International workshop on River Basin Management held in New Delhi

National Mission for Clean Ganga, in association with GIZ India, organised an International workshop in New Delhi on River Basin Management at different levels and the role of River Basin Organisations (RBOs) in support of Ganga Rejuvenation. It focused on institutional set-ups that are needed for RBOs to achieve and implement effective river basin management towards joint objective. It brought together around 60 representatives from various large river basins and River Basin Organisations around the world including India as well as of key authorities in the Ganga River Basin.

This exchange between different stakeholders aimed to demonstrate how river basin management processes are coordinated in other large river basins making use of River Basin Organisations and related institutional set-ups at all implementation levels. The workshop was a combination of presentations, plenary and panel discussions as well as break-out groups in order to achieve the best possible exchange and outcomes.

While taking about significance of workshop, Director General of National Mission of Clean Ganga, Rajiv Ranjan Mishra said "When you look at River Basin Mangaemnet, there will be multiple aspects and if some country has done very well in one aspect then we can pick up that. So, if we will study many experiences and then look at them in a intelligent way as simply copying the aspect will not help us, then we can adapt them properly and it will be very useful in achieving our mission of 'Namami Gange'."

To this, Martina Burkard, Project Director of GIZ India added "A lot has already been done regarding the Integrated River Basin Management plans for Ganga but now it's about implementation and facing the challenges by learning from the experiences of other River Basin Organisations in the world."

In India, many institutions at national and state level are currently involved in the work and efforts to rejuvenate the river Ganga but such discussions will further trigger ideas towards an institutional set-up of NMCG towards optimised Ganga River Basin Management.