Coalition and contradiction in managing Brahmaputra: Opportunities for more hydropower?

Abstract

Abstract Transboundary sharing of river water is not just an international problem, and it also cascades down to regional, state and local levels. Water cooperation in the Brahmaputra River basin among China, India, Bhutan and Bangladesh has long been contested. Better transboundary management of Brahmaputra requires a new direction from the current situation of fragmented cooperation, conflicts and disputes in the region and increasing threats of climate change. However, it is unclear how the four countries can cooperate and what the cornerstones for their cooperation might be. To explore possible consensus, we conducted an advocacy coalition assessment of the four countries based on the heterogeneous ecosystem services valued by each nation. While China and India are focused on politics, Bangladesh and Bhutan are primarily concerned about the basin in physical terms. Although each nation values the Brahmaputra in different ways, it is possible to initiate strong collaboration based on shared beliefs. We find that developing hydropower sustainably meets the needs and expectations of all nations, especially under the threats of climate change. A sustainable hydropower coalition can help to reduce carbon emissions, acquire green energy, irrigate land in dry seasons, and manage disasters and increasing runoffs from melting glaciers. We conclude our paper with insights for each nation and hydropower development as a whole that might help the nations to manage the Brahmaputra River more sustainably by overcoming their unmatched or mismatched values and interest, and achieving a win-win solution to manage the Brahmaputra River more sustainably.