The Rivers, Rights, Resilience Forum 2026 begins in Colombo, gathering experts and communities to boost cross-border river cooperation, climate resilience and water governance as Asia’s flood and drought threats intensify.
The Rivers, Rights, Resilience Forum (RRRF) 2026 opened on Tuesday in Colombo, Sri Lanka, at a time when South Asia is facing intensifying floods, droughts and mounting pressure on shared river systems. The three-day regional gathering brings together water experts, policymakers, civil society actors, researchers and community leaders from across South Asia and beyond to strengthen cooperation on transboundary rivers, climate resilience and rights-based water governance.
Organised by Oxfam in Asia under the Transboundary Rivers of South Asia (TROSA) programme, the forum comes as climate change, rapid development and political tensions increasingly threaten river-dependent communities across the region. From the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna basin to smaller shared rivers, millions of lives and livelihoods now depend on how effectively water is governed across borders.
The forum opened with a welcome address by John Samuel, Regional Director of Oxfam in Asia, who highlighted the deep and inseparable links between rivers, politics, climate change and sustainability. He stressed that building resilience today requires collective action that goes beyond governments alone.
“Building resilience is now critical in both climate and political contexts. At a time when civic space is shrinking, we must work in solidarity,” Samuel said, calling for stronger collaboration between governments and civil society.
Addressing the science and policy dimensions of water management, Matthew McCartney of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Sri Lanka, spoke on the Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystems (WEFE) approach, which promotes integrated and holistic decision-making across sectors. He also underscored the importance of Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI), noting that women and children are disproportionately affected by water insecurity and climate shocks, yet remain underrepresented in governance and leadership spaces.
Veteran water and development thinker Dipak Gyawali offered a broader climate lens on water, describing it as spanning “seven colours”, from white clouds and blue rivers to green soil moisture and brown groundwater. He argued that these interconnected forms of water and the societies that depend on them are being shaped not only by climate change but also by mal-development, urging policymakers to move beyond narrow, infrastructure-driven approaches.
The day continued with a plenary discussion on Building Resilient Communities in the GBM River Basins, where participants reflected on why effective water governance is central to climate adaptation. Discussions focused on how resilience can be strengthened for riverine communities facing recurring floods and erosion and what practical policy pathways are needed to address escalating climate risks in one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions.
RRRF 2026 will continue over the next two days with thematic sessions, policy dialogues and community-led learning exchanges. Organisers say the forum aims to translate shared learning into action by strengthening regional cooperation on shared waters, advancing climate resilience and promoting inclusive, rights-based water governance across South Asia, an agenda that is becoming increasingly urgent as climate impacts deepen and water pressures intensify.
