Bhutan-India CSO’s Partnership for Inclusive Water Governance

Kokrajhar: The two days consultation on Trans-Boundary Cooperation for Effective Management of Water Risks between Bhutan – India ended today with signing and declaring Call for Action on Inclusive Water Governance.

The event was jointly organized by NERSWN, Oxfam India, TROSA and Aranyak in Kokrajhar.

During the two days of consultation, 7 Points Call for Action was signed by key civil society leaders from both Bhutan and India. The 7 point charter has been endorsed by the members of academia, media and government representatives present on the occasion.

The Call for Action read “Building upon 51 years of Bhutan- India friendship and mutual cooperation, these Civil Society Organisations from Bhutan and India representing border communities, present at the consultation on Transboundary Cooperation for Effective Management of Water Risks, Kokrajhar Assam, Recognises that, the South Asian region including Bhutan and India have started witnessing the worst of climate change impacts. Climate Change-induced disasters have wider impacts on shared water resources and are affecting multiple countries at a time. The ever-increasing frequency and intensity of disasters have already overwhelmed the capacities of countries to respond. The regional fragilities have increased manifolds and water stress and its impact on riparian livelihoods is also an emerging problem. The intrinsic linkages between South Asian countries, rooted in geopolitics, demography, socio-economic and cultural ties, can lead to the cascading effects spurred by disasters or climate change, affecting the whole region adversely.

Amidst these fragilities and vulnerabilities, the forum acknowledges that the biggest threat to peace in this region will be from Water.

While recognizing this as a situation of an acute emergency and realizing that drastic situations need drastic measures,

The Bhutan-India Civil Society Organisations, on this 21st day of June 2019 in Kokrajhar collectively strive and agree to join hands together on the following actions:-

Having committed to these actions, the forum will establish mechanisms to jointly operate and pursue these commitments.

Kinzan Dorje, Former Prime Minister of Bhutan said, “ I congratulate the visionary civil society leaders of both the countries for being able to arrive at an agreement, which will promote better ties for both the countries for a noble cause, this remain as a source of motivation for civil society leaders across the borders”.

On the other hand, Raju Kr. Narzary, Executive Director, North East Research & Social Work Networking said, “I felt fortunate to be part of such an important moment of history, where CSO leaders of both the countries have not only agreed to pursue the 7 Points Kokrajhar Declaration but signed as a holy document, so that generations to come, people in both Bhutan and India can refer to it as guiding principles”.

Also Read: Transboundary ‘Consultation for Effective Management of Water Risks’ held in Kokrajhar