Challenges to cooperation on water utilisation in the Southern Africa region

Water Policy ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 554-569 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nola Redelinghuys ◽  
André J. Pelser
Keyword(s):  
Policy Implementation ◽  
Water Relations ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Transboundary Water ◽  
National Sovereignty ◽  
The Future ◽  
Water Issues ◽  
Regional Perspective

Transboundary water relations in Southern Africa are governed by an elaborate and intricate policy framework. In spite of this framework, the future of sustained cooperation on water utilisation in the region is still precarious and uncertain. Some subtle and unresolved dilemmas that may constrain future cooperation need to be dealt with. Two of these underlying dilemmas, namely the importance attached to national sovereignty and the strategic nature of water in the region, are explored in this article. These dilemmas form critical undercurrents that steer nations away from cooperation, cause stagnation in policy implementation and hamper progress in facilitating sustained solutions in transboundary water issues. Stemming from this background, this article argues for (a) the importance of a stronger regional perspective on water to steer countries away from the need to protect sovereign interests and (b) addressing the nature of current power relations in the region where water is concerned.

scholarly journals National Sovereignty Versus Transboundary Water Cooperation: Can You See International Law Reflected in the Water?

AJIL Unbound ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 115 ◽  
pp. 178-182
Author(s):  
Francesco Sindico
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Transboundary Water ◽  
National Sovereignty ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
Aquifer System ◽  
Water Cooperation ◽  
Guarani Aquifer ◽  
International Water Law ◽  
Downstream Flow ◽  
Transboundary Water Cooperation

Could Turkey dam the Tigris and Euphrates and deprive its downstream neighbors of vital water resources? Could Brazil over-pump the Guarani Aquifer System to the detriment of the other aquifer states? Could Egypt put pressure on upstream Nile states and prevent them from developing river related infrastructure that might limit downstream flow? International law in the field of transboundary water cooperation has evolved and would appear to condemn unilateral practices such as the ones suggested above. However, hydro politics and the lack of reception of international water law instruments by many countries sometimes make it difficult to see international law properly reflected in the management of major rivers, lakes and aquifers around the world. In this essay, I first highlight what international law dictates when it comes to the tension between national sovereignty and transboundary water cooperation. I then explore how this tension plays out in the three examples noted above. Due to limited acceptance of the existing international, bilateral, or regional legal instruments, the resolution of the tension between national sovereignty and transboundary water cooperation will often be left to customary international law.

scholarly journals Electric Mobility in Cities: The Case of Vienna

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 217
Author(s):  
Amela Ajanovic ◽  
Marina Siebenhofer ◽  
Reinhard Haas
Keyword(s):  
Electric Vehicles ◽  
Future Development ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Road Transport ◽  
Electric Mobility ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
The Future ◽  
Historical Developments

Environmental problems such as air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions are especially challenging in urban areas. Electric mobility in different forms may be a solution. While in recent years a major focus was put on private electric vehicles, e-mobility in public transport is already a very well-established and mature technology with a long history. The core objective of this paper is to analyze the economics of e-mobility in the Austrian capital of Vienna and the corresponding impact on the environment. In this paper, the historical developments, policy framework and scenarios for the future development of mobility in Vienna up to 2030 are presented. A major result shows that in an ambitious scenario for the deployment of battery electric vehicles, the total energy demand in road transport can be reduced by about 60% in 2030 compared to 2018. The major conclusion is that the policies, especially subsidies and emission-free zones will have the largest impact on the future development of private and public e-mobility in Vienna. Regarding the environmental performance, the most important is to ensure that a very high share of electricity used for electric mobility is generated from renewable energy sources.

Conclusion: Detroit and the future of the city

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Doucet
Keyword(s):  
Power Relations ◽  
Critical Assessment ◽  
One Dimensional ◽  
Marginal Groups ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Many ◽  
The City

In this concluding chapter, the main strands of through within the book are brought together. The main narrative of Detroit as a symbol of urban failure is briefly discussed before shifting to a critical assessment of the city’s emerging narrative: that of comeback and renaissance. Both these one-dimensional narratives are treated as problematic and critiqued by using relevant chapters from the book. Two main policy and political insights are highlighted. The first is that much of Detroit’s decline has been a factor produced outside its boundaries so its solutions need to be thought of at these geographic scales. The second relates to working towards including different voices and perspectives about the future of the city and rethinking how power relations can give marginal groups real input into the systems which shape their lives. The many interviews and perspectives in this book provide pathways towards inclusive, fair and just cities.

Digging into “Resource War” Beliefs

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 26-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Le Billon
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Resource Control ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
War Narratives ◽  
Water Wars ◽  
The Future ◽  
Widespread Belief ◽  
Multiple Causes

Water wars, oil conflicts and blood diamonds. Three terms reflecting a widespread belief that people fight over resources. Is this belief backed by evidence? What power relations does such a belief reflect and shape? If natural resources have a conspicuous presence in accounts of armed conflicts, the term ‘resource wars’ represents a gross oversimplification. Strategically deployed to prepare for ‘the wars of the future’ or to shame belligerents by exposing their ‘greedy’ motives, ‘resource war’ narratives often overlook the multiple causes of conflict and alternative options to militarized resource control. A main threat from ‘resource wars’ narratives is that they become self-fulfilling prophecies. As such, ‘resource wars’ studies should first be self-reflexive, and then strive to encompass the broad causes, specific historical contexts, and wide variety of effects that resource sectors have on the environment and social relations.

scholarly journals The peaceful resolution of U.S.-Mexican transboundary water disputes

2007 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alyssa M. Neir ◽  
Michael E. Campana
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Free Trade Agreement ◽  
Formal System ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
The United States ◽  
Transboundary Water ◽  
The North ◽  
International Boundary ◽  
Water Issues ◽  
The U.S

To deal with boundary and transboundary water issues along their border, the United States and Mexico established the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) in 1889. Initially dealing only with surface water flows, its flexibility permitted changes such that groundwater and water quality issues could be addressed. In 1994, the U.S., Mexico, and Canada adopted the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) primarily to facilitate trade, but which can govern water as an article of commerce. Both NAFTA and the IBWC have been instrumental in promoting peaceful solutions to water issues. The article examines three cases: (1) Mexico's protesting of a U.S. plan to line the All-American Canal on the Mexico-California; (2) the underdelivery of Mexican Rio Grande water to the U.S. state of Texas; and (3) the case of an aquifer entirely within Mexico whose supply is being stressed because of a shift in agricultural production prompted by NAFTA. The article concludes that both countries should: (1) develop a more formal system for groundwater issues and (2) exercise vigilance with respect to NAFTA's ability to treat water solely as an economic good.

Representation of the Angolan low and Southern African Summer Precipitation in the CORDEX and CMIP5 models. 

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabina Abba-Omar ◽  
Francesca Raffaele ◽  
Erika Coppola ◽  
Daniela Jacob ◽  
Claas Teichmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Summer Precipitation ◽  
Precipitation Variability ◽  
Cmip5 Models ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
The Future ◽  
Rainfall Patterns ◽  
The Impact

<p>The impact of climate change on precipitation over Southern Africa is of particular interest due to its possible devastating societal impacts. To add to this, simulating precipitation is challenging and models tend to show strong biases over this region, especially during the Austral Summer (DJF) months. One of the reasons for this is the mis-representation of the Angolan Low (AL) and its influence on Southern Africa’s Summer precipitation in the models. Therefore, this study aims to explore and compare different models’ ability to capture the AL and its link to precipitation variability as well as consider the impact climate change may have on this link. We also explore how the interaction between ENSO, another important mode of variability for precipitation, and the Angolan Low, impact precipitation, how the models simulate this and whether this could change in the future under climate change. </p><p>We computed the position and strength of the AL in reanalysis data and compared these results to three different model ensembles with varying resolutions. Namely, the CORDEX-CORE ensemble (CCORE), a new phase of CORDEX simulations with higher resolutions (0.22 degrees), the lower resolution (0.44 degrees) CORDEX-phase 1 ensemble (C44) and the CMIP5 models that drive the two RCM ensembles. We also used Self Organizing Maps to group DJF yearly anomaly patterns and identify which combination of ENSO and AL strength scenarios are responsible for particularly wet or dry conditions. Regression analysis was performed to analyze the relationships between precipitation and the AL and ENSO. This analysis was repeated for near (2041-2060) and far (2080-2099) future climate and compared with the present to understand how the strength of the AL, and its connection to precipitation variability and ENSO, changes in the future. </p><p>We found that, in line with previous studies, models with stronger AL tend to produce more rainfall. CCORE tends to simulate a stronger AL than C44 and therefore, higher precipitation biases. However, the regression analysis shows us that CCORE is able to capture the relationship between precipitation and the AL strength variability as well as ENSO better than the other ensembles. We found that generally dry rainfall patterns over Southern Africa are associated with a weak AL and El Nino event whereas wet rainfall patterns occur during a strong AL and La Nina year. While the models are able to capture this, they also tend to show more neutral ENSO conditions associated with these wet and dry patterns which possibly indicates less of a connection between AL strength and ENSO than seen in the observed results. Analysis of the future results indicates that the AL weakens, this is shown across all the ensembles and could be a contributing factor to some of the drying seen. These results have applications in understanding and improving model representation of precipitation over Southern Africa as well as providing some insight into the impact of climate change on precipitation and some of its associated dynamics over this region.</p>

“Lex Lata” and “de lege Ferenda” for the R&D Law of Turkey

2013 ◽  
pp. 307-331
Author(s):  
Serdar Türkeli
Keyword(s):  
Policy Implementation ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
General Framework ◽  
Technology Development ◽  
Nature Of Technology ◽  
Adaptive Policy ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
Risk Uncertainty

In this chapter, the content sophistication (legislative-executive and techno-economic conception and implementation) of the R&D Law No. 5746 of Turkey is analyzed by the constructed general framework of reference for content sophistication analysis with respect to the framing principles of neo-classical (optimizing) and evolutionary (adaptive) policy making and policy implementation approaches (Metcalfe, 1995) through their distinct underlying conceptions and implementations regarding to the “nature of technology,” “using, creating, diffusing technology and knowledge,” “specificity, variety, and mode of transfer,” “externalities,” and “risk/uncertainty” (Lall & Teubal, 1998). According to the results of the analysis, it is shown that, for the time being, the R&D Law No. 5746 of Turkey exhibits features of neo-classical (optimizing) policy making frames from conception to implementation in legislative-executive and techno-economic spheres of research and technology development. In comparison to these neoclassical features, features of evolutionary (adaptive) policymaking frames in other economies around the world are exemplified separately. By concentrating on “Iter Legis”: “path that a law takes from its conception to its implementation,” this chapter aims to contribute to discussions and recommendations on “Lex Lata”: “the current law” and “de lege Ferenda”: “future law” for R&D and innovation in any country where “the future cannot be predicted, but futures can be invented” (Gabor, 1963) through legislative-executive terms of techno-economic demand and imagination.

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