Effective river water management is the most reliable method of guaranteeing environmental stability and sustainable economic growth.   China is in the forefront of river water, sediment, and flood control systems, as well as river infrastructure projects in Asian region. 

When chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus recently visited China, the topic of Chinese cooperation in Bangladesh’s river management came to light. Given that Bangladesh has hundreds of rivers crisscrossing its water systems and Bangladesh still struggles with appropriate and efficient river water management and global partnerships, Yunus has rightly asked China for a 50-year master plan. Meeting with China’s Water Resources Minister Li Guoying at a state guesthouse in Beijing on March 27, he made this well-timed proposal.

“We face the same challenges as you. We would be happy if you share your experiences,” the chief adviser told the Chinese minister. The Chinese official pledged Bangladesh technical assistance and knowledge, acknowledging that the two nations face similar water management issues.  In addition, following their bilateral meeting on March 28, Yunus and Chinese President Xi Jinping decided to expand their cooperation beyond economic and technical cooperation to include hydrological forecasting, flood prevention, and the development of water resources, including disaster reduction, river dredging, integrated management of water resources, and the sharing of related technologies. The signing of the implementation plan for the agreement of understanding on the exchange of hydrological information of the Yarlung Zanbo-Jamuna River was noted favorably by both Beijing and Dhaka.  Chinese companies were encouraged to join Bangladesh’s Teesta River Comprehensive Management and Restoration Project (TRCMRP). 

Bangladesh is a low-lying and lower-riparian nation with abundant prospects for biodiversity restoration and river resource use through sustainable river water management.  Of the 907 rivers that exist today, 90% suffer from a lack of comprehensive, good river governance, severe pollution, siltation, climate change, unfavorable weather, navigable crises, an efficient dredging system, poor management at the local level, artificial barriers erected by higher-riparian India, and a lack of interregional cross-flow data.  These have led to a number of crises, including........

© Eurasia Review