New Water Policy and Practice Volume 1, Number 2 - Spring 2015 | Page 66

New Water Policy and Practice

flood managers can restore waterways to natural conditions by reducing sealed surfaces
which enhance the health of aquatic ecosystems, reactivate natural floodplains and
restore these floodplains to natural conditions through afforestation projects with
trees slowing down floodwaters and forests overall absorbing excess floodwater. In
addition, solidarity is required in managing transboundary flood risks as negative
actions from one region can adversely impact another region which in turn impacts
regional stability.

The EU can contribute to other river basin management organisations, with
the scientific and political aspects of the EU Flood Directive and best practices of
integrated flood risk management to ensure flood risks in South Asia are managed
in a transboundary, integrated manner. Scientifically, the Flood Directive emphasizes
the need to assess all waterways for flood risks and map the extent that human
life and economic assets are exposed to flood risks. Politically, the Flood Directive
ensures cooperation on managing flood risks by requiring the implementation of
transboundary flood risk management plans. The benefits of exporting this model
to the region is to reduce loss of life and economic output from flood risks, ensure
natural ecosystems remain healthy and increase the resilience of the populations to
flood risks which overall reduces geo-political instability in the region. In addition,
Europe can export this model to the wider Asia-Pacific region to promote cooperative
rule-based regional integration (ASEM 2014). The EU can promote and support the
scientific and political aspects of the integrated flood risk model to the South Asia
region on several levels: at the EU to South Asia State level, through regional-toregional dialogues or between EU Member States and South Asia States.

The benefits of adapting the application of European transboundary integrated
flood risk management models to the South Asia region are that politically, integrated
flood risk management plans reduce instability from floods at both the intra- and
inter-state levels as the majority of the region’s river basins cross political boundaries.
At the intra-state level, conflict from one political administration creating enhanced
flood risks to downstream areas is reduced. At the inter-state level, integrated flood
risk management plans reduce the potential for tension and even conflict over
flooding risks between nation states that share transboundary water resources. In
particular, integrated flood risk management plans promote cooperation in managing
flood risks which in turn avoid upstream states releasing floodwater suddenly,
impacting hydropower, agricultural, or industrial infrastructure or upstream states
failing to provide early warning to downstream states of predicted flood events, etc.
However, there are political costs of implementing the European integrated flood risk
management model in South Asia. For instance, many underprivileged people would
be under risk of being displaced from floodplains to make way for afforestation projects.
With property rights not being as strong in South Asia as they are in Europe, and the
region having numerous ethnic minorities, this kind of situation like displacement of
people could lead to ethnic tensions and even conflict.

There are many potential economic and social benefits وY\[