Floods as agents of vitality: Reaffirming human-nature synergies

South Asia is no stranger to floods - the region’s Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) basin experiences flooding with clockwork regularity. Despite the inevitability and importance of high flows for riparian communities, centuries of use of structural interventions have sought to contain them. This brief tries to establish an eco-hydrological perspective on floods. It suggests devising a policy response which considers four dimensions of hydrological interactions within the river-floodplain ecosystems – lateral, longitudinal, vertical and temporal.