| Concepts of equitable use often underpin international water allocation agreements. Despite potential for hydrologic information to facilitate preparedness and enhance resilience to extreme events, similar application of justice principles to distribution of hydrometeorological data is less common. Within the Ganges Brahmaputra Meghna (GBM) River basin, we find that water allocation agreements are codified into Treaties or Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs). Analogous decisions regarding hydrometeorological data sharing are often internalized at the level of river basin organizations (RBOs) and are not upheld as Treaties/MoUs. Our results indicate that this institutional structure facilitates transfer of data from every GBM nation to the most downstream and disaster-prone nation of Bangladesh, yet provides an extremely sparse data network. Locations of available precipitation and river flow are well below minimum densities recommended by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Forecasters in Bangladesh thus contend with vast areas of geopolitically ungauged catchment, precluding application of basin-wide modeling approaches driven by observed data. In this way, capacity for increasing resilience to extreme events within Bangladesh is obstructed, demonstrating the potential for perceived injustice related to distribution of hydrometeorological data. There is undeniable consensus that water is a human right, hence the application of justice to equitable water allocation. But is security from water-related disasters also a human right? We conclude that hydrometeorological data can be a powerful resource with potential to profoundly affect lives and livelihoods. Enhanced awareness and conceptualization of information as a resource may allow for expansion of justice considerations in international water agreements to include equitable sharing of data, with conceivable advantages to benefit-sharing potential. |
