The Koshi Agreement: A successful Model of Transboundary Water Governance and Climate Resilience in South Asia

The chapter introduces the book that highlights various challenges and opportunities for water management and cooperation in South Asia. Taking into consideration the increasing urbanization and development in the region and related pressure on water resources, the various chapters investigate water conflictual and cooperative attitudes and gestures between countries and regions, analyse management trade-offs between nature, agriculture and urban uses, and look into water sustainable management and related policies. The chapter highlights the increasing importance of South Asia, alerts for the constraining impacts of water scarcity, and indicates challenges for improved sustainable water management. The chapter concludes with synopses of each part of the book and of the chapters that compose them.

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) plays a pivotal role in disaster risk management within the South Asian region, which is highly vulnerable to a range of natural disasters. This abstract provides an overview of SAARC's engagement in disaster risk management, highlighting its key functions and impact. SAARC's active involvement in disaster risk management is of utmost importance in a region susceptible to a variety of disasters, including earthquakes, floods, cyclones, and landslides. By fostering collaboration, sharing knowledge, and building capacity, SAARC helps member countries reduce the impact of disasters, save lives, and protect the well-being of the region's population, underlining the organization's critical role in disaster resilience and management in South Asia.

Public management in South Asia has been influenced by the colonial past which has resulted in the domination of administrative systems by the bureaucrats. Bureaucracies remained firmly entrenched as powerful groups and performed both administrative and political functions. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka represent cases with similar backgrounds which opted for different political and economic systems after achieving independence. Consequently, a number of issues have emerged in public management in South Asia. These include debureaucratization of the policy process, complex relationship between specialists and generalists, integration of administrative structures, reconciliation of merit and equity, choice between professional and political patronage, revitalization of management, bridging the ever widening gap between the citizens and administrators, and the establishment of a sound ethical base of administration. The success of South Asian governments in dealing with these issues will determine, to a considerable extent, the dimensions and directions of change. While some of the issues will have to be addressed in the natural course of development, others will require a substantial degree of commitment from the governments as well as the societies.

Disaster Risk Management in South Asia Through Innovations, Communication, and Technological Advances

The research on narrow-valley city flood control mode based on hydrodynamic-hydrological coupling model

Municipal solid waste (MSW) management in South Asia represents one of the most pressing urban governance challenges, shaped by rapid urbanization, institutional fragmentation, and weak integration of circular economy principles. This paper undertakes a decade-long systematic and bibliometric review (2015–2025) of 592 peer-reviewed studies retrieved from Scopus applying PRISMA guidelines. The bibliometric analysis demonstrates a steep rise in scholarly output, from fewer than 30 papers in 2015 to over 130 in 2024, with India and Bangladesh accounting for the majority of contributions, while smaller states such as Bhutan, Maldives, and Afghanistan remain underrepresented. Research is concentrated in engineering and environmental sciences, with keyword clusters shifting from traditional waste disposal and landfilling toward circular economy, recycling, and governance integration. Across the systematic evidence base, India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan generate over 80% of South Asia’s MSW yet recycle less than 25%, highlighting systemic deficiencies in policy coherence, financing, and informal sector recognition. This study contributes uniquely by benchmarking governance frameworks across eight South Asian countries, aligning technological and policy innovations with sustainability pathways, and advancing a regional roadmap for inclusive, circular, and resilient MSW governance.

Energy management in South Asia

South Asia, with its burgeoning population density and poverty on the one hand, and rapid urbanization and industrialization on the other, seems to be facing an impending water crisis. This crisis is not due to water shortage, but due to conflicts over water use at various levels. The governments in the region have neglected the knowledge base needed to research water systems management and deal with these conflicts. The paper stresses that only a transdisciplinary approach, including the engineering and medical sciences, along with social, political, and economic expertise, can help in poverty alleviation and development. Eventually, the paper traces the knowledge gaps in water systems management in South Asia and sets forth a research agenda based on the emergent paradigm of integrated water resources management.

Increasing threats related to climate change, water scarcity, and impacts of water diversion have the potential to trigger regional instability in various areas around the globe. This phenomenon is most evident in area surrounding the Brahmaputra River, an international watercourse flowing through China (Tibet), India, and Bangladesh. Contrary to other transboundary river basins in South Asia, the Brahmaputra seem so far to have been much under-examined, especially considering the complex geopolitics involved and potential threats to regional stability. The present chapter aims to review transboundary water management in South Asia with a detailed zoom on the case of the Brahmaputra river basin. This chapter analyses the social and environmental impacts of large-scale hydropower projects on downstream ecosystems and river-dependent populations. It also identifies relevant approaches to sustainable water management and explores major hindrances to effective cross-border cooperation between the countries involved. We aim to ask whether and how can water become a source of international cooperation and shared prosperity rather than a source of conflict.

Many large cities are located in flood plains and lowland areas such as Bangkok, Taipei, Jakarta, Shanghai, and Osaka, etc. These cities are highly urbanized and populated. They are flooded often due to heavy rainfall, overbank flow, insufficient flood drainage, land subsidence and lack of effective flood control measures. Flooding periods in lowland areas normally prolong over a long period of time and in many cases have serious consequences on socio–economic and environmental conditions. Flood control and protection methods can be categorized into two major components namely: structural measures and non–structural measures. Structural flood control measures may be over–designed or not fully effective if their design or operation do not consider non–structural flood control measures. Therefore, a comprehensive flood loss prevention and mitigation system should be developed incorporating both structural and non-structural flood control measures. However, it should be realized that in general, structural flood control measures mainly contribute to the overall effectiveness of the comprehensive flood loss prevention and mitigation system. Structural flood control measures include dams, reservoirs, flood bypass channels, river dikes, tidal barriers, flood control gates and polders, etc. Figures 9.1, 9.2 and 9.3 show the structural flood control measures of the Bicol river basin, the Philippines; of Bangkok, Thailand and of Jakarta, Indonesia (Tingsanchali 1988b). Non–structural flood control measures include land use planning and control, flood proofing, flood forecasting and warning, etc. Given a design hydrological condition, the geometrical dimensions of selected flood control measures can be determined by using mathematical models or physical hydraulic models. Both types of models have to be calibrated using measured field data. After model calibration, the calibrated model is applied to determine the hydraulic effectiveness of the flood control measures on flood flow conditions. With the advancement of computers, mathematical models are now being widely used with more flexibility, higher 192 193 194accuracy and less economical implications. Figure 9.1 Proposed flood control scheme and mathematical model for flood flow simulation, Bicol river basin, Philippines. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780203748596/9a472236-b116-45b3-8045-42b143e866fa/content/fig9_1.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> Figure 9.2 Proposed flood control scheme of Bangkok (Chao Phraya-2 Project), Thailand. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780203748596/9a472236-b116-45b3-8045-42b143e866fa/content/fig9_2.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> Figure 9.3 Existing and proposed flood control scheme for Inner Jakarta, Indonesia. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780203748596/9a472236-b116-45b3-8045-42b143e866fa/content/fig9_3.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>

Agriculture in South Asia is largely dependent on rainfall, where about two-thirds of the cultivable lands lack irrigation facilities. In recent years, increasing frequency and severity of droughts have had a severe impact on rainfed agriculture and livelihood of millions of farmers in the region. There are numerous drought adaptation and mitigation options available for rainfed agriculture. A seed bank is one of those options that can play an important role in minimizing the effect of droughts on crop production. This paper assesses the need for seed banks in rainfed/partially irrigated areas of South Asia for the purpose of drought risk management. The need for additional seeds of the main crops or suitable alternative crops for re-sowing/planting after drought-induced losses of the main crop was assessed by using long-term gridded rainfall data and crop information. Results show that very limited rainfed areas in South Asia require additional seeds of main or alternative crops for drought risk management once in five to seven years’ drought return period. About 90 percent of such areas in South Asia may require additional seeds for drought risk management once in 10 years or more. The timing and severity of droughts during cropping season and cost/benefits of seed bank maintenance play a major role in choosing additional seeds for the main crops and/or alternate crops for maintenance in the large seed banks. This study shows that, despite the large investment requirement, maintenance of large seed banks for drought risks management is economically viable for the limited areas in South Asia.

Integrating Lessons and Shaping Future Pathways in Disaster and Risk Management in South Asia

South Asia represents the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Topographically, it is dominated by the Indian Plate, which rises above sea level as Nepal and northern parts of India situated south of the Himalayas and the Hindu Kush. South Asia is bounded on the south by the Indian Ocean and on land by West Asia, Central Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. South Asia covers about 5.1 million km2, which is 11.51% of the Asian continent or 3.4% of the world’s land surface area. The region is home to about 39.5% of Asia’s population and over 24% of the world’s population, making it both the most populous and the most densely populated geographical region in the world. The important rivers of South Asia are Ganges, Indus and Brahmaputra. These rivers have contributed to the rise and prosperity of some of the earliest civilizations in history and today are the source of livelihood for millions. The South Asian river basins, most of which have their source in the Himalayas, support rich ecosystems and irrigate millions of hectares of fields, thereby supporting some of the highest population densities in the world.

The article reviews the state of M&E in South Asia, and makes a case for building capacity in the field, without which the discipline will remain underdeveloped, and accountability for government spending not improve. We suggest that almost none of the South Asian countries have yet managed to develop an M&E ‘system’, though all have mechanisms in place. The article discusses the MIS and evaluation systems, tools in use by governments in South Asia, budgets for evaluation, and the role of civil society organizations. It highlights two cases in South Asia (India and Sri Lanka) where the concept of Performance Management has gathered momentum, even though outcome budgeting has barely taken off in any country of the sub-region. It examines plans for improving implementation of evaluation, but finds many areas suffering from capacity weaknesses. The article closes by recommending ways to address the capacity weaknesses.

Water Academy for Youth (WAY) is Global Water Partnership’s (GWP’s) flagship Youth Programmes launched by aiming to promote leadership, mentorship, fellowships/internships, networking, and intergenerational dialogues among regional youth. The South Asia edition of the programme was coordinated by GWP South Asia (GWP SAS) held in an online format for a duration of 9 weeks between 26th September and 30th November 2022. The programme was facilitated in close collaboration with Waterlution, Water Science Policy, and GWP Southeast Asia. Young professionals and experts were also connected to decision makers, practitioners, and senior water leaders for mentorship, inter-generational dialogues, to network and act on SDG implementation focused on riverscapes and riverine ecosystems in South Asia. At the end of the programme, participants joined ‘Youth and Young Water Professionals Platform (YYPP),’ a body that functions as a pool of knowledgeable youth working to support improved water management in South Asia. This resource book is a public recognition of the commitment of the cohort of WAY programme members from across South Asia, highlights youth contributions towards water action, and supports the dissemination of findings. Furthermore, it validates the value of creating youth opportunities to empower them as agents of change while sharing knowledge and experiences related to water in their respective countries