Cunning Strategy for Upstream Water Piracy and Remedial Measures Miah Muhammad Adel ABSTRACT India has been pirating 60% of the Bangladesh Gangetic ecosystem’s water since 1975 after construction of a feeder canal by the Farakka Barrage in the name of maintaining the navigability of the Calcutta Port located at the mouth of the Hooghly River. As a consequence, massive ecocide has unfolded in Bangladesh. India’s forced piracy and Bangladesh’s compelled consent to piracy, for a meager discharge, have con- tinued for the past forty years. This study focuses on Calcutta Port’s navigability source, navigability loss and past maintenance, India’s water crisis, and India’s use of the looted water resources. Sources of information included electronic and print media, site visitations, expert interviews, fieldwork, travel ac- counts, research institutions, and government offices. The study finds Calcutta Port’s brisk use during the British period, Calcutta Port’s Ganges discharge-independent establishment, India’s development of other ports in post-independent India, the storage of the Hooghly’s water in reservoirs, Calcutta Port’s navi- gability loss unworthy of causing ecocide in Bangladesh, India’s inland cruise line setup with the pirated water, and the stealing of water from border rivers. As a member of the Ramsar Convention inter- governmental panel since 1971, India’s actions violate the Convention’s doctrines of saving a permanent or temporary water body without regard to its location, kind, size, and depth through international con- vention. For environmental justice, India should pay Bangladesh earnings from the looted water’s com- mercial use, cover dredging costs of Bangladesh’s clogged rivers and canals, close the feeder canal, demolish the Farakka Barrage, and return the water to Bangladesh. Furthermore, India should be finan- cially responsible for the full recharge of the groundwater, purification of arsenic, treatment for millions of potential and current arsenic patients and 20% arsenic fatalities, lost livelihoods, salinity removal, re- building of the eroded coast, revitalization of extinct flora and fauna, and establishment of normal climate. INTRODUCTION Natural and world trends Each ecosystem worldwide contains thousands of species of native flora and fauna that are shaped by the land, air, and water conditions specific to the individual region. Rivers that originate on higher lands flow over the land to meet the ocean, sustaining the flora and fauna throughout its course. A river discharge that crosses the international boundary belongs to the downstream eco- system. A nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) is re- lated to these basic resources, although their presence is not incorporated in the GDP calculation because of their invariable presence. Preserving natural laws and envi- ronmental processes should not require legalization. In- stead, the natural ecological balance established over thousands of years in a region should be considered the most stable and beneficial for the land. Almost 75% of the world’s land mass falls under inter- national river basins. This includes 44 countries that have at least 80% of their land in international river basins. Be- cause of recognition of downstream water rights and for mutual benefits, many countries have signed treaties to share water from a common discharge source, including Mexico and the U.S. (the Rio Grande and Colorado Rivers); France and Spain; Macedonia and Greece (the Vardar/ Axois River); Turkey, Syria, and Iraq (the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers treaty); Syria and Lebanon (the Orontes River); Egypt and Sudan (the Nile River treaty); and Gini, Dr. Adel is a professor of physics, astronomy, and environ- mental science in the Department of Chemistry and Physics, In- terdisciplinary Sciences Research Center, at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff in Pine Bluff, AR. ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE Volume 6, Number 4, 2013 ª Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. DOI: 10.1089/env.2013.0005 145