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Indian river-linking plan cause of serious concern
Anwar Hossain Manju, back from Colombo
Bangladesh has expressed deep concern over the planned Indian river-linking project and proposed the setting up of a joint river basin commission on three major river systems — the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna — consisting of co-riparian India, Nepal, Bhutan and China.
The proposal was made by the Bangladesh delegation at the Asian Regional Conservation Forum of IUCN — the World Conservation Union — on 10 December, 2003 in Colombo, the Sri Lankan capital.
Bangladesh delegate Ms Hasna J. Moudud voicedher country’s concern over India’s river-linking project at the Forum and proposed that IUCN set up a commission to ensure transboundary water sharing on a just and equitable basis. She also suggested that all related legal, hydrological and ecological aspects should be taken into consideration and the most appropriate method in this regard should be applied.
She said that the problem of transboundary water sharing should be addressed to ensure water rights, minimum water flow and eco-system survival of lower riparian countries. River-dependent eco-systems and river basin protection including drainage are important issues and they should be taken into consideration for sound regional cooperation, she added.
Hasna Moudud said that rivers are lifelines for deltaic Bangladesh and India’s river-linking project to transfer water from the Brahmaputra river will destroy the total eco-system of the country, especially the Sundarbans and haors, increase flood and erosion and cause serious damage to coastal ecology.
Referring to the adverse effects caused by the upstream withdrawal of Ganges water by India, Hasna Moudud said that further withdrawal of waters from other common rivers through river linking would make Bangladesh vulnerable to the process of desertification.
The four-day conference was attended by over 250 delegates from 27 countries and international agencies including a 15-member Bangladesh team headed by Dr. Ainun Nishat, the IUCN’s country representative.
Regional fund, data bank to be set up for safeguarding seas and coasts
Golam Mohiuddin Khan, back from Putrajaya, Malaysia
Ministers from 12 East Asian countries on December 12, 2003 adopted the Putrajaya Declaration on sustainable development of East Asian seas to safeguard the oceans, seas and coasts of the region and thus provide a better livelihood to coastal people.
The Ministerial Forum organised by PEMSEA, UNDP, GEF and IMO, and held at the Malaysian administrative capital of Putrajaya with host minister Dato Seri Law Hieng Ding in the chair, recommended the establishment of a regional revolving fund, fleshing out a common vision and supporting campaigns for the preservation of the seas and improvement of the quality of livelihood of the coastal people without harming the fragile eco-systems.
They also decided to set up a data bank, conserve the biodiversity heritages, prevent land-based pollution and take critical actions for eliminating illegal and destructive fishing.
The ministers also resolved to ensure the maintenance of good condition of the seas for the future of the people of the region.
They also called for safer and more efficient shipping to prevent pollution of the seas and observed that fish stocks were being heavily depleted.
The eight workshops held on the occasion also recommended that the ministers evolve an integrated and sustainable strategic development approach at local, sub-national, national and regional levels. UNDP resident representative Ms. Deborah Landey, GEF senior advisor Dr. Alfred M Duda, International Maritime Organisation’s secretary general elect Efthimios Mitropoulos also addressed the ministerial meeting.
Later, ministers and heads of delegation from Malaysia, Brunei, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Indonesia, two Koreas, Japan, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand and representatives of UNDP, GEF and IMO addressed a press conference where they pledged to act on sustainable development in their respective countries.
The ministers also highlighted the importance of media in the implementation of the sustainable development strategy.
Top-level ministers and officials from twelve Asian countries in their two-day meeting reviewed the state of environment and natural resources, held a dialogue on sustainable development of coasts and oceans and agreed on a common framework of actions.
As a run-up to the ministerial meeting the East Asian Seas Congress ended in Putrajaya on December 11, 2003 with a call to the ministers for urgently chalking out an action plan to reverse the degradation of the seas and coastal environment.
Philpino former President Fidel Ramos, Datuk Seri Law Hieng Ding and PEMSEA regional director Dr. Chua Thia Eng, who were the key organisers of the seas congress, put forward summaries of conclusions and recommendations of the series of workshops and plenary sessions of the congress urging the ministers to enter into a new era of regional cooperation and financing mechanisms for the improvement and strengthening of regional coastal and ocean governance.
The seas congress also expressed concerns at the losses of biodiversity resources, increase in marine and land-based pollution and depletion in fish stocks and called for immediate action for reversing this trend by forging meaningful cooperation, partnership and networking.
Addressing the congress, Chairman of Asia-Pacific Forum of Environmental Journalists (APFEJ) Quamrul Islam Chowdhury said partnerships within the region and within multi-stakeholder groups, including the media, are important in the region as coastal environmental degradation is acute, marine pollution is on the rise, transboundary pollution is threatening.
Joining in the policy debate, Dr. Anjan Datta of UNEP argued that good policy analysis is not about choosing between the free market and government regulations rather it is the mix of private and public regulations, the interplay that works to assist or impede solution of the policy problem.
Following the ministerial meeting, media practitioners from the Asian region explored effective strategies to assist in sustainable development during a media forum on partnerships in environmental communications held in the Malaysian administrative capital.
Presided over by APFEJ chairman Quamrul Islam Chowdhury, the media forum, a side event of the Seas Congress, turned out as a gathering of journalists, broadcasters and communicators, project management directors of PEMSEA sites and representatives of international agencies.
PEMSEA regional director Dr. Chua Thia-Eng, APFEJ deputy chair Elizabeth Roxas, United Nations Information Officer Sylvia Inciong, APFEJ former chairman Ivan Lim, APFEJ secretary general Mangal Man Shakya, Mitsuhiro Yoshida of Japan, Maddar Thayrun of Indoensia and Dinh Thu Hong of Vietnam took part in the discussions.
They discussed environmental concerns, issues and information gaps in coastal and marine resource management and proposed workable mechanisms for the effective role of the media in the implementation of the sustainable development strategy for the seas of East Asia.
The media forum, co-organised by APFEJ and PEMSEA, pledged commitment to the sustainable development strategy and outlined a set of activities that media should undertake to help implement the strategy in the region.
The media forum underscored the need for enhancing environmental awareness as well as dissemination of scientific and traditional knowledge and practices to mobilise government, business and civil society towards appropriate decisions and choices that would promote improved ocean governance throughout the region.
The three-day 15th Congress of APFEJ was also held in Putrajaya.
Call to accelerate implementation of Johannesburg Plan
Badiul Alam, back from Putrajaya, Malaysia
The three-day 15th Congress of the Asia-Pacific Forum of Environmental Journalists (APFEJ) ended in Putrajaya, Malaysia on December 14 by underscoring the need for raising public awareness about eco-disasters and calling for the forging of greater political will to achieve sustainable development in the region.
The Putrajaya Declaration was adopted at the closing session. It urged the governments, United Nations bodies and civil society organisations to help accelerate the pace of the implementation of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation of World Summit on Sustainable Development and UN Millennium Declaration Goals.
Presided over by APFEJ chairman Quamrul Islam Chowdhury and addressed by Philippines’ Environment and Natural Resource Minister Elisea Gozun, United Nation Environment Programme’s Dr. Anjan Datta, United Nations Information Officer Sylvia Inciong, former Senator of Philippines Latisa Ramos Shahani, APFEJ former chairman Ivan Lim, APFEJ deputy chairperson Elizabeth Roxas, APFEJ secretary-general Mangal Man Shakya, chairperson of Victorian Coastal Council of Australia Diane James, Malaysia’s Rash Behari, WASA managing director A.N.H. Akhter Hossain, Yans Minsheng and Targ Yamdong of China, Zarah Jane Almeida of Cambodia, Dinh Thu Hong of Vietnam and Bangladesh’s Badiul Alam.
The Putrajaya Declaration called for increasing the coverage of sustainable development issues by the media of the region.
Minister Gozun attached high importance to information and communication and said the media could make a great difference, and if the media is pro-active then miracles can be achieved.
She cited the case of her country’s pro-active media and said that it had helped the government a lot in achieving sustainable development goals. She also cited the example of the Pasig River clean-up programme in Manila where the media had played a prominent role.
Dr. Anjan Datta called upon the media to further the agenda of sustainable development and suggested linkage between land-based and ocean pollution and their solutions through community mobilisation.
Senator Shahani asked the media to give some elements of hope while focussing on environmental and sustainable development concerns and coastal management challenges.
Sylvia emphasised the need for providing understandable information, reports and features on sustainable development issues to bring in positive changes.
Quamrul gave a run-down of activities undertaken by APFEJ and announced that the 16th APFEJ Congress would be held in Beijing next year. He also listed the works accomplished by its previous 14 congresses and said that in this three-day meet, journalists from the region chalked out a work-plan and media strategy for sustainable development, including some training programmes and exchanges of fellows and field tours in different hotspots.
A total of over 50 journalists from different APFEJ member countries took part in the 15th APFEJ Congress.
Launch national programme of action to protect coastal, marine environment from land-based pollution
Kazi Shahnaz
Speakers at a lecture session held in the city on December 15 called for launching immediately a national programme of action to protect coastal and marine environment from land-based pollution.
They asked to regulate ship-breaking industries on a priority basis as part of combating land-based pollution and also suggested to conduct baseline study of marine pollution.
They were participating in a lecture session on global programme of action for the protection of marine environment from land-based pollution (GPA) which was jointly organised by Asia-Pacific Forum of Environmental Journalists (APFEJ) and Forum of Environmental Journalists of Bangladesh (FEJB) and held at FEJB conference room.
Dr. Anjan Datta of United Nations Environment Programme presented the keynote paper. Chaired by APFEJ and FEJB chairman Quamrul Islam Chowdhury, the function was addressed by director general of Department of Environment Dr. Omar Faruque Khan, CARDMA chairperson Hasna J. Moudud, FEJB members Nurul Huda, Badiul Alam and Mrinal K. Roy.
Dr. Anjan gave a run-down of the current state of coastal and marine pollution and terrestrial issues and said that ecological integrity of coastal and near-shore environments is at the mercy of social, business, institutional and regulatory norms that dictate human behaviour not just at sea, but on land.
Oceans, he said, are apparently considered as the waste basket as the state of coastal lagoons, estuaries, harbours, semi-enclosed seas, and even the open ocean, is a mirror of anthropogenic activities on land that alter or destroy habitat, pollute groundwater, creeks and rivers that drain into the sea and fill the atmosphere with particulates that settle on the sea.
Dr. Anjan pointed out that health of the rivers, hilltops and oceans all should be viewed in an integrated way and said the sustainable use of coastal and ocean resources is linked to public health, food security, and economic and social benefits, including cultural values and traditional livelihoods.
“When your seagass is gone, then your sea beaches are gone, erosion takes its toll and your habitat is affected. There is a direct link between hilltop and sea,” the UNEP-GPA official said.
He favoured the preservation of natural resources and heritages and raising capacity-building through partnerships under national and regional programme of actions.
Spelling out the justification of GPA, he said that approximately 80 per cent of marine pollution stems from land-based activities.
He said that GPA is a source of conceptual and practical guidance, specifies actions required at national level and regional and international cooperation and recommended approaches by source category.
Dr. Anjan said that GPA is an action-oriented programme not only to identify problems but also to find solutions while the tools for implementation are innovative financial arrangements and voluntary initiatives.
He suggested that the national governments should formulate national programmes of action and policy changes.
Dr. Khan briefed about what his department is now doing to initiate a national programme of action and said that diversion of water flows from upstream is also impacting on the livelihood and economy and ecology of Bangladesh.
Quamrul regretted that the draft plan of national water management of Bangladesh did not deal with the health of the Bay of Bengal, marine pollution and saline intrusion.
Hasna Moudud said that coasts provide a lot of livelihood opportunities.
Experts, journalists call for regional cooperation in water resource management in Asia-Pacific
Mofizur Rahman back from Putrajaya, Malaysia
Experts, academics and journalists of the region have called for greater regional cooperation to resolve water disputes, trans-boundary water management and ensure water for all in the Asia-Pacific countries.
At the two-day regional seminar which ended in Putrajaya, Malaysia on December 13, 2003, they also expressed their concern at the destructive river-linking initiatives and urged all governments, development partners and civil society bodies to raise voice against any further diversion of the free flow of the river courses which damages eco-systems and affects livelihoods and economies of the Asia-Pacific region.
Chaired by Ivan Lim of Singapore, the seminar was addressed, among others, by Elizabeth Roxas of the Philippines, Mangal Man Shakya from Nepal, Yans Minsheng and Targ Yamdong of China, Rash Behari from Malaysia, Zarah Jane Almeida of Cambodia, Dinh Thu Hong of Vietnam, Olivia Sylvia from the Philippines and Quamrul Islam Chowdhury from Bangladesh.
The keynote presentation was made by Engineer Akhter Hosain from Bangladesh and Dr. Anjan Datta from UNEP Global Programme of Action was the discussant.
The participants regretted at the slow implementation of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation of World Summit on Sustainable Development and UN Millennium Declaration Goals which stressed the need for promoting water high on the national and regional agenda.
They also called for the formation of MeKong-styled River Commission in various parts of Asia-Pacific region to help resolve water disputes.
They argued that the history, economy, society, culture and eco-systems of the region, which revolve round river-flows, would be threatened if those natural flows were diverted or linked with one another unnaturally.
The participants criticised the river-linking initiatives. ANH Akhter Hosain was critical of India’s proposed river-linking mega project involving diversion of flows of the Brahmaputra, Ganges and upper Meghna.
They also called upon the proponents of the mega project not to go ahead with this initiative which will threaten the eco-system of the region.
They also raised concern at the building of dams by Vietnam, 50 kilometers off Cambodian border, which will have devastating impacts on the ecology and economy of Cambodia.
The participants at the seminar asked the international bodies not to support this sort of destructive mega projects at the cost of the livelihoods of millions of people and economy and environment of the region.
A total of 40 experts, academicians and journalists took part in the two-day seminar.
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