Transboundary Rivers of South Asia (TROSA)

Since December 2022, the program has started its second phase, which focuses on strengthening cooperation in governing shared water resources and enhancing the resilience of riparian communities to climate change in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) River basins.

South Asia is one of the world’s most vulnerable regions to climate change. Its people are living through a 'new climate normal,' where more than half of the population has been affected by one or more climate-related disasters in the last two decades. Intensifying heat waves, cyclones, droughts, and floods are testing the limits of governments, businesses, and citizens to adapt. The primary climate-related risks in the region are flood damage, water insecurity, drought, and extreme heat from rising temperatures.

The GBM transboundary river basin in South Asia is the third largest continuous river basin in the world. The area is home to about half of the total South Asian population, making it one of the world’s most densely populated river basins. The GBM connects the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal through its massive river system, endowed with freshwater resources, fertile agricultural land, a rich aquatic supply, and diverse flora and fauna. It serves as a lifeline for the entire region, supporting the life and livelihood of millions of people along with its diverse biodiversity and vibrant ecosystem. The GBM basins and their ecosystems support the livelihoods of more than 800 million people in Nepal, India, Bangladesh, China, and Bhutan. Estimates show that more than 50 million people living in Bangladesh and India depend on the ecosystem services provided by the Meghna basin through the provision of water, forests, agriculture, and fisheries, among other services. The Teesta river basin is home to around 30 million people, who largely depend on natural resources and subsistence agriculture for their livelihoods. An estimated 130 million people are known to live within the catchment of the Brahmaputra basin, most of whom are classified as rural poor. An additional 35 to 50 million people depend on the combined flow of the GBM system in the delta region of Bangladesh, which lies downstream of the confluence of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers.

TROSA Phase 2 goal is to improve cooperation in governing shared water resources, strengthening resilience to climate change of riparian communities in the transboundary Ganges- Brahmaputra-Meghna river basins. It is being achieved through: 

• Strengthened climate-resilient livelihoods of communities living in the transboundary GBM river basins.
• Improved and inclusive management of transboundary river ecosystems and protection of biodiversity across the GBM river basins.
• Strengthened leadership of civil society, especially women, Indigenous People, and youth to influence government and private sector on water governance across and between the transboundary GBM basins.
• Strengthened cooperation, collaboration, and accountability across and between the transboundary GBM river basins

TROSA aims to bring in more youth voices and support their meaningful engagement in issues of river water governance. It has organized the Youth Basin Ambassador program to build the capacity of the youth so that they can lead the movement in the future.

The program now has effective partnership arrangements covering four countries in the GBM River basins, with six regional partners and ten national partners engaged through a layered partnership arrangement based on the partners’ needs.

In the second phase of the program, TROSA partners were able to strengthen people-to-people connections and informal processes for water cooperation, including the Mahakali Sambad, now connected to the Nepal Water-Energy Commission Secretariat through Oxfam in Nepal and to the various local governments in the basin through local partners. The Brahmaputra Dialogue Process (facilitated by ICIMOD) now has participation from four riparian countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, and India), with country chapters shaping up. The Meghna Knowledge Forum (facilitated by IUCN) was able to attract participation from officials, academics, and civil society from both Bangladesh and India, with consensus shaping on Nature-based Solutions (NbS) for the shared challenges of climate change. We have also seen regional institutions like SAARC and BIMSTEC participating in regional dialogues of our partners ADPC and IUCN, as well as representatives from the UN Water Convention Secretariat participating in TROSA events, recognizing the role of the multi-stakeholder forums that TROSA organized. Bangladesh became the first South Asian country to sign up for the UN Water Convention, elevating South Asia's importance in the convention.

Project name: Transboundary Rivers of South Asia Phase-2        
Project period: 2022-2027
Target group
Over 150,000 river basin stakeholders, including riparian community members, women, men, youth and Indigenous People, smallholder farmers, fisherfolk, boat-dwellers and people engaged in water- or natural-resource- based livelihoods such as tourism and trade and CSOs.
Location: Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna (GBM) river basins in Nepal, Bhutan, India and Bangladesh, .
Budget: € 7,104, 119

TROSA’s Program Management Unit (PMU) is hosted at Oxfam in Cambodia, Phnom Penh.
The program is managed by Oxfam Novib’s Green team. Contact person: 

info.trosa@oxfam.org
Enamul.Siddique@oxfam.org

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