Grounding the learning from Mekong Brahmaputra Conversations in North East

2.1. Project Overview: 

The overall aim of these consultation cum dissemination workshops is to share the learning, outputs and outcomes of last year’s work of Asian Confluence titled “Mekong-Brahmaputra Conversation” implemented in 2018  with actors on the ground in the North East to understand the possibilities of adapting the learning in the North East context and also seek recommendations on the future course of work that can be taken up based on the previous work.

 2.2. Background and Context:

In follow-up to the project “Mekong-Brahmaputra Conversation” implemented in 2018 by the Asian Confluence, this year’s project seeks to disseminate the learning and best practice cases documented from the Mekong basin in four North Eastern states of India. The overall aim is to share the learning, outputs and outcomes of last year’s work with actors on the ground in the North East to understand the possibilities of adapting the learning in the North East context and also seek recommendations on the future course of work that can be taken up based on the previous work.

The Mekong-Brahmaputra Conversations project was implemented in the backdrop of emerging geopolitical, economic, ecological and social realities of the Brahmaputra-Meghna basin. The changing scenario in the region with better cooperation in areas such as connectivity and trade between the nation states in Eastern South Asia (BBIN and ASEAN) is the geopolitical and economic backdrop that influenced the project. The ideas were to take a leaf out of the Mekong basin as learning for the Brahmaputra-Meghna basins given that the Mekong region has had a history of regional cooperation amongst the nation states through mechanisms such as ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) and MRC (Mekong regional Cooperation) Framework and the fact that regional cooperation around the Mekong river as part of the MRC framework has made much more headway in that region.

The Brahmaputra region, post partition, is now evolving strategies around regional cooperation, particularly in the economic and geostrategic spaces. The development of National Waterway 2 on Brahmaputra and Meghna Basin and the India Bangladesh Protocol route aims to connect land locked states in Northeast India to the Bay of Bengal. Multimodal connectivity projects under initiatives such as BIMSTEC, India Myanmar Thailand Trilateral highway (IMT), BBIN are also underway as game changing initiatives. The Act East Policy of the Government of India also influences the development paradigm of the Brahmaputra-Meghna basin. Notwithstanding new developments issues such as flood control, challenges of agriculture, aquaculture, horticulture practices, watershed/springshed rejuvenation, forestry management and their effects on riverine communities loom large.

With that backdrop and taking from the learning of the Mekong-Brahmaputra Conversations project, the present project aims to share learning from the Mekong basin on good practices and strategies with local stakeholders in the North East and deliberate on possible ideas and recommendations to adapt the learning towards sustainable solutions in the local context of the North East.

2.3. Objectives:

The project aims at facilitating knowledge sharing, interaction and brainstorming to:

1. Disseminate learning outputs and outcomes from Mekong-Brahmaputra  Conversation project in the North East
2. Engaging local stakeholders to seek inputs and ideas on how to adapt the learning and best practice cases from Mekong basin
3. Develop recommendations and ideas for adapting the learning given the local conditions, needs and challenges of the North East region, to lead to sustainable solutions, which can be implemented in the local context at a later.
4. Identify potential partners, collaborators and champions who can help in implementing specific interventions in future.