India-Bangladesh Water Dispute
ICE Case Number 98
By: Robie I. Samanta Roy
ICE Case Number 98
I. CASE
BACKGROUND
The purpose of this paper is to examine how remotely
sensed data and related analytical tools can make a unique and
immediately useful contribution to the solution of these
environmental problems, and how this data can be more applicable
and have a direct impact on environmental policy making. Firstly,
it is important to understand the background and historical context
of these water conflict problems, and to critically examine the
causes of the environmental problems and the resulting
environmental security issues they have created. Once these issues
have been identified and the existing level of knowledge regarding
them is determined, a research strategy to study these issues
further will be formulated to shed greater light on aspects that
may not be clear at this point in time. This strategy will
specifically address how remotely sensed data, among other data
sources, can be used to study and address the problems. Lastly, a
strategy to effectively apply and use these data for policy making
decisions, and specific recommended actions will be proposed. The
working hypothesis of this paper is that the use of remote sensing
data may be able to contribute in some manner to the diffusion of
environmentally based conflicts.
Background
In this section, the background for the two principal international
water disputes in South Asia is presented. Water conflict in this region
presents an interesting case study in terms of the varied nature of the
conflicts that are largely due to the dynamics of the power balances
between the actors. In the case of India and Pakistan, the potential for real
military conflict exists, and the issue of nuclear capabilities lends a chilling
new dimension to armed engagement. However, as will be seen, the Indo-
Pakistani dispute over the sharing of the Indus river system has not been
as contentious as the Indo-Bangladeshi dispute. Indeed, since 1960 when
the Indus Waters Treaty was signed by India and Pakistan, the main issues
have been resolved - primarily due to international intervention.
However, the Ganges river dispute between India and Bangladesh has
continued to fester, and despite a recent treaty signed in 1996, there is still
much progress that remains to be accomplished. In this conflict, one party
(India) completely dominates the other (in a military sense), and it is only
through other channels, such as the pressures of illegal immigration caused
by environmental disaster, that the conflict has truly manifested itself. Due
to the lack of a comprehensive solution that treats the Ganges basin as a
system independent of artificial national boundaries, as well as the
complexity of the secondary repercussions, water allocation issues
associated with the Ganges river system will be the primary focus of this
paper.
To contrast the two conflicts, it is interesting to compare them in a notional
"conflict space" as depicted in Figure 1. The two dimensions of this space
are the potential severity of the conflict and the level of the environmental
impact. As will be seen, the Ganges River dispute has had a higher
environmental impact than the Indus River dispute, but the potential
severity of the conflict is not as potentially intense as for the Indus River
dispute where both parties have nuclear capabilities.
Figure 1. Relative Positions of South Asian Water Conflicts in a Notional Conflict Space
The Indus River Dispute (India vs. Pakistan) The Indus River is born in the highlands of Tibet, and flows to the Arabian Sea over the course of some 2,900 km through India and Pakistan. With a basin coverage area of over 900,000 km2, the Indus has a flow volume twice that of the Nile, and three times that of the Tigris-Euphrates river system. [1]
As far back as four millennium ago, the Indus basin was one of the
cradles of civilization, spawning the ancient cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-
daro. Agriculture was a main form of livelihood, and the Indus River was
a fertile region. Only 200 years ago, during their occupation of the Indian
sub-continent, the British actively encouraged agriculture in this region
known as the Punjab (which means þLand of Five Riversþ) that today
straddles a portion of the border between present day India and Pakistan.
The British motivation was to find an occupation for the many idle Sikhs
who had put up stiff resistance to the British invasion. Consequently,
British engineers began an extensive set of projects to divert the main
tributaries of the Indus into a web of irrigating canals, and the Punjab
became a fertile "breadbasket".
In 1947, the British partitioned the region between India and Pakistan, and
an agreement was signed between the two newly formed countries to
maintain water supplies at the level of pre-independence times. However,
disputes over water allocation soon arose, and in 1948, India cut off the
water in canals flowing to Pakistan. Negotiations ensued, but the
magnitude of the controversy that affected the agriculture of such a large
region influenced the U.S. magazine, Collier's, to sponsor David Lilienthal,
Chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority, to undertake a fact-finding
tour and propose some solutions. Lilienthal's work was brought to the
attention of the president of the World Bank at that time, Eugene Black, who
attempted to persuade the two riparians to find a lasting peaceful solution.
After many years of discussions, the Indus Waters Treaty was signed in
1960. It was agreed that the amount of water available from the Indus would
be increased by various engineering works funded by the World Bank, and
the six primary rivers of the Indus basin would be split evenly between
India and Pakistan (three to each party). [2] The Indus Water Treaty
remains in effect today, and is largely intact because the amount of water
available was able to be increased to both parties by the construction of
various works that were funded by other countries [2]. Two other
contributing factors were the simple fact that the splitting of the river
branches made physical geographic sense, and that the population levels
at that time did not exert strenuous demands on water resources. However,
this region is increasingly growing in population today, and it remains to
be seen how robust the Treaty will remain. On the other hand, it is
interesting to note that this Treaty has withstood the strains of the major
wars India and Pakistan have fought.
The resolution of the Indus River dispute remains as a good lesson in that
as long as resources do not become overtly scarce, and there is strong
external arbitration, there is hope for environmental conflict to be
peacefully resolved to a large extent. However, it is true that remote
sensing can still play an important role in monitoring long term change in
the Indus River basin, and aid in the management of water flow and land
use. We shall now turn our focus to the eastern boundaries of India where
a festering dispute will be closely examined in the next section, and the
potential benefits of remote sensing applications will be more apparent.
The Ganges River Dispute (India vs. Bangladesh)
The Ganges and Brahmaputra river basin in South Asia is the largest in the region, encompassing over 1.6 million km2. Flowing from the Himalayans in Nepal and Tibet, both rivers course through India, and ultimately join in Bangladesh where they discharge into the Bay of Bengal. Before the Ganges enters Bangladesh, it divides off a smaller river, the Bhagirathi- Hooghly, that flows through the port of Calcutta. Four-fifths of Bangladesh, an area smaller than New York state, is straddled by this delta system. Approximately half of the countryþs GDP is based on agriculture, and hence these riversþ irrigation value is vital to the countryþs economy and its over 120 million inhabitants. [1] The topography of Bangladesh (i.e. its sea level elevation and delta wetlands) and its geographical location make it extremely vulnerable to natural disasters. Typhoons and monsoons produce multiple floods almost on an annual basis, and during the dry season between January and May, the Ganges river may drop to levels that has a strong detrimental impact on agriculture and fisheries. Relations between Bangladesh and its neighbor to the west, India, have been hardly cordial at best, and there has been a continuing dispute over the allocation of Ganges water between the two states.
In 1971, Bangladesh became an independent nation, with India aiding it in
its independence struggle against Pakistan. It was expected that better
relations between India and Bangladesh would result, but India persisted
with its Farakka plans, and this led to a general souring of the relationship.
In 1972, an Indo-Bangladesh Joint Rivers Commission was established to
study the river flow and develop the river water on a cooperative basis.
However, work on the Farakka barrage continued, and it was finally
completed in 1975. A short-term agreement was subsequently signed by
India and Bangladesh to conduct a 40 day trial test of the barrage during
the dry season.
Unfortunately, four months later, the President of Bangladesh was
assassinated by elements of the military that found him too cooperative with
India. The next dry season, India began to divert water at Farakka
unilaterally, and continued to do so until 1977 when a treaty on þSharing
of the Ganges Waters at Farakka and on Augmenting its Flowsþ was signed
by the two countries and guaranteed a minimum flow level for Bangladesh
for a five year period. After the expiration of this treaty in 1982, two more
short-term agreements were concluded on water sharing until 1988.
Thereafter, India began unilateral diversions at will. Moreover, domestic
political upheavals, and the growing polarization caused by rising national
religious factions (Hindu India vs. Islamic Bangladesh), contributed to a
rising level of animosity between the two nations.
The political climate began to change when in 1992, the prime ministers of
the two countries met and agreed to renew efforts for a solution. In
addition, Bangladesh revived its attempts to internationalize the affair by
bringing forth the dispute before the UN General Assembly and the
Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting in 1993. In addition, the issue
was raised in the South Asia Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC),
although no definite action was taken. SAARC comprises Bangladesh,
Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, and its main
goal is to "accelerate the process of economic and social development in
member states, through joint action in the agreed areas of cooperation."[4]
In 1996, a new atmosphere of regional cooperation was created with a
change of government in India, and in December of 1996, a Ganges Water
Sharing Treaty was signed that is supposed to last for thirty years. The
Treaty addresses the heart of the conflict: water allocation during the five
months of the dry season (January-May). During the rest of the year, there
is sufficient water that India can operate the Farakka diversion without
creating problems for Bangladesh. However, increasing upstream
withdrawal in Northern India has further lowered the dry-season flow at
Farakka, further complicating matters. Hence, the Treaty stipulates that
below a certain flow rate, India and Bangladesh will each share half of the
water. Above a certain limit, Bangladesh will be guaranteed a certain
minimum level, and if the water flow exceeds a given limit, India will
withdraw a given amount, and the balance will be received by Bangladesh
(which will be more than 50%). [5,6]
Despite the Treaty, there are still factions in Bangladesh that feel that India
should not be drawing off any water at Farakka, as well as elements in India
that donþt want Bangladesh to receive any water. Annually, the Ganges
brings to its mouth over 2 million tons of silt. Due to increasing
deforestation in the foothills of the Himalayans, the amount of erosion is
growing. With such levels of silt, it is increasingly no longer possible for
the Hooghly to retain a flushing role for Calcutta Harbor, and it is time for
India to realize this and terminate Ganges water withdrawal and concentrate
on port development further downstream.
In addition, due to silt deposition and flooding patterns, the Ganges is
actually naturally shifting eastward, and it is only a question of time before
the Hooghly River will no longer be capable of supporting deep harbor
operations. India should except this fact and plan for a harbor much closer
to the Bay of Bengal, else it should consider regular and more intensive
dredging operations. [7]
Continent: Asia
Region: South Asia
Country: India
II. Environment
Aspects III. Conflict
Aspects III. Environment
and Conflict Overlap
River flow reduction has reduced the irrigation capacity, while
also affecting the non-irrigated crops which depend upon the residual
moisture in soil. The withdrawal has also delayed the planting of the crops,
shortened the growing season, and affected the planting and production of
subsequent crops. In addition, decreased flow has caused depletion of
groundwater tables in the region, and has seriously impacted the
capabilities of low-lift pumps. In 1982, severe food shortages were
attributed by the UN to scarcity of water. Fish is a staple of Bangladeshi
diets, and the reduced flow has been unable to wash out decomposing
weeds, insecticides, and industrial debris which is taking a terrible toll on
fish and prawn populations. [8]
Bangladesh is also heavily reliant upon its inland water
navigation system for public and goods transportation. According to two
surveys done by the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority in 1975-
76 and 1976-77, the inland waterway transportation was reduced by 11
million tons because of reduced flow. Furthermore, the total number of
waterways available for powered vessels dropped from 25,000 km to 5,000
km. [8]
The economic impacts of the reduced river flow are significant.
According to the Bangladeshi section of the Joint River Commission, the
consolidated financial losses of Bangladesh due to Indiaþs water withdrawal
from 1976 to 1993 amounts to nearly $3 billion (in 1991 dollars), with the
greatest losses suffered in the fisheries and agricultural sectors.
All these environmental effects and their economic impacts have had a
direct impact on the Bangladeshis who derived their livelihood directly or
indirectly from the Ganges River. One of the significant outcomes has been
a large-scale migration from Bangladesh to India. The populace in the
affected rural regions have been forced to move away from their homes as
a result of the loss of their livelihood, and the dwindling urban economy of
Bangladesh has not been able to absorb them. Since the early 1970þs, over
2 million Bangladeshis have emigrated to the neighboring regions of India,
namely the states of Assam and West Bengal. It is hard to determine the
exact number of illegal immigrants, and hence population figures quoted are
estimates, but the scale of the exodus is very large. This large influx, that
has crossed a largely porous border, has led to numerous ethnic conflicts
between indigenous inhabitants of Assam and West Bengal, and the
numerous refugees from Bangladesh. In Assam, more than 4,000 people were
killed in a series of violent incidents in the early 1980þs, and tensions even
continue today. [8,9]
Moreover, immigration of Bangladeshi immigrants has started to
spread to other parts of India. Excessive population pressures in the
eastern states has led to increasing diffusion to western urban centers like
Bombay and Delhi. These immigrants, due to their precarious financial
situation, settle in urban slum areas where sanitary conditions are
appalling. Dissatisfaction with living conditions and native-migrant
tensions has led to many communal riots, and much loss of life. In 1992, the
Indian government began a campaign to forcibly deport illegal Bangladeshi
immigrants. However, protests from the Bangladeshi government and
Indian intelligentsia terminated this approach. Nevertheless, this incident
only deepened the rift between the two countries. [10]
As can be seen, the repercussions of tampering with a large-scale
ecosystem can be far reaching and lead to many highly undesirable,
unforeseen consequences. India now faces violent ethnic conflict within its
borders due to the reduction of water to a neighboring country. With this
background that has introduced the problem, the role of remote sensing
will now be explored.
Before proposing an approach and a possible organizational
structure to address these issues, it is interesting to mention a problem
solving approach adopted by Green Cross International (GCI), an
international NGO founded in part by Mikhail Gorbachev. GCI has developed
an initiative to work towards conflict prevention of international freshwater
disputes. The objective of their conflict prevention strategy consists of
four main components: awareness building, multi-sectoral partnerships,
integrated assessment/management, and project implementation. [14]
Awareness building consists of conducting research to discover the
underlying causes of the conflict. This is an area where remote sensing is
vital to monitor and observe the environmental effects. Multi-sectoral
partnerships include governments, international organizations, NGOs, local
groups, business and industry, possibly academia, and others. In order for
there to be sustainable solutions for a conflict, partnerships must be built
recognizing all the actors. Integrated assessment/management alludes to
the þsystems engineeringþ frame of reference that must be used in order
to come to a comprehensive conflict resolution. Socio-economic factors must
be integrated into technical analysis, and water must be considered as only
one part of the overall ecosystem. Lastly, the implementation phase must
be carried out with all the above components and actors. [14]
The GCI approach is a reasonable one that appears suitable to serve as a
framework for introducing remote sensing data into the solution of the
problem. A possible solution is the organization of a working group
responsible for a centralized data bank that consists of representatives
from both countries, NGOs, and international organizations (IOs) such as
the World Bank (due to its prior experience with the Indus River dispute)
and SAARC. It is even conceivable to structure the organization within the
framework of SAARC in order to make the riparians feel less pressured from
outside players.
However, it is still important to maintain a strong presence from the IO and
NGO community so that the relevant experience and expertise is readily
available. In particular, after data has been acquired (say in raw form), the
ingestion, geo-referencing, calibration, displaying, and processing and
interpretation will have to be done by those that have the relevant
experience.
There are a number of existing NGOs that have and are capable of
conducting good work, but suffer from a lack of access to data about the
problem. Such organizations include the Centre for Policy Research in
India, the Bangladesh Institute for Development Studies in Bangladesh, and
the Institute for International Developmental Studies in Nepal. [7,15] These
three NGOs at least should become heavily involved in lending their local
expertise. The role of this working group would be to see that (beyond
national security issues) the remote sensing data is available to all parties
involved so that all players can see a common picture as to what the effects
of the water withdrawal at Farakka truly are. Within that context of a
common understanding, then possible solutions can be formulated (such as
India abandoning withdrawal for Calcutta, because the Ganges will
ultimately bypass Farakka in its slow drift to the east).
The World Bank has also been involved in the region, but not in as a
coherent strategic fashion as it would like to. This has been primarily due
to restrictions and sensitivities that the host governments impose upon
project undertakings. The World Bank currently has active programs in
developing Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to incorporate remote
sensing data now. In addition, analytical tools have been developed to try
to address the issues of coordination and management of data, information,
and knowledge across various sectors. One set of tools being developed is
called MEDUSA (Multi-objective Environmentally-sustainable Development
Using Systems Analysis), which is basically a GIS tool that can integrate
many different types of geographical/natural resource, social, agricultural,
energy, transportation, and economic data, and perform optimization
calculations to determine how water resources can best be distributed. [7]
MEDUSA is only a tool in a greater process that the working group should
strive to accomplish, namely, provide access to information, construct a set
of focal points for such information, encourage the use of such information
for decision making, assist in the process aspects of regional cooperation,
facilitate dialogue and discussion on relevant issues, and guide future data
and information collection efforts. [7]
It is important to ask what each side has to win or lose. India stands to gain
by the relaxation of a growing refugee problem that is leading to internal
ethnic conflict. Indeed, as mentioned earlier, to maintain Calcutta as a
viable harbor will require much more effort than the diversion of the
Ganges, so Indiaþs primary reason for diversion is not valid. On the other
hand, Bangladesh and other smaller neighbors of India such as Nepal and
Bhutan stand to gain by trying to form a consensus when negotiating with
India and pursuing possible trades between water resources and the
hydroelectric power produced from it.
It should be kept in mind that there is a body of international law that has
been developed to address water resource disputes. [16] These principles
include: 1) equitable utilization of river resources; 2) prevention of
significant harm to other states; 3) obligation to notify and inform on future
actions pertaining to the river; 4) obligation to share data; 5) cooperative
management of international rivers; and 6) obligation to resolve disputes
peacefully. While there are questions as to their relative importance and
means of enforcement, these principles should be referred to in any future
negotiations regarding the Ganges River.
Above all, what is necessary is better management of ground and surface
water resources. Through increased water use efficiency, more land can
be irrigated for a given amount of water, or the same amount of land can be
irrigated with less water. In fact, þif irrigation waste could be cut by a
factor of 10%, another 2 million hectares of cropland could be irrigated.þ
(this is worldwide) [17] Solutions to this problem do not just include high
technology irrigation techniques such as drip irrigation, but also the
simple process of leveling a farming field so that the water is evenly
distributed, thus not leaving some areas to become waterlogged while
others remain dry. [18]
Lastly, it is interesting to inject a thought about the future impact of
global warming in the region. Given that Bangladesh has an elevation very
close to sea level, flood monitoring and the status of the rivers must be
closely tied with possible future rises in the sea level. This is a very
important topic that remote sensing data should be used to keep a time
history of, and should be used by the respective governments for planning
purposes. Indeed, it is actually these very regions that have flaunted
international regulations on ozone-depleting emissions, and have left their
industries to operate unbridled from concerns for the global environment.
However, as the Ganges River dispute has shown, the consequences of
attempting to modify the ecosystem can lead to unpredictable and often
highly undesirable consequences.
Data Needs
The beginning step in assessing the potential benefits of remote sensing on any environmental problem is to identify what types of data are necessary to understand the underlying mechanisms, as well as the effects of the problems. Then, one must ask the question what added value does remote sensing bring versus alternative techniques such as in situ measurements. To better understand water resource allocation problems, it is necessary to quantify water production, transmission, and usage. In other words, it is important to keep a þbalance sheetþ on how and where is the water produced, how is it carried from the source to users, and how and how much water is used. Due to the sheer physical size of the Ganges River basin and the affected area in Bangladesh, remote sensing from space is the most cost-effective approach for monitoring and collecting data on these large-scale issues.
For Ganges River water production, aspects like amounts of rain fall from
the monsoons, snow fall and melting rates in the Himalayan mountains, and
river flow patterns should be monitored. To characterize transmission,
factors like river flow rates, soil characteristics for ground seepage losses,
and evaporation rates are helpful. For both production and transmission,
ground and surface water quality should also be monitored. The two key
aspects of water usage are irrigation patterns and land capacity utilization
(i.e. how effectively is the water being used). Both factors are key in
helping determine an equitable distribution of water. As an added side
benefit, the data gathered during these remote sensing efforts can also be
used for flood warning and monitoring, especially in the low-lying areas of
Bangladesh.
Remote Sensing Assets
Currently, there is a wide spectrum of remote sensing assets that can provide the above data - at least within various restrictions on resolution and revisit rate. In the near future, there will be other systems that will become available with greater resolution and imaging abilities. The particular data needs for monitoring the Ganges River Basin are not unusual, and the remote sensing capabilities offered by current satellites are quite adequate. Indeed, most of the types of data that should be collected to understand the Ganges River Basin in Bangladesh have been collected in one form or another for other regions of India - although not on a systematic basis.
Since the early 1990's, India has pursued vigorous development of an
indigenous remote sensing capability, and has conducted a wide number of
studies aimed at investigating water and land usage patterns. Some of the
missions to map and monitor water resources include: 1) the identification
of erosion prone areas in selected major watersheds in different terrain/
environmental conditions of the country; 2) preparation of flooded area
maps for major river basins in near real time; and 3) preparation of ground
water potential maps for drought prone areas. Land usage studies have
aimed at classifying land for soil management and agricultural planning, as
well as drought management. Remote sensing data has also been used to
map once-fertile areas that became saline and waterlogged after the
introduction of irrigation. [11]
As some other examples, the first Indian Remote Sensing Satellite
(IRS-1A) was used in an India-wide hydrogeomorphological mapping study
to help determine ground water prospects. Based upon the statistics of
over 170,000 wells that were dug using these maps, the success rate of
finding water rose to 92 percent, versus a 45-50 percent success rate using
laborious conventional ground techniques. IRS-1A and its follow-on
satellites (-1B/C) have also been used for mapping of coastal regions to
provide inventory and monitoring of tidal wetlands, potential aquaculture
sites, mangroves, and shoreline/estuary dynamics. Additionally, the Indian
government has used IRS data to provide real-time flood mapping and to
use remote sensed images to provide valuable information about areas that
are affected by lack of proper drainage. [11] These techniques developed
and the past experience accumulated could easily be applied to the Ganges
River dispute, and with greater cooperation, Bangladesh could greatly
benefit from this remotely sensed data that India could begin to gather and
share.
There are many other systems that are available whose data can be used
to contribute to a central database on the Ganges River Basin. Multi-
spectral sensors such as on SPOT and the Thematic Mapper on Landsat are
able to provide good resolution (20-30m) data on land use and classification
for aspects such as crop health. The use of synthetic aperture radar (SAR)
from Radarsat, JERS, and ERS would be useful for all-weather mapping of
land usage, river flow, and in particular, Himalayan snowfall for water
availability projections. Shuttle-borne SAR imagery has been successful
in providing all-weather monitoring of floods (i.e. the 1993 Mississippi River
floods), soil moisture content in the Midwest US, and the ice sheets and
glaciers of the Patagonia region in the Andes mountains. Interferometric
measurements with a SAR can also be used to determine river flow rates,
although these measurements would only apply to the surface, and in situ
calibration measurements would have to be made in order to determine the
mean flow as a function of river depth. [12]
In addition, the SeaWifs instrument on the SEASTAR satellite
would be able to provide information regarding the coastal regions of
Bangladesh. [13] The color of the coastal area waters would help provide
information on the amount of water flow, soil erosion, and from
phytoplankton concentrations, a reflection of the health of the local fishing
industry. In summary, there are many different platforms that have the
capabilities for providing the necessary data to monitor the state of water
resources in the Ganges River basin, and the next question that remains to
be answered is how this data will actually be used in a meaningful way in
order to have a positive impact on the resolution of the conflict.
Due to mushrooming populations and associated demands on scarce water
resources, conflicts in South Asia have developed and have become
illustrative examples of þenvironmental securityþ. We have seen that
remote sensing can play an important role in providing relevant data that
can be shared with the conflicting parties, and have proposed an
organizational structure that can lead the conflict resolution process.
Ultimately, the success of remote sensing can only be judged by what
impact it can make by bringing its impartial þremoteþ view to the
negotiating table.
IV. Related
Information and Sources
References
[1] McCaffrey, S.C., "Water, Politics, and International Law", in Water in
Crisis: A Guide to the World's Fresh Water Resources, ed. by P.H. Gleick,
Oxford University Press, 1993.
[2]Website: www.maboli.com/Sikh_HR/pages/punjab_studies/river.html,
River Waters: The Elemental Issue
[3]Swain, A., þConflicts over Water: The Ganges Water Disputeþ, Security
Dialogue, Vol. 24, No. 4, 1993, pp. 429-439.
[4]South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Website: www.south-
asia.com/saarc/ briefnew.htm
[5] Website: www.cadvision.com/farakkadam/treaty.htm, Treaty Between
the Government of the Republic of India and the government of the
Peopleþs Republic of Bangladesh on Sharing of the Ganga/Ganges Water
at Farakka
[6] Website: ahmed.4.wing.upmc.edu/web/ganges.html, Ganges Water
Sharing Treaty - A Critical Evaluation
[7] Interview with H. R. Nagaraja, Environmental Specialist, The World
Bank, Washington, D.C., Nov. 1997. (General discussions on the overall
topic are also gratefully acknowledged.)
[8] Swain, A., "Displacing the Conflict: Environmental Destruction in
Bangladesh and Ethnic Conflict in India", Journal of Peace Research,
Vol. 33, No. 2, 1996, pp. 189-204.
[9] Homer-Dixon, T. and Percival, V., Environmental Scarcity and Violent
Conflict: Briefing Book, American Association for the Advancement of
Science and University of Toronto, 1996.
[10] Swain, A., "The Environmental Trap: The Ganges River Diversion,
Bangladeshi Migration, and Conflicts in India", Report No. 41, Dept. of
Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University, Sweden, 1996.
[11] Natural Resources Management - A New Perspective, Ed., R. L. Karale,
National Natural Resources Management System, Department of Space,
Bangalore, India, 1992.
[12] Synthetic Aperture Radar Website: southport.jpl.nasa.gov
[13] SeaWiFS Website: seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEAWIFS.html
[14] Green Cross International Website: www.gci.ch/water
- Fact sheet on Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers Basin
- International Freshwater Conflict: Issues and Prevention Strategies
[15] Verghese, B.G., Waters of Hope: Himalaya-Ganga Development and
Cooperation for a Billion People, Oxford and IBH Publishers, New Delhi,
1990.
[16] Gleick, P.H., "Water and Conflict: Fresh Water Resources and
International Security", International Security, Vol. 18, No. 1, (Summer
1993), pp. 79-112.
[17] Lean, G. and Hinrichsen, D., Atlas of the Environment, 2nd Ed., World
Wildlife Foundation, 1986.
[18] Website: www.cris.com/~clemings/earth.html, Mirage: Irrigation gives
the world one-third of its crops, even as it lays the land to waste - by
Russell Clemings