Large dams are essential

Himalaya Ganga: Contending with Complexity

Water Nepal Vol 4 No.1,September 1994

Ajay Dixit, Dipak Gyawali, editors Nepal Water Conservation Foundation Kathmandu,

Till about two centuries ago, the natural resources, the land, water, and flora and fauna, made the Ganga-Brahmaputra one of the most prosperous regions. Perhaps it was this very richness which kept the region from being part of the process of social development which was overtaking the West.

After 1947, it was assumed that the basin states would, individually and collectively, make concerted efforts to make up for the many decades of neglect. But the results have been disappointing, even while other developing regions have made spectacular progress.

To meet the challenge of the future, new concepts, policies, technologies, planning approaches, social organisations and social commitment are required. A tremendous responsibility rests with the intellectuals, particularly the scientists working in the multi-disciplinary area of environmental systems management. In that context, the present special issue of the journal Water Nepal makes a valuable contribution, carrying papers from scientists present at the February 1993 Kathmandu Meeting on Cooperative Development of the Himalayan Water Resources.

The organisers of the conference acknowledged that environmental processes do not recognise man-made boundaries. Himalaya Ganga is the generic name given to the highland-lowland interactive complexity of South Asia. The papers, which are of high calibre, cover a wide range of issues grouped into four themes: Social and Economic Challenges; Technology and South Asia; Institutional Articulation; and Conflict and Cooperation.
The editors present an excellent overview of the complexity of the Himalaya-Ganga system, emphasising the need for it to be considered in terms of three interlinked and interacting elements—the bio physical, human-built and symbolic environment. Har-mony needs to be maintained amongst the three sub-systems.

Ten initial papers critically take up matters such as sharing the costs and benefits of water resource projects between Nepal and India; displacement and resettlement management in the context of the South Asian hunger for land environmenta1 concerns; private sector versus public sector involvement in water resource management; and international financing.

Several authors tackle the controversial question of building large dams, but to this writer they seem almost to have a bias against technology. No one, for example, mentions that the problem of uprooting people from their natural habitats is intrinsic to the process of population explosion and poverty. Technology is defi¬nitely an answer to these problems, but there will of course be side-effects, which can be minimised using appropriate policies and planning.

Thirteen papers on Technology and South Asia deal with data requirement; debates on ´large versus small´; ´appropriate versus high-tech´; irrigation management; seismiciry and river morphology; and groundwater-surface water conjunctive use. The case for decentralised power for enhancing local capability in hydropower development was competently presented by Bikash Pandey.

However, it must be mentioned that micro-hydro development can move in tandem with macro-development, in which developing the local capability would be central. Developing countries must take major strides to catch up, and it will not do to think otherwise. Finally, major projects are essential not only for rapid development and speedy eradication of poverty, but for environmental conservation as well.

The question of scientific development and environmental conservation are complex issues which require decision support systems. Two papers which illustrate their importance are one on water resources development in Bangladesh and another on the multi-criteria analysis technique in the context of the Chisapani Project on the Kamali. Some more papers on the importance of this approach would have been useful.

The section on Institutional Articulation discusses important issues such as the legal aspects of cooperation in trans-boundary water resources, institutional dimensions of power exchange arrangements, and development of navigation systems. By and large, however, the discussion here is rudimentary.

On Conflict and Cooperation, the papers call for new thinking and approaches which look at conflict resolution on a basin-wide and region-wide basis. In this context, the ideas of Trijogi Prasad (initiator of the Patna Initiative which led to the Kathmandu Himalaya-Ganga gathering) are important. All in all, for its important insights and judgements, this book provides an excellent analysis of past neglect and the agenda for the future.