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Asia
5
th
International Yellow River Forum
From 25 to 28 September 2012 – Zhengzhou
China
The main topic of this event which was
held in Zhengzhou (China) at the invita-
tion of
the Yellow River Conser-
vancy Commission (YRCC)
was:
"Ensuring Water Right of the River’s
Demand and Healthy River Basin Main-
tenance".
This topic was addressed as follows:
l
Efficient management of river
basins and water resources in rela-
tion to social and economic deve-
lopment;
l
Access to water through a strategy
and measures to maintain the
"Good Status" of the river;
l
Sound and effective water resour-
ces management in the basin;
l
Measures for adaptation and water
resources management in river
basins in the context of global
climate change;
l
Ecological protection and sustai-
nable use of water in river basins;
l
Structural and non-structural mea-
sures related to new technologies
to ensure access to the river;
l
Advanced technologies for safety,
transfer and water saving, and for
monitoring equipment;
l
Culture and civilization throughout
the history of exploitation of the
river;
l
Management of sediment and
reservoirs with high silt content;
l
Experience and new technologies
for water resource management.
The International Network of Basin
Organizations - INBO was invited to
organize two special events at the
Forum
dealing with:
l
Integrated Basin Management;
l
Organization of a dialogue and
users’ participation.
Yellow River Conservancy Commission
Fax: 00 86 371 660 24 477
India
Free speech
Endangered farming:
dispute on groundwater withdrawals for Boro Paddy
29
INBO Newsletter n° 21 - April 2013
In 2009, the World Bank informed the
Government of West Bengal that it
would get an allocated fund for minor
irrigation projects only if groundwater
was not used. A NASA satellite image
has also shown rapid reduction of
groundwater storage in India, West
Bengal included.
This report estimates that 3,417 villa-
ges are threatened by arsenic conta-
mination of groundwater.
Many tubewells that were safe earlier
are now contaminated.
Fluorosis is the most prevalent
groundwater-related disease in India,
which is the most severely affected
country worldwide.
A total of 20 out of 28 Indian States
have varying degrees of groundwater
fluoride contamination.
In 2007, a research carried out by the
Center for Studies in Social Sciences
on boro paddy cultivation in West
Bengal shows that a large number of
farmers are encountering ecological
problems.
After nearly a decade of
negative experience, the
State Agriculture Department
has decided to replace boro
cultivation by other crops.
Maize cultivation, which is
replacing paddy, is gaining
ground in West Bengal.
Considerable amount of work has also
been done to establish the arsenic
burden in cooked rice from the arsenic
affected areas in West Bengal. It was
observed, by a 2009 study by the
School of Environmental Studies at
Jadavpur University, that 47.3 per cent
of the samples exceeded the maxi-
mum tolerable daily intake.
Finding alternative cropping pattern is
not easy for the boro farmer and needs
support from research, political deci-
sions, regulatory and functional sup-
port, rural financial institutions and
market creation.
Dr. Dhrubajyoti Ghosh
Sujit Choudhury
Integrated River Basin Management Society
