International Conference on Living Rivers
December, 2007
Delhi, India

The International Conference on Living Rivers
This
was a joint meeting between the US organization of the Seed Keepers Alliance
of the US and a number of organization and individuals working on water
conservation in India. The central theme of this conference can be
described using the phrase: "Jal, Janjal, Jameen," which refers to the indigenous understanding that Water, Forest, and Land are inextricably linked.

The Ganga
The conference started with a documentary about the state of the Ganga, one of the most holy and polluted rivers in the world. It described an initiative one of the oldest known cities of Varanasi (formerly Benares), a site of pilgrimage and confluence of the Ganga with two other rivers. Pilgrims traditionally take a dip in the Ganga for the healing properties of the holy water. This body of water is also used to cremate corpses in a traditional method using logs as a raft on which the body burns as it floats down the river. I have spoken to two people who have taken a dip despite the high counts of e.coli and expressed that the healing effect overpowered that of any waterborne bacteria. Last night, a friend was explaining how the silt is thigh-high but when it settles, the water is crystal clear.
In response to the pollution of the river, the local community developed the Ganga action plan, consisting of low-technology filtration mechanism to address 30 point source pollution points. Unfortunately, the Indian government did not approve this plan and favored a high-technology electricity-based filtration system instead. The pollution has not yet improved.


Rajasthan
Rajendra Singh, an Ayurvedic doctor, has been working successfully to restore traditional water harvesting in Rajasthan,
the second largest state in India, much of which is composed of
dessert. Historically, this was never considered a drought region
because the culture has evolved to appreciate and conserve every drop
of water the falls in the region. There are hundreds of words to
describe different types of clouds, rain, and other water-related
phenomena because of how highly water is regarded here. The
architecture of the houses are traditionally integral to water
conservation, including small shell-like devices used to trap every
last drop. Many of these traditional methods have fallen out of
practice and are now being rejuvenated by Dr. Singh, afterdamming projects, chemical farming, and pollution has exploited the water ways for the last 30 years. The root cause of these problems is the commodification of water at the central level.
The Araguari
River was the first to be revived. It happened with the cooperation of
72 villages, all of whom agreed to have only open wells. They also
agreed not to plant any water intensive crops. The benefits of the revival extended to the communities as well. The women of these villages used to wear parda, the face covering. After their participation was sought in the process of liberating the Araguari, many of these women have also become liberated and no longer wear the parda.


Arunchal Pradesh
Shalabh Gahlaat runs Kayak India, a company that gives guided tours down the Bramaputri, located in north-east India. The Bramaputri (which means Brama's
son), originates in the mountains of China, flows down to India, and
has some of the largest potential for hydro-electric power in this
Asian sub-continent (see pics here). It is being targeted fordaming projects for this
reason but so far, no building has taken place for two main reasons.
One is the geography of the area prevents easy access to the area and a
solid transportation infrastructure has not been built (it's necessary
to travel to this area by plane rather than train or bus). It is also
because there is political strife in this area. The Indian Communist or
Naxalite
movement emerged from this area in the 70's and the struggle continues
today. These two aspects have the fortunate outcome of conserving
tribal culture and biodiversity. Thecommunities here are both forest-dwelling and laborers in tea plantations. One community Shalabh
described is a nomadic tribe that moves to a different area of the
forest every 5 years that let the forest re-grow. The methods of forest
and jungle ecological preservation and indigenousfarming methods pre
-date the Vedas (ancient Hindu scriptures) and are intact today.
More that 1500 medicinal plants are used by
these tribes. There is little in the way of
politics herebecause people (about 10 lakh in the region) live peacefully in the forest. Many matriarchal cultures are found here and Shalabh told us about a tradition that is practiced three years after a marriage in which the groom's family is invited to the bride's village for a feast to give the gift of seeds.
However, the threat of dam building is ever-present. To prevent building here, Shalabh
explained that the area needs to be designed a Asian Development Bank and
World Bank need to be told by the global community that destroying rivers and livelihoods for the sake of development is unacceptable.