ABSTRACT
ENVIRONMENT AS A FACTOR IN SOUTH ASIAN CONFIDENCE BUILDING MINNA THAHEER*
In South Asia, environmental conflicts are mainly those
connected with water resources. Several instances of bilateral strains have arisen between states of the region based on water sharing, such as between India and Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, and India and Nepal.
While these issues have not resulted in open conflict, they have been sufficiently important to demand our attention to, in order to see whether they are not amenable to some sort of CBMs to avoid more serious
consequences. India-Pakistan The Indus Water Treaty is one of the few successful settlements of a major international river basin dispute. In fact, this model of negotiation can be useful for any
other similar situation in the sub-continent. India-Nepal
After a long spell of Nepal's mistrust of India, the development of a 'confidence building' initiative came with the acceptance of the
idea of treating the water-issue as a "common river" issue. This perception paved the way for development of cooperation in water relations between India and Nepal. It is important that when deciding on water resources projects, policy makers listen to
concerns and grievances of various groups likely to be affected and try to assuage their apprehensions and suspicions. CBMs of this nature are a dire need, notwithstanding the time factor. A case in point for building
confidence through series of dialogue was in the case of what has come to be termed as the "Patna Initiative". India-Bangladesh
The water dispute between India and Bangladesh, concerns more than
just sharing of the rivers of the eastern subcontinent; it is also linked to the flood and drought control of Bangladesh. The Ganges water-sharing accord signed by Bangladesh and India on December 12, 1996 is evidence
of how a long-standing problem of a most intractable nature can be radically transformed thanks to political will. The agreement was the culmination of a process in which parallel negotiations at the official level,
whole series of non-official or track-two dialogues between the two countries made significant contributions. SAARC has a very useful role to play in the creation of CBMs pertaining to water resources. Unfortunately, though the subject of environment remains on the agenda of
SAARC, and four SAARC Ministerial Meetings on Environment have also been held, water resources have been considered too contentious a subject to be included in SAARC's regular agenda and remains ignored . Another area for work on CBMs is through information, research and public opinion.
CBMs can be achieved by means of research of multi-disciplinary nature on hydrology, ecology, environment, economics etc. Track-two processes and non-official dialogues are perceived as a useful part of the process to
manage and tackle regional relations. It can mean a lot in terms of conflict avoidance if common consensus could be met at the NGO level (local and inter-states) in tackling environmental issues. Media plays a vital role in shaping public opinion to promote cooperative action and build
positive attitudes in the area of water resource management. In
the eagerness to safeguard water under their control in South Asia, water is often turned into national security issues, by considering the water in their boundaries their 'state property.' Such nationalistic approaches
to water-sharing can be dangerous to inter-state relations, and trivializes the water needs of the people at large. In this respect, a lot depends on political will. It was clearly the political will (thanks to Gujral
doctrine) that helped create the atmosphere conducive to be negotiated between India and Bangladesh on the Ganges Accord. * Program Officer, Regional Center for Strategic Studies, Colombo, Sri Lanka. List of Abstracts
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