China’s Hydropower Project Across Brahmaputra and Balancing Regional Sustainability Goals

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-561-4_5How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Brahmaputra River; transboundary water; hydropower dam; riparian states; sustainable development goals

Abstract

Nation-states often connect transboundary river systems through human-made uses of river water, such as dams and canals. This man-made use of the transboundary river system frequently ignites discussions about a set of rights, like the right to use river water, for achieving the sustainable development goals of other riparian States. The Brahmaputra river is a transboundary Himalayan river that spans four riparian nations. China, India, Bhutan, and Bangladesh. China is the upper riparian nation, and India, Bhutan, and Bangladesh are the lower riparian States. China has started constructing a hydropower dam known as the Motuo Hydropower station on the river Brahmaputra, also known as river Yarlung Tsangpo. The decision by the Chinese government to construct a hydropower dam across Brahmaputra river will certainly have implications on the downstream countries’ use of Brahmaputra’s water and their sustainable development goals. So far, it seems achieving consensus appears a remote possibility, as each State’s interests, driven by political pressures, tend to override the shared normative principle of sovereign equality, which is a fundamental aspect of international law.

The study in this article establishes the foundation for reaching consensus among the four riparian states to achieve their goals by taking the example of Nile river basin. Additionally, the study will critically analyze the impact of China’s major dam project on the Sustainable Development Goals of other riparian nations and will provide relevant suggestions.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Download article (PDF)

TY  - CONF
AU  - Gurwinder Singh
AU  - Dolly Singh
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/04/23
TI  - China’s Hydropower Project Across Brahmaputra and Balancing Regional Sustainability Goals
BT  - Proceedings of the Indo-Bhutan Social Science Conference 2025 (IBSSC 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 31
EP  - 38
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-561-4_5
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-561-4_5
ID  - Singh2026
ER  -