09 March-13 March 2015
As we all are aware, about 70 per cent of the earth is covered by water. However, thanks to the level of technological development, not all water could be utilized to meet the burgeoning demands from the various sectors of economic activities as well as for the basic human needs. Shortage of pure drinkable water, lack of access to water for the agricultural purposes, hesitation on part of upper riparian states to share water with low riparian states, thus creating water scarcity situation in the low riparian states, water pollution, hydroelectricity and dam building etc. are the issues which concern most of the South Asian countries. European Union in its endeavor towards sustainable water resource management through some of the best practices model such as the Water Framework Directive, the European Flood Action Programme and the Danube Region Strategy, has a lot to share with the South Asian countries in their efforts to evolve a coherent strategy for the whole region to develop better coordination among these countries in terms of integrated water resource management inside their border and cross border river governance mechanism for water sharing and management. It was felt that a visit by a delegation from South Asian countries to Europe would facilitate a cross-exchange of experiences between Europe and South Asian countries in terms of water resource management.
It was in this direction that Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) organised a visit of the delegation from South Asian counties comprising India, Bangladesh and Nepal to Brussels (Belgium) and Bavaria (Germany) in Europe from 09 March to 13 March 2015 on the theme of water resource management. The delegation comprises following people:
The detailed report for download: Visit of South Asian Delegation to Europe