By Phrang Roy
Almost everyone now accepts what Fred Pearce said in 2006: water will increasingly become the defining crisis of the 21st century. Those who calculate our water “footprints” estimate that 95% of our daily water usage goes for the nontraditional food that we nowadays eat, the energy we consume for our new lifestyle and the products that we have been led to believe are indispensable. For example, to produce one cotton shirt, 2650 liters of water is required from the cotton production stage to the final marketing of the shirt. Indeed the former USSR thought that it did a great job for the people of Central Asia especially for Kazakhstan when it introduced in the 1960s cotton, often called white gold. It irrigated 80% of the arid lands of this unique landscape. This intensive cotton cultivation in the Amu Darya and Syr Darya river basins led to the eventual drying up of the Aral Sea, the fourth largest lake in the world known for its “stunning beaches, blue waters and bustling fishing ports”. The drying up of the Aral Sea with the geographic size of Belgium, is considered to be one of the “planet’s worst environmental disasters”.
Taking note of such experiences and acknowledging that there could be some similar unintended consequences to some of our well intentioned initiatives, the Meghalaya Water Foundation organized a small Retreat in Sohra on 23-24 July 2013 and invited a few policy makers, water resources specialists, academicians, civil society representatives and members of the Board of the Meghalaya Water Foundation. The aim of the Retreat was to reflect and share ideas on possible 21st century solutions to this looming 21st century crisis. This Op-ed presents a brief summary of the main conclusions of the Retreat.
For the indigenous communities of Meghalaya and indeed for many others too, water has a spiritual value and it has a social meaning. Customary accesses have developed around water bodies and water is often the channel for exchange and communications amongst communities. Water is therefore not a commodity for trading. The right to water is the fundamental right of all and like all fundamental rights, the State has an obligation to “respect, protect and fulfill” this right. This was the main conclusion of the Meghalaya Water Foun-dation Retreat.
The Retreat further concluded that people and their communities, as users and transformers of water, must therefore be part of the solution and be at the centre of the work of the Meghalaya Water Foundation. When comm-unities become the entry points of the work of the Meghalaya Water Foundation, issues of water equity, water quality and water security for all and particularly for those who tend to left by the margins, become rallying points for the search for 21st century solutions. To be able to do this, the Retreat suggested that all stakeholders must be better informed of local traditions, initiatives, innovations and best practices including best practices of others around the world.
There was a clarion call from every participant of the Retreat that simple and low cost water harvesting initiatives must be proactively promoted to alleviate the seasonal shortages that many communities do face from time to time. Several other technical and policy issues came up for discussions. These were mainly about the lack of concrete and actionable strategies about judicious use of water, lack of convergence of water related units and departments, the contamination of water through quarrying, mining and the setting up of industries like cement factories. Denuded catchments, over exploitation of ground water, lack of data of aquifers and of springs and lack of community policing were some of the other issues that were discussed.
There was recognition that there will always be an issue between upstream and downstream dwellers and between livelihood and conservation demands. The Retreat felt that the Meghalaya Water Foundation could position itself to be a bridge builder and a platform where people who hold different views, interests and respo-nsibilities could come to freely talk, present their case and negotiate for lasting solutions that have the informed consent of all. Micro watershed comm-unities, District Council members, political leaders, youth, women, miners, loggers, civil society, teachers, church leaders, administrators and policy makers could all be encouraged to join this dialogue. The Meghalaya Water Foundation will attempt to use the diversity of its stakeholders to evolve creative solutions and strive for negotiated agreements and collective action.
The Meghalaya Water Foundation in collaboration with others will also endeavor to be a knowledge hub of water-related issues and document traditional knowledge and best practices of water management, to help communities and policy makers to be better informed of a more holistic and a more sustainable science approach to water, to hold seminars with communities and to promote continuing education for engineers to move beyond the conventional technical fixes of complex water issues.
The importance of the ethics of water was also highlighted. Traditional institutions, religious institutions such as Churches and other organizations such as the Bethany Society, MRDS, NERCORMP, Bosco Reach Out, North East Slow Food and Agro-biodiversity Society (NESFAS) are well placed to provide the rejuvenation of the traditional mind set of thinking of the other person. Schools and all educational institutions can also play very important roles in developing this new ethics. Local communities that are looking for new ways of saving our rivers must also be actively supported by the Government so that solutions come from the ground up. Water is a very precious natural resource and we need a more efficient regime of using the water cycle. We need a new ethics of managing the water cycle for maximum social benefit rather than narrow self-interest. We need to be inclusive of youth, women and those whose lifestyle is very different from our own.
The Meghalaya Water Foundation will therefore ponder on suggestions and attempt to facilitate the changing of mindsets. It will work with communities to develop a feedback loop and a users watchdog mechanism to ensure that truth and transparency will be the guiding principles of its collaboration with all partners. The Retreat also called upon the Meghalaya Water Foundation to be a promoter of innovations – always encouraging and always challenging its partners to higher and more ethical standards. It is hoped that one day water will be everyone’s business and everyone will become not just a water user but also, more importantly, also a water-keeper.
The writer is Chairman, Meghalaya Water Foundation (MWF), Shillong Chairman, North East Slow Food and Agrobiodiversity Society (NESFAS), Shillong, Coordinator, The Indigenous Partnership for Agrobiodiversity and Food Sovereignty, Rome & Former Assistant President, IFAD, Rome.