Legal aspects of transboundary water management: An analysis of the intergovernmental institutional arrangements in the Okavango River Basin

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 391-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Goemeone E.J. Mogomotsi ◽  
Patricia K. Mogomotsi ◽  
Ketlhatlogile Mosepele
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Legal Aspects ◽  
Institutional Arrangements ◽  
Effective Management ◽  
Transboundary Water ◽  
Potential Source ◽  
Okavango River ◽  
Transboundary Water Management ◽  
Transboundary Watercourses

AbstractThe Okavango River Basin is a transboundary basin which serves as an important source of water resources for three riparian Southern African states, namely Angola, Botswana, and Namibia. If not properly managed, the Okavango River Basin is a potential source of conflict amongst the three countries. In order to reduce the likelihood of disputes among riparian states, the Governments of Angola, Botswana, and Namibia have signed and ratified an agreement establishing the institutional framework for the management of the shared water resources. This article discusses the legal aspects of the institutional arrangements in the Okavango River Basin. It highlights the importance of river basin organizations in the effective management of transboundary watercourses. This article concludes that the institutional arrangements between the riparian states with access to the Okavango River provide the framework for resolving possible disputes peacefully. Further, it concludes that these institutional arrangements promote co-operation over the management of the shared water resources.

scholarly journals Flood Risk Management with Transboundary Conflict and Cooperation Dynamics in the Kabul River Basin

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 1513
Author(s):  
Yar M. Taraky ◽  
Yongbo Liu ◽  
Ed McBean ◽  
Prasad Daggupati ◽  
Bahram Gharabaghi
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Risk Management ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Hydraulic Modeling ◽  
Flood Risk Management ◽  
Flood Routing ◽  
Transboundary Water ◽  
Transboundary Water Management ◽  
Kabul River

The Kabul River, while having its origin in Afghanistan, has a primary tributary, the Konar River, which originates in Pakistan and enters Afghanistan near Barikot-Arandu. The Kabul River then re-enters Pakistan near Laalpur, Afghanistan making it a true transboundary river. The catastrophic flood events due to major snowmelt events in the Hindu Kush mountains occur every other year, inundating many major urban centers. This study investigates the flood risk under 30 climate and dam management scenarios to assess opportunities for transboundary water management strategy in the Kabul River Basin (KRB). The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is a watershed-scale hydraulic modeling tool that was employed to forecast peak flows to characterize flood inundation areas using the river flood routing modelling tool Hydrologic Engineering Center - River Analysis System -HEC-RAS for the Nowshera region. This study shows how integrated transboundary water management in the KRB can play a vital catalyst role with significant socio-economic benefits for both nations. The study proposes a KRB-specific agreement, where flood risk management is a significant driver that can bring both countries to work together under the Equitable Water Resource Utilization Doctrine to save lives in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. The findings show that flood mitigation relying on collaborative efforts for both upstream and downstream riparian states is highly desirable.

Emergency water supply decision-making of transboundary river basin considering government–public perceived satisfaction

2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 381-401
Author(s):  
Weiwei Wang ◽  
Haiwei Zhou ◽  
Lidan Guo
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Supply ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Transboundary Water ◽  
The Public ◽  
Transboundary Water Resources ◽  
Perceived Satisfaction ◽  
Emergency Water Supply

The emergency supply of transboundary water resources is a prominent problem affecting the social and economic development of basin countries. However, current water supply decisions on transboundary water resources may ignore the psychological perception of multi-stakeholders, and the evolution of emergencies increases the uncertainty of decision making. Both factors would lead to the low acceptance of water-related decisions. Utility satisfaction, perceived losses, and quantity satisfaction were selected in this paper to identify the perceived satisfaction of upstream governments, downstream governments, and the public, respectively, over multiple decision-making stages. A modeling framework combining prospect theory and the multi-stage multi-objective programming methodology was then developed to measure the perceived satisfaction of different stakeholders in a watershed under emergency. A two-stage NSGA-II and TOPSIS based approach was adopted to find the optimal compromise solution to solve the model. The framework was applied in the Lancang–Mekong River basin to provide suggestions to decision makers. Upstream decision makers must choose a moderate proportional fairness degree when making emergency decisions to maximize the perceived satisfaction of all stakeholders. Meanwhile, the perceived loss of downstream countries with low water demand should be considered first in the formulation of emergency water supply plans. Furthermore, although water supply from upstream countries can improve perceived water quantity satisfaction of downstream publics, additional actions must still be taken to change the traditional concepts of the public.

Summary on River Basin Water Resources Allocation Practice and Institutional Arrangements of China

2012 ◽  
Vol 212-213 ◽  
pp. 489-492
Author(s):  
Yuan Yuan Gao ◽  
Xin Yi Xu ◽  
Xiao Lin Yin
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Water Allocation ◽  
Institutional Arrangements ◽  
Resources Allocation ◽  
Social Stability ◽  
Water Resources Allocation ◽  
Resources Management ◽  
The Social ◽  
Basin Water

Formulating and implementing river basin water resources allocation scheme is one of the most crucial measures to promote orderly development, efficient utilization and management, reasonable allocation of water resources. Clarifying water share for each region in a river basin and perfecting water resources allocation system can effectively contribute to achieve the social stability, eliminate the water use contradiction among different regions, realize sustainable water resources utilization and eco-social development, guarantee environment flow. It also conforms to the strictest water resources management system proposed and carried out at present of China. In order to make the readers better understand water allocation done or being done in China, river basin water resources allocation practice was summarized in this study. Institutional arrangements related to water resources allocation in China was also been summed up.

Transboundary river basin organizations in Africa: assessing the secretariat

Water Policy ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 1053-1069 ◽  
Author(s):  
Davison Saruchera ◽  
Jonathan Lautze
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Transboundary Water ◽  
Transboundary River ◽  
Transboundary River Basin ◽  
Transboundary Water Management ◽  
Transboundary Basins ◽  
Governance Instruments

Secretariats are an increasingly common feature in Africa's transboundary river basin organizations (RBOs). Non-secretariat-based forms of transboundary RBOs nonetheless also exist, and such forms of cooperation have often functioned effectively. These realities drive questions about the rationale and role for secretariats. This paper employs two approaches to compare secretariat-based RBOs vis-à-vis RBOs without secretariats in Africa. First, we compared the degree to which five governance instruments, determined to enable effective transboundary water management, are contained in treaties creating secretariat-based RBOs versus treaties creating non-secretariat-based RBOs. Second, the costs and benefits of six African transboundary RBOs – three with secretariat and three without – were compared based on a survey of regular costs and volume and number of projects. Key findings are that RBOs with secretariats have achieved stronger governance and secured more investment than RBOs without secretariats. Costs associated with operating secretariats appear justified by their benefits. These findings help to lay an improved basis for selecting desired models of RBOs in Africa's transboundary basins.

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