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Sustainable Management Options for Healthy Rivers in South Asia: The Case of Brahmaputra

Author

Listed:
  • Neera Shrestha Pradhan

    (International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Lalitpur 44700, Nepal)

  • Partha Jyoti Das

    (Water, Climate and Hazard Division, Aaranyak, Guwahati 781028, India)

  • Nishikant Gupta

    (International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Lalitpur 44700, Nepal)

  • Arun Bhakta Shrestha

    (International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Lalitpur 44700, Nepal)

Abstract

The Brahmaputra is one of the largest river systems of South Asia, providing life-supporting services to about 70 million people. Massive flooding, land erosion, over-exploitation of water, excessive fishing, habitat degradation and fragmentation, exploitation of flood plains, climate change impacts, absence of integrated basin wide management, and transboundary cooperation are major challenges for the present and future sustainability and development in the basin. Although hydrological connectivity is intact in most of the main course of the river, the infrastructure development plans may convert the Brahmaputra to a predominantly managed river system. In this regard, this paper examines the physiographic, ecological, hydrological, and socioeconomic status of the Brahmaputra river, its transnational basin in South Asia, and the basin population in the cross-cutting context to explore its sustainable management options. For a durable future of the river and its communities, an integrated management mechanism among the basin countries with the objective of equitable benefit sharing, disaster risk management, and resilience building is needed. The suggested strategies will help in maintaining the ecohydrological health and utilitarian services of the river for the socioeconomic development of millions of poor and marginalized people living in the basin.

Suggested Citation

  • Neera Shrestha Pradhan & Partha Jyoti Das & Nishikant Gupta & Arun Bhakta Shrestha, 2021. "Sustainable Management Options for Healthy Rivers in South Asia: The Case of Brahmaputra," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-23, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:3:p:1087-:d:484384
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Animesh Gain & Yoshihide Wada, 2014. "Assessment of Future Water Scarcity at Different Spatial and Temporal Scales of the Brahmaputra River Basin," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(4), pages 999-1012, March.
    2. Detlef Vuuren & Jae Edmonds & Mikiko Kainuma & Keywan Riahi & Allison Thomson & Kathy Hibbard & George Hurtt & Tom Kram & Volker Krey & Jean-Francois Lamarque & Toshihiko Masui & Malte Meinshausen & N, 2011. "The representative concentration pathways: an overview," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 109(1), pages 5-31, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sagar Ratna Bajracharya & Narendra Raj Khanal & Pashupati Nepal & Sundar Kumar Rai & Pawan Kumar Ghimire & Neera Shrestha Pradhan, 2021. "Community Assessment of Flood Risks and Early Warning System in Ratu Watershed, Koshi Basin, Nepal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-18, March.
    2. Ujjayini Priya & Muhammad Anwar Iqbal & Mohammed Abdus Salam & Md. Nur-E-Alam & Mohammed Faruque Uddin & Abu Reza Md. Towfiqul Islam & Showmitra Kumar Sarkar & Saiful Islam Imran & Aweng Eh Rak, 2022. "Sustainable Groundwater Potential Zoning with Integrating GIS, Remote Sensing, and AHP Model: A Case from North-Central Bangladesh," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-24, May.
    3. Maria Iglesias-Mendoza & Akilu Yunusa-Kaltungo & Sara Hadleigh-Dunn & Ashraf Labib, 2021. "Learning How to Learn from Disasters through a Comparative Dichotomy Analysis: Grenfell Tower and Hurricane Katrina Case Studies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-18, February.

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