China’s Medog Dam on Yarlung Tsangpo: Legal options and alternatives for India and Bangladesh

This brief explores the legal options for downstream countries and suggests that there are limited legal avenues to seek technical information about China’s Medog dam as there is no water cooperation agreement between any two of the riparian countries. With no legal framework available, the author argues that while countries continue to individually engage with China through regular diplomatic routes, a water diplomacy specific engagement may require countries to join hands and form an alliance based on common interests in the downstream flows of Brahmaputra and for the wider interests in maintaining the ecological integrity of the Himalayas.