The issue will come up in the conversations Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will have with China’s top political leadership on Monday during his three-day official visit starting Sunday. Efforts are underway to reflect this in the joint declaration at the culmination of the visit.

According to sources, this would broaden the scope from just sharing hydrological and flood season data of Himalayan Rivers — essentially the Brahmaputra and Sutlej. India has been taken by surprise on more than one occasion on environmental issues related to Himalayan ecology largely due to lack of information from the Chinese side.

There are positive indications from Beijing that it is, in principle, willing to work on joint projects in earthquake management and climate change.

A better understanding of the Himalayan ecology on the Chinese side is crucial for India as many rivers originate from there. The Western Himalayas are in the sensitive seismic zone and hectic Chinese developmental activity has impact on the fragile Himalayan ecology.

The government, however, is aware of China’s tendency to delay matters in implementing such cooperation. For instance, it was agreed over a year ago to set up an expert committee to share data on the Sutlej, Brahmaputra and Lohit rivers but so far only one introductory meeting has taken place. In fact, China did not name its representative for several months and it took prodding at the political level for the meeting to convene.

Top officials indicate that China has always been reluctant to cooperate on ecological issues relating to the Himalayas as it boils down in many cases to the region around the Tibetan plateau which has political overtones for Beijing.

http://www.indianexpress.com/iep/sunday/story/260932.html