EDITORIAL

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Of rivers and mountains
— Perhaps it should have taken place earlier, but even now it is a move that could effect perceptional as well as tangible changes in the way floods in Assam and rest of the North East have been tackled. The ongoing training programme on flood hazard and vulnerability analysis organised by International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development in Guwahati, could result in newer insights on understanding floods and erosion. The biggest advantage of the endeavour could emerge from the fact that ICIMOD’s approach takes into account not just rivers and other water bodies, but brings into focus the role of highlands, mountains and weather phenomenon. The dynamic and interlined processes are then co-related to the presence of human settlements, providing a comprehensive picture of an open system where energy flows make complex patterns. The ICIMOD’s role could indeed be productive because the agency has had diverse experience with mountain and river systems in a number of landscapes in the Hindu Kush and Himalayan region. Unlike typical government organizations, ICIMOD personnel work across borders to understand mountains and rivers and people who live close by them. In the case of studying the Brahmaputra and its basin, this could be a great advantage as the river and some of its tributaries have their sources beyond the Indian border.

Armed with the expertise of ICIMOD and bolstered by support from scientists from select institutions across the world, Assam could gain access to facts and insights about the Brahmaputra and the adjoining landscape in an unprecedented way. The other spin off could be in acquiring knowledge from the communities dependent on the river and its ecosystem services, many of whom also suffer due to floods and erosion. For the first time ICIMOD personnel would interact with a wide cross section of people in the Brahmaputra basin. However, translating the huge corpus of data into workable action plans to forecast and tackle flood hazards perhaps would be a bigger challenge. After all, this particular endeavour would require political will and funding in a substantial scale. It would be interesting to note to what extent the Assam Government and the Union Government recognise the validity of the data generated by ICIMOD. Here political parties across the board could play a crucial role in ensuring that the ICIMOD’s findings are taken with due seriousness if not incorporated in future action plans to mitigate floods and erosions.