AI-Enabled Environmental Communication for River Rejuvenation: A Review of Technological Advances and Strategic Gaps in the Namami Gange Programme

Abstract

Environmental communication has been at the heart of large-scale river rejuvenation programmes, However, the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in empowering environmental communication is not well documented in the water governance literature. The study, in this review, critically synthesizes research around the field of Environmental Communication through AI and explores the extent to which these developments have been incorporated into India's flagship initiative to start the rejuvenation of the river Ganga – the Namami Gange Programme. After an informed narrative synthesis of literature on both academic databases and institutional grey literature from 2015 to 2026, the review presents the development of environmental communication theory, the mapping of the AI technologies that are transforming the public engagement with environmental issues (such as generative AI and natural language processing, computer vision, digital twins, remote sensing and citizen-science platforms), and an evaluation of their use in international river restoration contexts, including the Cheonggyecheon (Seoul), the Rhine, the Thames and the digitally twinned Yangtze. The review then puts the Namami Gange Programme in the global context and demonstrates that the programme has invested significantly in the physical infrastructure, effluent monitoring, and geospatial planning, but has not yet had an effective communication architecture, which is still largely one-way, campaign-oriented, and less AI-integrated. There are four dimensions of strategic gaps – technological adoption, institutional coordination, communication design, and policy-data governance. Based on these results, the review suggests an AI-Enabled River Communication Framework (AERCF) to connect AI-enabled monitoring to knowledge generation, strategic communication, citizen engagement, behavioral change, and policy feedback. The review concludes that river rejuvenation programmes in the Global South need not only the use of AI tools but their intentional incorporation in a communication architecture that can turn environmental data into public trust and participation and sustain behavioural change. Implications for researchers, communicators, and policy makers involved in river governance are discussed, and a future research agenda that is focused on generative AI, Digital Twins, and Responsible AI governance is presented.