Voices from the banks: documenting injustice and defining solutions in the transboundary Teesta River crisis

The Teesta River dispute, a protracted transboundary water conflict between India and Bangladesh, profoundly affects downstream communities. This study examines their lived experiences through an environmental justice lens, drawing on fieldwork across four districts and thematic analysis. Findings identify four interconnected dimensions of injustice: distributive, procedural, interactional and intergenerational. Communities report unequal water access, exclusion from decision-making, disrespectful treatment, livelihood losses and erosion of river-based cultural practices. They associate these experiences with upstream water control, governance failures and the stalled 2011 water-sharing agreement. The study argues that resolving the Teesta crisis requires justice-oriented governance that meaningfully places affected communities at the centre.