Treaty-Level Transparency and Revenue-Sharing in the Koshi River Basin as Pathways to Positive Environmental Peace between Nepal and India

Instructions: This research paper is a chance for you to delve more in- depth into a particular aspect of political development in one or more of the South Asian countries that we are studying. The paper should be about 2,000 words My Topic: Treaty-Level Transparency and Revenue-Sharing in the Koshi River Basin as Pathways to Positive Environmental Peace between Nepal and India Introduction 1.1 Define negative peace and positive peace (Galtung) and introduce environmental-peace theory with South-Asian examples. 1.2 Situate the Koshi Basin within Himalayan hydro-politics and regional energy scarcity. 1.3 Present the research focus: how treaty-level transparency and revenue-sharing can create positive environmental peace. Conceptual Foundations 2.1 Negative-versus-positive peace and structural violence. 2.2 Environmental cooperation as peace-building: data openness, benefit-sharing, inclusion. 2.3 Significance of hydro-energy-mining linkages across South Asia. Historical Evolution of the Koshi Regime 3.1 1954/66 Koshi Agreement—objectives, asymmetries, amendments. 3.2 Hydropower ambitions and flood-control politics since the 1990s. 3.3 Sand-mining boom and wildlife-reserve controversies. Current Structural Insecurities 4.1 Opaque gate operations and unequal irrigation distribution. 4.2 Climate-amplified floods/droughts and delayed compensation. 4.3 Human–elephant conflict, elite capture and community distrust. Institutional Landscape 5.1 Village-level compensation boards and mobile-money pilots. 5.2 Draft 2024 Koshi Protocol: telemetry, environmental-flow clause, co-management. 5.3 BIMSTEC Climate & Weather Desk and the proposed Resilience Fund. Transparency as a Peace Mechanism 6.1 Real-time gate-and-flow data: precedents and technology. 6.2 Ways data openness reshapes accountability, trust and early warning. Revenue-Sharing as a Peace Mechanism 7.1 Hydropower royalty frameworks and escrow models. 7.2 Formalising sand-auction revenues: lessons from Thailand and Indian states. 7.3 Linking wildlife compensation to predictable finance streams. Political Economy and Feasibility 8.1 Interests of Bihar politicians, Nepali sand syndicates and hydropower investors. 8.2 Leverage created by India’s power deficit and Nepal’s export ambitions. 8.3 Role of third-party verification (BIMSTEC) in reducing bilateral distrust. Institutional Pathways Toward Positive Environmental Peace 9.1 Analyse a telemetry-and-escrow Koshi protocol that aligns incentives around real-time data and equitable revenue distribution. 9.2 Evaluate a fully capitalised, publicly audited BIMSTEC Resilience Fund for cross-border climate and flood response. 9.3 Explore mechanisms for formal community representation on gate-operation and wildlife-reserve boards, including digitised, transparent compensation systems. Implications for South Asia 10.1 Transferability to other Himalayan basins (Ganges, Teesta, Indus). 10.2 Insights for sub-regional groupings beyond SAARC (e.g., BIMSTEC, BBIN). 10.3 Contribution to the broader theory of positive environmental peace.