Challenges of Stakeholder Engagement in Integrated Transboundary River Basin Management

Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) in transboundary rivers advocates for the holistic governance of river basins as unified systems, irrespective of national boundaries. In South Asia, however, water-sharing arrangements for such rivers have predominantly relied on bilateral frameworks, frequently excluding multiple co-riparian states in order to avoid complexities. This has, in turn, limited the effective implementation of IRBM. While the incorporation of stakeholder perspectives in equitable transboundary water governance is both complex and indispensable, it remains underexplored and often challenging even in contexts involving only two riparian nations through a bilateral treaty framework. This study examines the case of the transboundary Himalayan River Tista/Teesta, which flows between India and Bangladesh, where decades of stalled negotiations illustrate the shortcomings of proposed basin management approaches. Drawing on a literature review and focused group discussions, the research adopts a geographical lens (macro, meso, and micro) to analyse stakeholder perceptions of river management across varied spatial, socio-economic, and political contexts. It examines how stakeholders&s; perceptions in transboundary river basins are shaped by geographical perspectives. The findings indicate that geographic location, livelihood dependence, and limited awareness of river dynamics shape divergent viewpoints, thereby complicating the implementation of IRBM involving all stakeholders in the basin. These perspectives are strongly shaped by the relative advantages and disadvantages associated with basin scale, location, livelihood reliance on the river, and limited understanding of hydrological flows—factors that undermine broader basin-wide considerations. The study concludes that the wholesale integration of all stakeholder perspectives may risk IRBM implementation by overcomplicating transboundary water negotiations. Instead, it advocates for a more nuanced application of IRBM in the Tista basin, prioritizing resource-sharing, the maintenance of environmental flows, and recognition of the basin&s;s geographical diversity as means of advancing equitable and sustainable water governance that integrates stakeholder awareness.