South Asia floods expose gaps in regional climate cooperation

DHAKA: As more extreme rainfall hits South Asia leading to floods that do not recognise national borders, regional countries must work together more to combat the mutual threat, experts said.

Heavy rains led to flash floods and landslides that killed some 200 people in Nepal last month in two days of incessant rains caused by low-pressure in the Bay of Bengal and neighbouring parts of India. In August, a flash flood killed at least 71 near the border of India and Bangladesh.

Some 80 percent of major South Asian cities are at risk of flooding that could cost the region $215 billion a year by 2030, a 2021 report published by the World Bank said.

But despite larger and more frequent cross-border disasters, a trust deficit between South Asian countries has meant they have struggled to work together, and have instead often resorted to mutual recrimination. India is Nepal’s biggest trading partner, but the two also have a number of border disputes. Similarly, Bangladesh and India have strong economic ties, but are in dispute over water sharing and the killing of people crossing the border illegally.

“No country in the region trusts others when it comes to riparian management, thanks to the political differences,” said Harsh Vasani, a professor of international studies at FLAME University in India.

A Bangladesh government adviser said the August flood was caused by India releasing water from a dam upstream without warning into a river flowing into Bangladesh.