Introduction

This chapter reflects on the second of the three questions that this book posits: What other enabling conditions may characterize the negotiated resolution in other transboundary contexts? I ask whether the involvement of international actors – international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs), foreign aid donors and other third parties to a transboundary water dispute – is an enabling condition, or in other ways conducive to the emergence of the enabling conditions proposed here.

First, I describe the transboundary water interactions – the coexisting conflicts and cooperation over international rivers (Mirumachi 2015) – between India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. This section focuses on the disconnect between the values, interests, tools, problems, policies and politics of the riparian states. Second, there is an overview of the international actors and other third parties facilitating water- related negotiations in this region. The most prominent of these is the World Bank– led South Asia Water Initiative (SAWI), which has a mandate to promote ‘water security and regional peace through significant and measurable improvements in water resources management and development’ (SAWI 2015b). Other relevant foreign aid donors include the governments of Australia and the United Kingdom. This section also discusses the role of civil society actors and regional nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), several of which (e.g. the South Asia Consortium for International Waters (SaciWATERS)) are involved in facilitating transboundary water dialogues.

The third section of this chapter offers a discussion of whether, in light of the experience in the Ganges- Brahmaputra- Meghna (GBM) basin, international actors and other third parties are an enabling condition for the resolution of transboundary water problems. I also discuss how these actors may affect the development of the enabling conditions that are the subject of this book – interdependence between actors, negotiation of positive sum outcomes, and fair and flexible mechanisms for transboundary water governance.

I conclude that international actors and third parties are neither a sufficient nor necessary condition for transboundary water cooperation. They may, however, expedite the development of positive water interactions if the enabling conditions are present.

Transboundary Water Interactions in the Ganges- Brahmaputra- Meghna Basin

As Araral and Wang (2013, 3945) have shown, ‘Water scholars, policy makers and donors over the last decade generally agree that improving water governance holds the key to solving water insecurity in developing countries.’