Experts at an international water conference on Wednesday urged policymakers to move beyond engineering-heavy "techno-fixes" toward a framework grounded in social justice, gender equity, and ecological rights.
At a two-day virtual conference titled "Reimagining Water Governance for Just and Sustainable Futures", the experts made the call. The event was organised by ActionAid Bangladesh.
Bangladesh accessed the UN Water Convention in 2025, becoming the first country in South Asia to join the framework.
"Water decides people's lives long before policy does," ActionAid Bangladesh country director Farah Kabir said.
While calling Bangladesh's accession to the UN convention a milestone, she cautioned that legal commitments alone are insufficient.
"Accession is not transformation. People's voices must be engaged from the beginning, not merely consulted at the end," she added.
Delivering the keynote address in the first session titled 'Water Justice and Governance,' Professor Imtiaz Ahmed, executive director of the Centre for Alternatives, identified five global "water dystopias," ranging from national misgovernance to ecological collapse.
"Water is not just H?O," he said. "We should define it as W = H?O + P? - pollution, power, politics, and profit."
He further argued for reimagining rivers as Nodi - a living entity encompassing Pran (life), Atma (soul), and Shakti (power).
Proposing institutional accountability, he suggested a 'River-Lake Chief' system, where local officials would be personally responsible for water quality, with performance evaluations tied to environmental outcomes.
The scale of Bangladesh's river crisis was outlined by Sakib Mahmud, assistant chief of the National River Conservation Commission (NRCC). He said that although 1,415 rivers have been identified nationwide, many are facing severe degradation.
"In urban areas such as Dinajpur and Naogaon, we have detected 'dead zones' where dissolved oxygen levels are too low to sustain aquatic life," Mahmud said.
He also pointed to mismanagement in government-led dredging projects, particularly in Kurigram. "In many cases, dredged soil is dumped back into rivers, creating new shoals. Geo-spatial tracking and community-based monitoring are essential to stop this cycle," he added.
Gender and social exclusion in water governance featured prominently in the discussions.
Dr Champa M. Navaratne, professor emeritus at the University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka, said technical solutions often fail because they ignore structural inequalities.
"Women and marginal farmers must be included as a mandatory requirement in governance structures," she said.
Dr Yang Wei, director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Dhaka, echoed this view while presenting China's Dianchi Lake restoration.
The day also featured digital showcases coordinated through the Global Network of Water Museums, featuring Morocco's Oasis Ecomuseum and Bangladesh's Chakaria Water Museum.
Artistic performances, including a water-themed drama by girls from Happy Home, explored the intimate relationship between rivers, culture, and lived experience.
