Objective and Purpose of the Assignment
 | The International Legal Specialist will serve as Team Leader and provide overall technical leadership for the TA supporting development of a Legal and Institutional Framework for Granting Legal Status to Rivers in India. The expert will bring international experience in environmental personhood laws, river rights frameworks, guardianship models, basin governance legislation, and regulatory drafting, adapting global best practices to India’s constitutional and federal context. |
Scope of Work
| The expert will: • Provide overall coordination and technical leadership across all TA components. • Lead comparative assessment of international experiences on legal status to rivers and rights-of- nature frameworks. • Advise on alternative legislative pathways (framework law, model state bill, enabling legislation, policy instrument). • Recommend models for river guardianship/trusteeship, fiduciary duties, and accountability structures. • Provide guidance on enforceability, liability frameworks, and regulatory oversight mechanisms. • Ensure integration of environmental flows, climate resilience, biodiversity protection, and intergenerational equity principles into draft legislation. • Support alignment of proposed framework with global environmental governance norms. • Coordinate closely with national experts to ensure contextual adaptation and constitutional coherence. |
Detailed Tasks and/or Expected Output
| Key Deliverables • Lead author: Compendium of International Legal Status to Rivers Frameworks and India Applicability Matrix. • Technical inputs to the River Governance Baseline Diagnostic Report. • Draft legislative options paper outlining alternative pathways. • Consolidated Draft Legal Status to Rivers Bill / Model Framework (internationally benchmarked). • Note on institutional models for River Guardianship Authorities or Trust Structures. |
Minimum Qualification Requirements
| Qualifications and Experience • Advanced degree in law, environmental governance, or public policy. • At least 15 years of experience in international environmental or river basin legislation. • Demonstrated experience in legal drafting and institutional design. • Experience with multilateral development banks or federal governance systems desirable. |
