About the Project
Being the second fastest growing economic zone in the world, South Asia needs to have a cautious approach towards sustainable development balancing between the huge population density and its degrading natural resources. Besides the conscious and constant efforts taken by national governments and international agencies, acute poverty prevails in this region owing to poor policy and governance reforms, lack of infrastructure & institutional capacities, vulnerability to climate change, unscientific use of natural resources and poor regional cooperation. Poverty eradication is possible only through interlinking the key players of sustainable development viz., food water and energy. The linkages between food, water and energy are intricate and alterations in any one of the resources can have severe ramifications on other two resources. Considering the trans-boundary nature and the huge hydro-power potential of the major rivers (The Indus, The Ganges and The Brahmaputra), there is a need to address these issues of food, water and energy security through sharing and management of natural resources which again underlines the necessity of regional cooperation.
Sustainable Development Investment Portfolio (SDIP) is a portfolio investment approach by Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to address the issues of water, food and energy security in South Asia through better regional cooperation, policy reforms, technology transfer and capacity building targeting the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and girls. This investment strategy has a 12 year horizon which will be realized in three phases. CUTS International is one among the portfolio partners for carrying forward the activities related to SDIP. The targeted areas and the investment portfolio’s objectives are broadly stated as follows:
- Confident and cooperative decision-making across jurisdictional borders for the effective and equitable management of shared water resources.
- Increased access to and cooperation on energy
- Increased agricultural productivity and farm incomes through the adoption of more efficient and sustainable agricultural practices and better developed value-added market chains.
CRC’s role:
CUTS Calcutta Resource Centre (CRC) along with CUTS Centre for International Trade, Economics and Environment (CITEE) is responsible for the overall implementation of SDIP. Besides, CUTS CRC is doing a specific focus study on Deployment of Small Renewable Energy in Eastern South Asia.
Other Portfolio Partners
Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR)
Common Wealth Scientific and Industrial research Organization (CSIRO)
International Centre for Excellence for Water Resource Management (ICEwaRM)
International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)
South Asia Water Initiative (SAWI)