Political Ecology of Water Governance in South Asia: A Case Study of the Koshi River Communities

Nepalese communities around the Koshi River, a transboundary river between Nepal and India, are facing unprecedented water-related problems. They face scarcity of water in dry seasons and recurrent flood disasters during monsoons. One of the main reasons behind these problems is the governance of the river via the Koshi River Agreement (1954, revised in 1966) between Nepal and India. This thesis analyses the political ecology of water governance in South Asia. Specifically, it examines how the Koshi River Governance contributes to environmental injustice for the riverine communities. It uses an actor-oriented political ecology framework, integrating the concepts of governance, theory of access and environmental justice, to understand various dimensions of injustice. Using the mixed methods research, it explores how multi-scalar power relationships and access-regulation of resources produce environmental injustice. The thesis argues that environmental injustice for transboundary riverine communities is produced by socio-natural complexes, where multi-scalar power relationships play a critical role. It demonstrates that the hydro-hegemony, not only at the international scale but also the internal hydro-hegemony at the national scale, influence governance of resources to a large extent. Results show that the governance provided the powerful with even more power for regulating the access of the communities to resources, creating uneven environmental injustice and coping capabilities. Highlighting the need for enhancing environmental justice, this thesis proposes an alternative governance framework by considering various roles, rules and relationships among actors with differential powers across multiple scales and places. The thesis has produced the evidence-based local knowledge and advanced the evidence, narratives, insights and the discourse on political ecology