The Ganga Basin Management - The Ganga: Water Use in the Indian Subcontinent - page 256

The UN Conference on the Human Environment, held at Stockholm on 15th and
16th June 1972 made the following recommendations for settlement of problems
arising out of sharing water resources, common to more than one jurisdiction, with
particular reference to the effect of environment. These are reproduced below:

It is recommended that governments concerned consider the creations of river basin com-
missions, or other appropriate machinery, for cooperation between interested States for
water resources, common to more than one jurisdiction. The recommendations are

• In accordance with the UN Charter and the principles of international law, full consider-

ation must be given to the right of permanent sovereignty of each country concerned to
develop its own resources.

• The following principles should be considered by the States concerned when appropri-

ate:
i) Nations agree that when major water resource activities are contemplated that may
have a significant environmental effect on another country, the other country should
be notified well in advance of the activity envisaged.
ii) The basic objective of all water resource use and developmental activities from
the environmental point of view is to ensure the best use of water and to avoid its
pollution in each country.
iii) The net benefits of hydrologic regions, common to more than one national
jurisdiction are to be shared equitably by the nations affected.

• Such arrangements, when deemed appropriate by the States concerned, will permit

undertaking on a regional basis, as under:
i) Collection, analysis and exchange of hydrologic data through some international
mechanism, agreed upon by the States concerned.
ii) Joint data collection programmes to serve planning needs.
iii) Assessment of environmental effects of existing water uses.
iv) Joint study of the causes and symptoms of problems, related to water resources,
taking into account the technical, economic and social considerations of control of
water quality.
v) Rational use, including a programme of quality control, of the water resource as
an environmental asset.
vi) Provisions for the judicial and administrative protection of water rights and claims.
vii) Prevention and settlement of disputes with reference to the management and
conservation of water resources; and
viii) Financial and technical cooperation of a shared resource.

• Regional conferences should be organized to promote the above considerations.

These principles were further enhanced by their affirmation in two resolutions
of the General Assembly, adopted immediately after the Stockholm Conference
(Resolution No. 2995 [xxvii] on 15th December 1972), which emphasized that:
' In the exploitation and development of their natural resources, States must

not produce significant harmful effects in zones situated outside their natural juris-
diction.' To sum up, it can be said that although New Delhi wanted to solve the
problem of sharing the Ganga water with Bangladesh through mutual coopera-
tion and understanding, Bangladesh did not. India envisaged schemes, when it was
united and undivided but could implement them only after the Partition with full

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