Countries in South Asia are facing a shared challenge when it comes to the impacts of climate change on the region’s peace and stability. How these impacts may further aggravate water-related conflicts was the subject of an Indo-German Roundtable Discussion on "Water, Climate Change and Conflict in South Asia", held as part of the India Water Forum 2011 in mid-April in New Delhi. Supported by the Federal Foreign Office and organized by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and adelphi research, the roundtable included representatives from different countries of the region and aimed to shed light on the specific needs to avoid future tensions and conflicts. "Political boundaries are purely artificial in the light of what water means to ecosystems and humans", as TERI’s Executive Director, R. K. Pachauri, outlined in his opening remarks. The floods in Pakistan in 2010 and in Mumbai in 2005 gave a first impression on how climate change may affect the region in the future and how important the sustainable management of natural resources will be.

So far, however, the regional scope of the political answers has been limited, according to Prof. Ramaswamy Iyer, former secretary of the Ministry of Water Resources in India. He identified the need to go beyond the existing bilateral treaties and design a comprehensive regional treaty. As Dr. Deepak Gyawali, Research Director of Nepal Water Conservation, noted, one entry point in this regard can be a stronger focus on marginalised rivers which are very important for regional water supply but which are not as politicised as rivers such as the Indus or the Ganges. In addition, the participants identified a number of further potential bridges for cooperation related to South Asian water resources that have so far been neglected. They include the need to expand rainwater harvesting infrastructure, to address the problem of water pollution, and the improvement of data availability. Addressing these issues in a regional setting can help build capacities for early warning and early action and thus strengthen regional conflict prevention. By also considering examples from other river basins around the world, the Roundtable can be seen as a starting block both for increased cooperation within the region, and engagement between Germany and South Asia on water conflict issues. (Dennis Taenzler)

For more information on the India Water Forum 2011 and the Roundtable, please seehttp://www.teriin.org/events/iwf/index.php.

Published in: ECC-Newsletter, 2/2011