Transboundary Water Sharing: Confronting the Challenge of Growing Water Scarcity

2012 ◽  
pp. 46-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen E. Draper
Keyword(s):  
Water Scarcity ◽  
Transboundary Water ◽  
Water Sharing

scholarly journals Political Altruism of Transboundary Water Sharing

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anik Bhaduri ◽  
Edward B Barbier
Keyword(s):  
Natural Extension ◽  
Water Diversion ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ganges River ◽  
Transboundary Water ◽  
Water Sharing ◽  
Political Relations ◽  
Political Relationship ◽  
Political Boundaries ◽  
The Ganges

Abstract In the paper, using a political altruism model, we make an attempt to explain why an upstream country might agree to a treaty that recognizes and enforces the water claims of a downstream country. In a natural extension of the standard economic model, it is possible to explain the above phenomena, by allowing for altruism between countries. The altruistic concerns of the countries are dependent on other country's willingness to have a good political relationship. If both the countries maintain favorable political relations with one another, then the upstream country will care about the impacts of its water diversion on the downstream country's welfare. The paper also illustrates the case of water sharing of the Ganges River between India and Bangladesh. The Ganges River, like many other rivers in the world, ignores political boundaries. In Bangladesh, the final downstream country along the Ganges, freshwater availability depends on the share of water diverted by the upstream country, India. For decades, India and Bangladesh failed to resolve the water-sharing issues of the Ganges River. However, in 1996, both India and Bangladesh signed a major new agreement on water sharing (Ganges River Treaty) in an effort to resolve the dispute. Using the political altruism model developed in the paper, we examine why despite needing more water than is available under the treaty, India has adapted to shortages instead of resorting to conflict with Bangladesh.

Forging sustainable transboundary water-sharing agreements: barriers and opportunities

Water Policy ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 386-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank A. Ward
Keyword(s):  
Water Supply ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Flood Damage ◽  
Transboundary Water ◽  
International Rivers ◽  
Water Sharing ◽  
Use Patterns ◽  
The Face ◽  
Barriers And Opportunities

Few international water-sharing agreements have shown the flexibility to adjust to extended drought; fewer still provide safeguards for adaptation to modern climate variability. Yet, current conflicts over the development and use of transboundary rivers continue to motivate the search for negotiated water-sharing arrangements that can provide flexibility in the face of change. To avoid future conflicts, an agreement must include measures that allow for adaptation to changes in water supplies, population, climate, technology, infrastructure, and economic activity while also guiding water use patterns. The benefits of a flexible agreement can be a more predictable water supply for all riparians, greater incentives to develop needed water infrastructure and more open, transparent and accountable water institutions. Other benefits include increased food production, water security, environmental protection, reduced flood damage, better adaptation to the costs of extreme weather and variable climate, and a reduced need for complex legal, administrative and enforcement activities. This paper investigates ways to achieve sustainable transboundary water-sharing agreements. It investigates barriers to forging water-sharing agreements, describes errors that could undermine settlements and presents takeaway lessons from two North American agreements and one in south Asia. Finally, the paper proposes an approach by which information on headwater flows and historical use patterns could be used to allocate supplies between riparians that adapt to changes in water supply and demand. Outcomes from the implementation of structured, but flexible agreements could help guide future negotiated settlements for the worlds international rivers.

scholarly journals Water Scarcity and Regional Fragmentation in the Middle East

1969 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 177-205
Author(s):  
Alessandro Tinti
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Water Scarcity ◽  
Supply Management ◽  
Collective Identities ◽  
Transboundary Water ◽  
Economic Stability ◽  
Interstate Relations ◽  
Water Flows ◽  
And Control

The turmoil in the Middle East takes its roots in the sharp incongruence between collective identities and territorial boundaries, but the severe and growing water scarcity significantly affects both the interstate relations and the socio-economic stability of the domestic regimes. Consequently, the access, supply, management and control of water flows are a long-standing source of contention and regional polarization. Nevertheless, the sharing of water resources commands the signing of mutual agreements to determine the parties’ grade of exploitation, thus gradually opening to the institutionalization of a cooperative regime or patterns of joint governance. This article aims to provide a quantitative evaluation of the strategic water-related interactions at the interstate level across the Levant. The assessment provides an overview of the regional transboundary water relations  with the purpose of determining whether the Middle East is currently moving toward an increased regionalization or exacerbating the existing rivalries.

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