 2 other International airports - one in Chittagong and the other in Sylhet. There are 5 other airports for domestic travel. Instead of upgrading the existing airports and utilising the full potential of the existing Shahajalal International airport, spending Tk50,000 crores for building a new airport appears to be a silly idea.

Google Earth View of Shahjalal Airport (former Zia International Airport). Image Courtesy Dinmojur Blog

Various Arial Beel related protest groups on Facebook have been discussing the same issue. One such group ‘Save the Arial Beel' writes:

Do we really need another International airport while three of our existing international airport are still underutilized?…People are very much confused whether another international airport is absolutely necessary or not at this moment while only 25% of the Shahjalal Int'l Airport is learned to be used. The government should clear this confusion with strong justification of a new airport.

On the other hand, those SUPPORTING the project felt that the agricultural and piscicultural yields were being exaggerated by the protesters. Furthermore, the project's supporters echoed the Urban Development Minister that while those who had legal land rights were open to the project, it was essentially the illegal encroachers and squatters on the Beel lands who feared loss of livelihoods as they were not legally entitled to get compensation. The supporters felt that the Beel was anyway getting filled and encroached upon in an unplanned manner so why not take it over for the proposed project?

The aspirations of those in favor of the airport project at the given location have been summed up neatly by blogger Sayem Dohar at Sonar Bangladesh Blog. Sayem is of the opinion that [bn]

যারা এর বিরোধিতা করছেন, তারা উন্নয়নকে ভয় পান…বিমানবন্দর হলে ঢাকার দোহার, নবাবগঞ্জ ও মুন্সীগঞ্জের শ্রীনগরে উন্নয়নের জোয়ার বয়ে যাবে। এ বিমানবন্দর নির্মাণে আন্তর্জাতিক উন্নয়ন নীতিমালা অনুযায়ী পদ্মা সেতু নির্মাণে ক্ষতিগ্রস্তদের সমান ক্ষতিপূরণ দেওয়া হবে, যা হবে ক্ষতির কয়েক গুণ বেশি।

সরকারের স্পষ্ট নীতি হচ্ছে, কারো বসতভিটা কিংবা বাড়ি অধিগ্রহণ করে কোনো স্থাপনা নয়। ক্ষতিপূরণ ছাড়া কারও জমি অধিগ্রহণ করা হবে না। দোহার, নবাবগঞ্জ ও শ্রীনগরের ২৫ হাজার একর জমির মধ্যে বঙ্গবন্ধু আন্তর্জাতিক বিমানবন্দর ও বঙ্গবন্ধু সিটি গড়ে তোলা হবে। কী না থাকবে সেখানে! এর মধ্যে ১০ হাজার একর জমির ওপর নির্মিত হবে বিমানবন্দর। বাকি জায়গায় আইটি ভিলেজ, শিল্পনগরী গড়ে তোলা হবে। আকাশপথে যোগাযোগ বিস্তৃত হবে। উন্নয়ন কর্মকাণ্ডের জন্য হাজার হাজার কোটি টাকা খরচ হবে। বিপুলসংখ্যক মানুষ এতে কাজের সুযোগ পাবে। বেকার যুবক, খেটে খাওয়া মানুষের জন্য কাজের দুয়ার উন্মোচিত হবে।

বিমানবন্দর ও শহর ঘিরে আধুনিক জীবন-প্রণালীর সবকিছুই তৈরি হবে এ জায়গায়। পরিকল্পনা বাস্তবায়ন হলে অবিশ্বাস্য উন্নয়ন কর্মকাণ্ডে বিমুগ্ধ হয়ে যাবে এলাকার মানুষ। এ অঞ্চলের সঙ্গে সড়ক যোগাযোগ যেমন বাড়বে, তেমনি রেল যোগাযোগেরও ব্যাপক উন্নতি হবে। রাজধানীর ওপর থেকে যানজট আর আবাসনের চাপ কমে যাবে ব্যাপক মাত্রায়। উন্নয়ন কর্মকান্ডে যে পরিমাণ মাটি ভরাট করার প্রয়োজন হবে, তাতেও কয়েক হাজার কোটি টাকা খরচ হবে। এখানেও কাজ পাবে হাজার হাজার মানুষ। বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় প্রতিষ্ঠা করা হবে, আন্তর্জাতিক মানের হাসপাতাল প্রতিষ্ঠা হবে। আধুনিক প্রযুক্তির সব ধরনের সুযোগ-সুবিধা নিশ্চিত করা হবে। ইপিজেড, ট্রেড সেন্টার, পর্যটন স্পটের উন্নয়ন ও অন্যান্য শিল্পের বিকাশ সাধিত হবে।

Those who are opposing it, they are afraid of development. If the airport project gets started then there will be a strong tide of development and upliftment in the areas of Dohar, Nababganj and Srinagar in Munshiganj. According to the International Development regulations, the people losing their land because of the project will be compensated at a rate much higher than their losses.

The government's clear principles are that no people shall be displaced or their land taken over without adequate compensation. In this region the Bangabandhu International airport and satellite city will come up. Imagine, what will it not have? Out of this the airport will be on 10,000acres of land. On the rest, there will be an IT hub, industrial township, etc. Air travel will be easier. For these developmental works billions of Takas will be spent. A huge number of people will get employment. The gates of opportunities will open up for the hardworking, unemployed youth.

Everything that is needed for a modern lifestyle will be available in the region. Once the project is realised, the local people will be amazed at the positive changes and leaps in development of the area. There will be better connectivity - better roads, better railway connections. The population and traffic pressures on the capital city of Dhaka will reduce substantially. Billions of Taka will also be spent on the landfill of the Arial Beel, Here too thousands of people will get employment. Universities will set up, hospitals of International standards will open here. All conveniences of modern technology and way of life will automatically follow. Other industries such as trade and tourism etc., will also blssom here.

However, on 4th February 2011, the Prime minister announced that the government would heed the people's demands to relocate the project and thus there would be no airport on the Arial Beel. Speaking at a press conference, Sheikh Hasina said that ‘her government decided not to construct the proposed aviation facility at suburban Arial Beel of Munshiganj against the backdrop of opposition's demand and spilt of opinions among the residents in the area'.

So the Arial Beel gets a fresh lease of life. As of now.

Bangladesh: Proposed International Airport Stumbles Over Environment Controversy

[**This post was first published on Global Voices Online.]

This is the first of the two part series on the debate in Bangla blogosphere over the protests against the proposed international airport at Arial Beel, a low-lying vast wetland in the middle of Bangladesh.

In August 2010, the government of Bangladesh endorsed an ambitious infrastructure project, namely the construction of a new, modern, world-class International airport. A Public-Private Partnership (PPP) venture, the initial cost of the project was estimated at Tk. 500 billion. The land required for the project was estimated to be around 6000 acres.

A beel at Tangail. Image by P. K. Niyogi. Courtesy Wikimedia.

Initially, three possible sites were explored — two in Madhupur of Tangail and one in Mymensingh's Trishal — with Trishal emerging as the favorable choice. However, on realising that in Trishal the task would be to displace/relocate a large number of people, the government, fearing resistance, changed its mind and without conducting any sort of feasibility study or environment impact assessment, earmarked the low-lying vast wetland Arial Beel (currently the 3rd largest beel in Bangladesh which stretches across parts of Sreenagar of Munshiganj, and Dohar and Nawabganj of Dhaka) situated 6km south of Dhaka city, as its chosen location. Interestingly, by then the proposed project had grown from an airport to include a satellite city as well, bringing up the land requirement from the erstwhile 6000 acres to 25000 acres. (See some pictures of Areal Beel by Lonely Traveler).

The Controversy

No sooner had the project been announced, heated debates erupted among citizens in those localities. Many feared displacement and offered stiff resistance to the government’s decision and willingness to sacrifice the wetlands in its quest to build a shining new airport and city. Environmental activists pointed out that the move to erase the wetlands would severely impact both environment as well as livlihoods of the local people living in the beel area. There were concerns that the government had finalised the location based on land survey records that were over 100 years old, without taking into account a) the changes that have come about over time in terms of habitations, land usage and overall terrain of the land and b) the critical role played by wetlands in recharging the groundwater resources.

However, there were others who welcomed the initiative, hoping that the project will usher in employment opportunities and overall development of the area concerned. Apart from local residents, there was also excitement about the project among a section of non-resident Bangladeshis. After all, the project promised a world-class airport and city, an IT hub, a textile hub and many other such initiatives and a new expressway and monorail system that would connect the airport with Dhaka city. The Minister of Urban Development, Mr. Abdul Mannan Khan claimed that once the project was underway, the current legal landowners would get 5-10 kathas of land in the project area which would then be as valuable as a diamond mine - much higher than its current yield value. He stated that the people could not even imagine how their standard of living would leapfrog once the project materialised.

Protests against the proposed international airport at Arial Beel. Image courtesy www.move4world.com. Click on the image for more.

Both groups (for and against the proposed project on Arial Beel) began to get organised. Soon however, the issue got politicised, with the leading opposition party, the BNP, joining hands with the protesters and raising the volume of the protests and agitations to thwart the proposed land acquisition. The unrest soon spread and when the government tried to use the police force to control the protests, violence erupted in the area which left 1 policeman dead and over 100 injured.

The Online Debate

The protection versus land acquisition debate quickly spread online and fuelled the blogosphere. Bloggers reacted to various points associated with the issue.

For those OPPOSING the project, their arguments were mainly two-fold: a) the ecological importance of preserving the Arial Beel and b) questioning whether a new airport was indeed required at this time. In this post, we look at the ecological arguments advanced by bloggers in voicing their opposition to the project.

Arial Beel - A critical ecosystem that sustains biodiversity & livlihoods

In the International Conference on the Commons at IASC 2011 in Hyderabad, India, a global community came together to reaffirm the importance of conserving and protecting the world's water resources. Their concerns were reflected among the Bangla bloggers who put forth strong arguments for protecting the Arial Beel.

A.B.M Mohsin at Amarblog writes[bn]:

এমনিতেই জলবায়ুর বিরূপ প্রভাব আর মানুষের অপরিকল্পিত বাঁধ এদেশের জলাভূমিকে ধ্বংসের কিনারে নিয়ে এসেছে। এর সাথে যদি এমন অযাচিত অধিগ্রহণের মত ঘটনা চলতে থাকে তবে জীববৈচিত্র্যে ভরপুর আর ছোট মাছের প্রাকৃতিক প্রজননভূমি এই আড়িয়াল বিলের মত ধীরে ধীরে সব জলজসম্পদ ধ্বংস হয়ে যাবে।

As it is, climate change and haphazard construction of large dams have brought our waterbodies and wetlands to the brink of extinction. On top of that if instances of such unwarranted land acquision goes on then wetlands such as Arial beel, which is rich in biodiversity and the natural breeding ground of varieties of small fish, will be lost forever.

In an open letter to the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, blogger Tanvir Rabbani at Sachalayatan, points out[bn]:

মাননীয় প্রধান মন্ত্রী…আপনার পরিকল্পনা কমিটির কেউ কি জানেন না যে বিলটি প্রতিবছর বন্যায় ১৫-২৫ ফুট পানিতে তলিয়ে যায় এবং এই এলাকার মাটিতে পিট কয়লার গভীর স্তর আছে যা বিমান বন্দর সহ যেকোন ভারী স্থাপনার জন্যেই হুমকিস্বরুপ?
[…]মাননীয় প্রধান মন্ত্রী, আপনি হয়ত জানেন তবু আরেকবার বলি; আপনাদের অধিগ্রহন করতে চাওয়া আড়িয়াল বিলের ২৫,০০০ একর জমি থেকে বর্তমানে ৪০,০০০ মেট্রিক টন ধান (প্রায়),১০,০০০ মেট্রিক রবিশস্য (প্রায়) , ৭০০ মেট্রক টন মাছ (প্রায়) উৎপাদিত হয় এবং এই জমি অধিগ্রহন করলে স্থানীয় বেকারত্বের সংখ্যা দাঁড়াবে ১১ লক্ষ।জমি অধিগ্রহনের পর কিভাবে পূরন করবেন এই খাদ্যশষ্যের ঘাটতি? তার চেয়ে বড়কথা কোথায় যাবে এই মানুষগুলো?কি হবে তাদের বাসস্থান,জীবিকা কিংবা স্বপ্নের? জানি আপনারা জানেননা, আর জানেনা বলেই তারা আজ পথে নেমে এসেছে।প্রতিরোধের দেয়াল বানিয়ে সেখানে রক্তের ছোপে লিখে দিয়েছে “আড়িয়াল বিল শাসকের নয়, এই বিল বিলমানুষদের”।

Dear Prime Minister…don't the members of your planning committe know that every year during heavy monsoons the beel gets flooded and submerged under 15-25ft of water and that in this region there is a peat mine below the surface that will prove to be a great danger to any heavy over-the-ground structure such as an airport?[…] Dear Prime Minister, maybe you are already aware of this but let me reiterate, the 25,000 acres of Arial Beel that you propose to take over, yields about 40,000metric tonnes of rice, about 10,000metric tonnes of rabi crops, about 700 metric tonnes of fish and after the takeover, the number of locals unemployed will grow to be around 11lakhs. How will you make up for this food deficit? More importantly, where will these people go? What will be the future of their shelters, livilihoods and dreams? I know you have not given it thought and have no answers and that is why these people are on the roads today, protesting, creating a wall of resistance and writing with their blood that Arial Beel belongs to the local communities and not to the rulers”

On his blog at Somewherein, blogger Roder Chele wonders how the government could override its own National Water Policy which lays down specific conservation rules restricting landfill of natural waterbodies such as the Arial Beel. Pointing out (through pictures) to the difference in the class of people campaigning for and against the Beel, the blogger concludes that the ordinary, local people are all resisting the project while a section of the elites were campaigning for the project. He writes[bn]:

আড়িয়াল বিল হচ্ছে বাংলাদেশে পরিকল্পিত চাষাবাদের অন্যতম বিল। এখানে সেচের সমস্যা নেই। পুরো বিলে আছে পর্যাপ্ত ডেঙ্গা (বড় পুকুর)। যেখানে মাছ এবং ফসলের চাষে পানির যোগান হয় সমান তালে। মাটির যে উৎপাদন উত্তেজনা, কৃষকের শৃঙ্গারে তার ষোলআনা উসুল হয় এখানে। আড়িয়াল বিলের চেহারা আর বাংলাদেশের চেহারা একই রকম। আমরা সবুজের আধুনিকায়ন লাল দিয়ে করতে চাই না। সবুজ আরো সবুজ হবে, বিস্তৃত সবুজ। মাটির গায়ে মার্বেল পাথর দিয়ে আমাদের মাটিসভ্যতা ধর্ষন করতে চাই না। এ মাটি পরিত্যক্ত নয়, এ মাটি অহেতুক নয়। এ মাটিতে ফসল এবং শ্রমের যে সংগম, তা অভূতপূর্ব।

The Arial Beel is a boon for agriculture. There is no scarcity of water for irrigation here. The entire Beel area has many large waterbodies which supply water to the fields all the year round. The excitement of a good yield is ever visible among farmers here. Arial Beel is a symbol of the agrarian Bangladesh. We do not want a development that converts our greens into reds. We want more greens (agriculture, reviving of abundant natural resources). We do not want to hide our earth with slabs of marble. This is not wasteland. This is not empty land. On this land there is an unparalleled confluence of effort and rich yields, of sustainable livlihoods.

Many other bloggers too are discussing how the government could bulldoze over their own National Water Policy, opining that this shows that the government is not serious about conservation and protection.

This post concludes in another part. To read more about the ‘Airport versus Arial Beel' online debate, please look out for part 2 of this series, coming soon.

Conflict of multiple objectives and the need to make trade-offs critical challenges in the management of Commons, says Jairam Ramesh

In the first post of the series, we saw what Shri Jairam Ramesh, India's Minister of Environment and Forests, had to say on the global commons (climate change) in his keynote address at the inaugural session of the 13th biennial IASC International Conference in Hyderabad. 

In this post we will look at what he had to say about the regional (rivers and aquifers) and local commons (management of forests).

Addressing the issue of regional commons, the Minister said:

Central to the management of regional commons, is the existence of multiplicity of objectives and the extent to which you are going to have tradeoffs amongst these objectives. Take a river basin for example. 20 years ago, the concept of a minimum environmental flow did not exist in our policy discourse. So, we planned a series of Hydel power projects, we planned a series of irrigation projects, we had a series of drinking water projects, and today we are finding that many of our important and ecologically sensitive river systems we do not have what now ecologists are coming to call as the minimum environmental flow. 

How do we deal with issues of minimum environmental flow when we have multiple pressures on the commons , when we have multiple pressures on the river systems. We have pressure from the need for developing Hydel projects, we have pressure for drinking water to reach a larger population, but at the same time, unless we are able to assure a minimum environmental flow in these rivers, the very ecological basis of having these regional commons gets lost. And this is an issue which is becoming increasingly important in the policy discourse. 

Shri Ramesh also took the opportunity to point out some of the challenging decisions that he has had to take recently in this regard. He said,

I have had to face severe opposition, on my decision to put a stop on Hydel projects in the upper reaches of the Ganga in the state of Uttarakhand. Even after much of the work had gone on, on some of these Hydel Projects. There was a Hydel project on which we had spent a 1000 Cr of Rs. and 40% of the work had already been done and I had to wage a battle for a year to get that project scrapped because had we continued with that project we would have interfered with the minimum environmental flow of the river Bhagirathi which has not just religious and cultural significance to most Indians but also ecological significance. These are the types of conflicts and tradeoffs that we have to make increasingly in the regional commons of which water is going to be the most important.

 On the issue of forest management (which he described as local commons), Shri Ramesh stated:

We have over 70 million hectares of Forest cover in our country, roughly 21 % of the geographical area and for the last 30-40 years, the theology of Forest planning has been that 1/3rd of India should come under forests. But I have asked for the last 19 months, what is the source of this theology? Where did this theology originate that 1/3rd of India should come under Forest cover. Till today, I have not got a satisfactory answer to this most basic of questions.

That’s why I think the time has come for us to make a radical shift in our approach from the preoccupation with the quantity of forests to a greater attention to the quality of forests.

Explaining why he felt that this shift was essential, the Minister said that given the various pressures on the land today, sticking to the ideology of trying to get 1/3rd of India under forest cover would not be very practical. According to him,

With 70 Million hectares of Forest cover, and 40% of it, open, degraded forests, the challenge before us is to  improve just the quality of forests, rather than chasing the mirage of bringing 1/3rd of India under Forests. We know, because of the demographic and the development pressure, that it is not going to be possible.

...the carbon sequestration potential of Indian forests was estimated to be roughly 10% for the mid 90s, but it has gone down because as the economic growth increases, as we sustain 8-9% growth, we will not be able to compensate for the loss of forest cover. Our estimate is that by 2020 the annual carbon sequestration potential of our Indian Forests would be somewhere between 6-7% of our annual greenhouse gas emissions. If we are able to even maintain the 6-7% range, that would be a major contribution.

Acknowledging that forests not only play an ecological role but a very critical social and economic role as well, Shri Ramesh admitted that often policy makers overlooked the latter functions of the forest and stated there was a need for a change in mindset in this respect. He stated

We know that not just ecologically, in terms of social and economic values, our forests play a very important role The people who have worked with Indian Forests know, that over 200 - 250 million Indians depend on forests for their livelihoods a fact which is very often forgotten by forest department. I hasten to add that I very much include myself and I think the challenge before us, in managing this huge local commons called the Indian Forests, is to recognise not just their ecological value to be brought into public discussion, but also the age-old economic and social functions our forests perform, which unfortunately over the years, our laws have not been able to recognise and enshrine; our challenge in managing the local commons lies in changing the mindset that we have had in managing the forests and recognising not just the quantity of forests, but the quality of forests, and also in recognising that forests have not just an ecological function but more importantly and fundamentally a very important social and economic function.

Climate Change Dialogue: Need a Variety of Approaches & Diverse, Context-based Solutions to Address Equity Issues, says Jairam Ramesh

In his keynote address at the recently concuded 13th biennial IASC International Conference in Hyderabad, Shri Jairam Ramesh, India's Minister of Environment and Forests, addressed a wide range of commons related issues - from the global (climate change) to regional (use of waters, management of rivers and aquifers) and the local (management of forests).

In the first post of the series, we look at what the Minister had to say on the global commons.

Talking about climate change, Shri Ramesh said that the lack of communication between negotiators and academics was something he found very frustrating. According to him,

All the interesting work on climate change is taking place in the academic world and the negotiators in their world of round brackets, square brackets, footnotes and distinctions, such fine distinctions of shall and will and could and should are completely oblivious to the work of Jeffrey Frankel at Harvard, Micheal Spence of Stanford, Shelling or Prof.Ostrom herself. I think this has been a great tragedy and one of things I have been involved in is to try and get the negotiating community to look at this whole academic literature that now exists in the climate change area because central to a successful negotiation is how do we address the issue of equity.

Touching upon the Cancun agreement, Shri Ramesh spoke about the need for an alternate way to define equitable access. He said that the traditional framework of equitable access to carbon space tended to conjure up a right to pollute but the issue was actually one of ensuring a decent quality of life and standard of living to the country's population. Hence the new emerging concept at Cancun was that of equitable access to sustainable development. However, instead of seeking that one  holy grail of a formula or framework that would ensure equitable access to sustainable development, (which  he felt would inevitably create a stalemate as it would be near impossible for 193 countries to agree), Shri Ramesh stated that the way forward was perhaps in devising a set of formulae, a  diverse variety of approaches and context-based solutions.

Talking about the need for an operational definition of sustainable development, and the need to focus not only on equality of access on an international scale but on domestic issues as well, Shri Ramesh stated:

First of all we have to define what sustainable development is and we owe the definition of sustainable development to Mr.Nitin Desai, who defined in the 5th planning commission 22 years ago as the ability of a generation to meet its consumption needs without endangering the ability of a future generation. That was the kind of definition for sustainable development, but now we have to give it operational meaning and work out a framework that ensures equitable access which looks at population, per capita income, and which also looks at internal issues of distribution because in a country like India which is rightly concerned about the equality of access on the international scale cannot be oblivious to differences of access internally. This is now a big issue that we as a country have to come to grip with. We are world leaders when it comes to talking about international inequality but somehow we feel shy of dealing with domestic inequality. The domestic inequality in access to sustainable development today is a very serious issue that policy makers and academics have to come to terms with.

He summed up his thoughts on the global commons as follows:

So, on the global commons issue, all I would say now, what Cancun did was to (revive) the multilateral process which had reached a dead-end in Copenhagen, and brought about a certain degree of consensus on some of the issues that were (eluding) the negotiators and one of the biggest issues is how do you define a global goal and how do you define equity in the achievement of this goal, but, without necessarily endangering the growth prospects of developing countries.