Transboundary Hydro-Governance

more countries and the aim of this chapter is to provide basic understanding of their hydrogeological characteristics. The typology of shared aquifers is reported firstly in terms of the location in space of national borders and different geological aquifer characteristics, such as porous, karst and crystalline formations. Relations between the boundaries of surface water basins and hydrogeological basins are also described. Then, the main steps for assessing and mapping transboundary aquifers are analysed. These are: aquifer delineation, hydrogeological description, classification, transboundary diagnostic analysis, and zoning. The need of sharing data and information between riparian countries and establishing a common view of the hydrogeological situation of shared aquifers is again a very important step in order to proceed with an effective governance of groundwater resources.

 

Chapter 3: Potential water conflicts and cooperation across political borders

Summary: Water is a key factor for socio-economic development of human societies as it is the main element for human and ecosystems survival, and play a major role in different economic activities, such as agricultural irrigation, energy, industrial production and environmental preservation. Various natural and man-made factors, such as physical or economic water scarcity, are sources of potential water conflicts between neighboring countries sharing common surface and groundwater resources. In this chapter, different types of conflicts are analysed as related to water quantity, water quality and water ecosystem problems. International water disputes and conflicts may be related to different socio-economic and political factors and in some extreme cases may lead to armed confrontation between countries. The main issue in this chapter is the investigation of different conflict prevention strategies and the ways to reverse potential conflicts to cooperation, also mentioning the paradoxical existence of cooperative situations without a political agreement. Well known examples of potential transboundary water conflicts and cooperation achievements are between US/Canada; US/Mexico; the Nile basin; Pakistan-India and the Indus; Tigris and Euphrates; Israel and its neighbors. For conflict resolution a new area called Water Diplomacy is recently playing an increasingly important role.

 

 

 PART 2: DEFINITION AND NEEDS OF AN EFFECTIVE TRANSBOUNDARY WATER GOVERNANCE



 

Chapter 4: Water governance definitions and recent challenges

Summary: Governance in various fields, like social, economic and political is generally a relatively new concept that is increasingly frequent, mainly in social and political fields. It becomes a very important and complex issue in the water sector, because water involves horizontally at different scales and various sectors different interconnected economic activities, such as food and energy, water supply and sanitation and environmental and ecologic preservation. In the frame of a new open market economy, dominated by global investments and privatisation of traditionally public institutions, water governance is becoming a challenging issue. In this chapter, the concept of water governance is analysed at national level. Even if no political borders exist at this scale, multiple barriers can be identified between national, regional and local administrations, different institutions and different groups of interest. After comparing multiple definitions of water governance mainly from UN and international organisations like UNDP, OECD and UNESCO, a distinction is made between water management, water policy and water governance. Different social mechanisms of decision making are analysed, including political entities, governmental institutions, state and private organisations, NGOs and groups of citizens with different interests. A distinction is made between actual water governance, which is varying from country to country and an effective or ideal water governance as a model for addressing challenges related to ethics, security, decision levels, actors'/stakeholders' participation, consultation, transparency and expression of various interests.

 

Chapter 5: Transboundary water governance: analytical framework

Summary: Transboundary surface and groundwater resources management should not only ensure the appropriate decision making for water allocation and effective management of shared water resources but also avoid potential conflicts between neighbouring countries. For implementing an effective transboundary governance structure, a cooperative framework between riparian countries must be in place, taking into account not only national legislation and policy but also the international water law and regulation. This includes national and international institutions, economical tools and political involvement together with the participation of stakeholders and various interest groups. This complicated multilevel framework across political borders is what we define by the term "transboundary water governance", dealing with the administration of internationally shared waters. In this chapter we differentiate between existing models of shared water governance and some effective or ideal models, which may lead to a "good" shared water governance. In this case, governments of nation-states exchange their monopoly of national policy and power by adopting and use the principles of international legislation and a common decision making process. Scientific data and knowledge, together with an appropriate legal and policy framework are the main elements of the analytical framework together with the interaction of different actors, such as transboundary institutions, NGOs, voluntary compliance, traditions and mental models, bureaucracy, conflict resolution mechanisms, political economy and use of information and communication tools.

 

Chapter 6: Integrating technical, legal and institutional instruments

Summary: In order to deal with the complexity of real world national and transboundary water related problems, where no distinction is made between different physical, technical and socio-economic processes, there is a need for the various disciplinary approaches to be integrated. Recent conceptual and methodological instruments for water resources management are first analysed, such as the concept of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), the regulatory framework of the European Union Water Framework Directive (EU-WFD) and economic tools e.g. cost-benefit analysis and public-private partnerships. A collaborative model for integrating various issues is introduced in this chapter.  The model is based on several progressive steps and may be adapted to any particular case study of transboundary waters. The process of integration could be facilitated in two main ways. Firstly, by taking into account a general framework for risk and uncertainty analysis in conflict resolution, where risks and benefits could be shared between riparian countries and "win-win" solutions to transboundary disputes can be achieved. Secondly, through education and capacity building, where special training programmes can show how multidisciplinary approaches can be coordinated in order to achieve an integrated view of a problem and effectively solve it in the real world. Multidisciplinary approaches are confronted to cultural and language differences, to international political and economic issues and to different legal national systems.

 

PART 3: TRANSBOUNDARY WATER GOVERNANCE IN PRACTICE

 

Chapter 7: Assessment and communication of benefits for promoting international cooperation

Summary: In this chapter, assessment in practice and communication to the public of different individual and mutual benefits from shared water resources management in transboundary situations is explained in order to enhance multilateral cooperation. Application of these tools in transboundary water management is very difficult to achieve for various reasons, such as differences between countries in technical standards and specifications for data collection and information sharing, lack of harmonisation in hydrological and socio-economic approaches, differences in socio-economic and cultural levels, lack of trust, conflicting objectives and priorities in relation to their history, sovereignty issues, possible territorial claims, and lack of political willingness.  In this chapter the assessment and communication of individual and mutual benefits is illustrated by two case studies, which have been developed or identified under some UNESCO initiatives, such as the UNESCO/HELP and UNESCO/ISARM programs and led to successful transboundary joint management agreements: the Mesta/Nestos transboundary river catchment shared between Bulgaria and Greece and the transboundary aquifer of the Geneva region, shared between Switzerland and France.

 

Chapter 8: Global, regional and local legal and regulatory instruments: case studies

Summary: For transboundary surface water resources (rivers and lakes), at the global level of International Law, there are two international conventions: the 1992 UNECE international water "convention on the protection and use of transboundary watercourses and international lakes", and the 1997 UN Convention "on the law of non-navigational uses of international watercourses". The first, also known as the "Helsinki Convention" was signed in 1992, entered into force in 1996 and amended in 2013 to allow inclusion to countries beyond the UNECE region. The second, although it plays an important role internationally, entered into force only in 2014 (ratification by 35 countries). Concerning transboundary groundwater resources, at the global level the UN draft articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers have been formulated and explained in this chapter. Also regional and multilateral agreements between countries are examined for the join management of both surface and groundwaters. The role of legal instruments for enhancing cooperation and joint management at regional and local level is illustrated in the case of the Sava River, shared between 5 countries in South Eastern Europe and also in the cases of the Nubian and North Sahara aquifers in Africa, as well as for the Guarani Aquifer in South America and a model of transboundary aquifer agreement between Mexico and the United States.

 

Chapter 9: The role of international joint institutions: examples of application

Summary: For implementing effective transboundary water resources governance, the creation of International River Basin Organisations (IRBOs) is highly recommended. At national level, the establishment of RBOs is the main institutional tool stated by the EU-WFD in order to apply the IWRM process. In this chapter, the structure, legal base, decision-making processes and other particular conditions are examined in order to create effective international institutions. Historically, the example of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in the USA, although operating in a non international context, is frequently cited as the prototype for enhancing not only successful water resources governance between different states, but also for developing sustainable socio-economic development in the region. In fact, water is directly connected to different economic activities, such as food, energy, industry, tourism and is the basis for environmental protection and ecosystem preservation and water governance is the way water can facilitate the development of all these economic sectors. In this chapter examples of good IRBOs are described and analysed in order to investigate their properties and factors for success. Examples are: the International Committee for the Danube River (ICPDR), the International Joint Commission (IJC) between Canada and the United States, the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) between the United States and Mexico, the "Organisation de Mise en Valeur du Fleuve Sénégal" (OMVS), the Mekong River Commission (MRC) and the recent agreement concerning the Disi aquifer between Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

 

PART 4: DEVELOPING A SHARED VISION

 

Chapter 10: Negotiation, conflict resolution, communication and public participationSummary: Water resources governance in internationally shared river basins and transboundary groundwater aquifers can be effective if it is based on cooperation, peaceful resolution of potential conflicts and the development of a common vision between riparian countries. In this final chapter, are presented useful tools of water diplomacy, a relatively new branch of diplomacy for political scientists, engineers, scientists and diplomats dealing with international waters. These include the art of negotiating, the resolution of potential disputes and the formulation of the best alternative to a negotiated agreement (BATNA). Public participation being an important aspect of water governance and conflict resolution, voluntary/advisory policy instruments and local self-governance issues are discussed and also different ways on how they can be adapted to transboundary water governance are presented. Ethical issues in negotiation and how to bridge the gap in human resources capacities across political boundaries are very important prerequisites in order to achieve a common vision and set common long term targets of sustainable transboundary water resources governance.



 

CONCLUSION

As a conclusion, after a comparative analysis of Parts 2 and 3, lessons learnt are drawn on how to achieve a shared vision of transboundary water governance and establish efficient common institutions in order to implement such governance in practice.