scholarly journals Trans-boundary water conflicts between Bangladesh and India: water governance practice for conflict resolution

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Parven ◽  
MS Hasan
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Saline Water ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Theoretical Concept ◽  
Negotiation Process ◽  
Management Policy ◽  
Wicked Problem ◽  
Water Conflicts

Bangladesh and India Sharing fifty-four trans-boundary rivers water that flows from India to Bangladesh. Bangladesh is mostly dependent on India for their water and has no control over the water shed management policy of the rivers. Being a smaller, weaker military and economy than India, Bangladesh cannot influence the watershed management policies and face floods and water scarcity, reducing yield production and fish productivity, an ecological imbalance in estuarine areas, saline water intrusion in the southwestern part of Bangladesh and reduced navigation. Water governance is the combination of the political, social, economic and administrative system, which manage the water resources and provide services in the different level of society. Based on the water governance definition the researchers find out the different stakeholder in the management of water governance and the lack of practices of the theoretical concept of water governance and try to indicate the possibilities of the better solutions (Conflict or cooperation) of this trans-boundary water conflicts between both countries. The paper also compared the present negotiation process with different kinds of modes of wicked problem in water resource management. The study recommends few suggestions to minimize the conflict over the utilization of trans-boundary water resources management for example, a hydro-community like EU water framework Directive that is based on the soft power of peer review rather than a penalizing measure.Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. & Tech. 8 (1): 79-84, June, 2018

scholarly journals Ebbs and Flows of Authority: Decentralization, Development and the Hydrosocial Cycle in Lesotho

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cassandra L. Workman
Keyword(s):  
Resource Management ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Political Ecology ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Development Discourse ◽  
Management Responsibility ◽  
Government Provision

Dominant development discourse holds that water scarcity reflects geophysical limitations, lack of infrastructure or lack of government provision. However, this paper outlines the ways in which scarcity can only be fully explained in the context of development, specifically, neoliberal economic policies and related notions of good governance. Water is Lesotho’s primary natural resource, yet many of its inhabitants remain severely water insecure. Presently, decentralization and Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) are embraced in Lesotho as a philosophy and method to engage varied stakeholders and to empower community members. Using a water committee in Qalo, Lesotho as a case study, this paper explores the micro-politics of water governance. As individuals contest who is responsible for managing water resources for the village—by aligning themselves with traditional chiefs, elected officials, or neither—they transform or reinforce specific hydro-social configurations. While decentralized resource management aims to increase equity and local ownership over resources, as well as moderate the authority of traditional chiefs, water access is instead impacted by conflicts over management responsibility for water resources. Drawing on theories of political ecology and governmentality to extend recent scholarship on IWRM, this paper re-centers the political in water governance by situating local tensions within national policies and development agendas and demonstrating how scarcity is hydro-social.

Reallocation of Water Resources in the Arab Region

2019 ◽  
pp. 321-337
Author(s):  
Otieno Odhiambo Luther
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Policy Option ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
Equitable Distribution ◽  
Arab Region ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Governance Challenges

Water is an integral part of ecosystems. Water is essential to earth's living creatures and central to maintaining the earth's ecosystems. In most of the world, both water quantity and quality problems are becoming more acute, since the available water resources are being over-utilized and stressed beyond the sustainability point. The contemporary global water crises including inefficient use and lack of equitable distribution are mainly due to the crises of governance. Water governance emerged as a comprehensive framework by replacing all the existing paradigms including integrated water resource management. Though water governance focuses many aspects in ensuring sustainable use of water resources and its equitable distribution, reallocation of water resources may be the most appropriate policy option to achieve these objectives. Reallocation will systematically address the uneven distribution of water resources across the sectors and prevent excessive allocation of water to a particular sector. Based on secondary sources, this chapter analyzes the challenges involved in water governance in terms of water reallocation in the Arab countries where the allocation of water for agriculture is very high. Addressing water scarcity in the Arab region lies mainly in effectively managing the growing demand. Major water governance challenges with respect reallocation of water resources are tariff, metering, and billing, which led to the excessive use in an unprecedented manner.

scholarly journals Using the Freshwater Health Index to Assess Hydropower Development Scenarios in the Sesan, Srepok and Sekong River Basin

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 788 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Souter ◽  
Kashif Shaad ◽  
Derek Vollmer ◽  
Helen Regan ◽  
Tracy Farrell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Water Dynamics ◽  
Wicked Problem ◽  
Health Index ◽  
Hydropower Development ◽  
Development Scenarios

Sustainable water resource management is a wicked problem, fraught with uncertainties, an indeterminate scope, and divergent social values and interests among stakeholders. To facilitate better management of Southeast Asia’s transboundary Sesan, Sekong and Srepok (3S) River basin, we used the Freshwater Health Index (FHI) to diagnose the basin’s current and likely future level of freshwater health. We used the conditions for December 2016 as a baseline, where Ecosystem Vitality and Ecosystem Services scored 66 and 80, respectively, out of a possible 100, whilst Governance & Stakeholders scored 43. Thus, the 3S provided a range of desired ecosystem services, but there were signs of environmental stress as well as undeveloped water governance systems and limited stakeholder engagement. We also modelled four hydropower development scenarios and found that increasing development reduced the scores of a subset of indicators. This compromised the future ability of the 3S basin’s ecosystem to provide its current range of services. The FHI helped identify data deficiencies, illuminated important social dynamics, made ecosystem–human–water dynamics more understandable to stakeholders, and examined the long-term dynamics of the basin.

scholarly journals A Socio-Ecological System Analysis of Multilevel Water Governance in Nicaragua

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 1676
Author(s):  
Luis Montenegro ◽  
Jochen Hack
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
System Analysis ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
National Level ◽  
Ecological System ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Process Data ◽  
The Law

Nicaragua enacted its Water Law in 2007, with the Dublin Principles for sustainable water management and integrated water resources management as its guiding framework. Implementation of the law remains a challenge, but significant efforts have been made to roll out this new water resources framework, to improve water management by enhancing a multilevel water governance system. To analyze multilevel water governance in Nicaragua and diagnose stakeholders’ roles and compliance with the law, we applied a socio-ecological system framework and several methods of analysis to process data collected from 52 in-depth semistructured interviews conducted with key stakeholders in the water sector. We found that the major variables affecting multilevel water governance were social interests, administrative capacity, and political, economic, and legal arrangements. The results suggest that there is centralization at the national level, a tendency toward noncollective choice rules, little investment in water resources, and a lack of knowledge concerning conflict resolution mechanisms. For multilevel water governance, a lack of funds is the main social, economic, and political constraint, affecting interactions and outcomes. Nevertheless, there is great potential to improve water resource management in Nicaragua by enacting the self-funding schemes established in the law. Moreover, government institutions, users, and various networks are willing to participate and take action to implement the law.

scholarly journals Water Conflicts: From Ancient to Modern Times and in the Future

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 4237
Author(s):  
Andreas N. Angelakis ◽  
Mohammad Valipour ◽  
Abdelkader T. Ahmed ◽  
Vasileios Tzanakakis ◽  
Nikolaos V. Paranychianakis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Territorial Disputes ◽  
Water Conflicts ◽  
Running Water ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Water Wars ◽  
Emerging Trends ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Ancient Times

Since prehistoric times, water conflicts have occurred as a result of a wide range of tensions and/or violence, which have rarely taken the form of traditional warfare waged over water resources alone. Instead, water has historically been a (re)source of tension and a factor in conflicts that start for other reasons. In some cases, water was used directly as a weapon through its ability to cause damage through deprivation or erosion or water resources of enemy populations and their armies. However, water conflicts, both past and present, arise for several reasons; including territorial disputes, fight for resources, and strategic advantage. The main reasons of water conflicts are usually delimitation of boundaries, waterlogging (e.g., dams and lakes), diversion of rivers flow, running water, food, and political distresses. In recent decades, the number of human casualties caused by water conflicts is more than that of natural disasters, indicating the importance of emerging trends on water wars in the world. This paper presents arguments, fights, discourses, and conflicts around water from ancient times to the present. This diachronic survey attempts to provide water governance alternatives for the current and future.

scholarly journals Multi-Level Water Governance in The Tsavo Sub-Catchment, Kenya

2019 ◽  
pp. 21-34
Author(s):  
Francis Oremo ◽  
Richard Mulwa ◽  
Nicholas Oguge
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Resource ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Resource Governance ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Governance Arrangements

Water scarcity amid soaring demand poses challenges to sustainable development, particularly when set against the backdrop of a surging global population and climate change. Despite policies that require for the incorporation of multi-level water governance arrangements to support integrated and participatory processes and ensure sustainable and equitable use of water resources, over-allocation of water resources in the Tsavo sub-catchment of southern Kenya, due to competition and scarcity, remains a hindrance. This has led to the reallocation of water resources away from ecosystems to supply irrigation and other economic activities. This study uses Governance Assessment Tool (GAT) to analyze water resource governance regime in the Tsavo sub-catchment. The results show that sub-catchment water governance is influenced by dispersed multi-level actors, some of whom were not connected to hierarchy and whose interests were diverse and conflicting. This was hindering participatory decision-making and efforts to co-produce governance arrangements that are context-specific. Water resource management regulations were developed and implemented by the Water Resources Authority (WRA) with inadequate consultation and limited consideration of local priorities.

Water Governance and Management in Indus Basin - Challenges & Threats

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marium Sara Minhas Bandeali
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Policy ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
The State ◽  
Indus Basin

Water governance and management are important challenges for the River Indus Basin in Pakistan. Water governance refers to social, political and economic factors that influence water management. The water scarcity and water security are a major concern for the state to control its water resources. The study aims to give Sindh water policy by exploring the challenges to Indus Basin in managing water resources and to identify opportunities Indus Basin can look to improve water management. Interviews were conducted from water experts and analysts having 5 years’ experience or more in the water sector of Pakistan through a semi-structured self-developed questionnaire using purposive sampling technique and transcripts were analyzed using thematic content analysis. The findings show that increasing population, climatic change and rising demand of water are major challenges Indus is facing and Indus with time is getting water-scarce therefore need strong institutions, civil society and legislatures to ensure equitable distribution of water and maintain the ecosystem. The study emphasizes that water governance and management are necessary for sustainable use of water. Pakistan, the water stress country needs to address ‘governance’ at a wider scale to solve problems in the Indus Basin for the livelihood of people. The research will benefit the state, water experts, institutions as well as civil society to promote efficient use of water in Indus Basin.

scholarly journals Science Informed Policies for Managing Water

Hydrology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 66
Author(s):  
Daniel P. Loucks
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Water Resource ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Information Policy ◽  
Management Policy ◽  
Multiple Impacts ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Science Policy Interface ◽  
Management Policies

Water resource management policies impact how water supplies are protected, collected, stored, treated, distributed, and allocated among multiple users and purposes. Water resource policies influence the decisions made regarding the siting, design, and operation of infrastructure needed to achieve the underlying goals of these policies. Water management policies vary by region depending on particular hydrologic, economic, environmental, and social conditions, but in all cases they will have multiple impacts affecting these conditions. Science can provide estimates of various economic, ecologic, environmental, and even social impacts of alternative policies, impacts that determine how effective any particular policy may be. These impact estimates can be used to compare and evaluate alternative policies in the search for identifying the best ones to implement. Among all scientists providing inputs to policy making processes are analysts who develop and apply models that provide these estimated impacts and, possibly, their probabilities of occurrence. However, just producing them is not a guarantee that they will be considered by policy makers. This paper reviews various aspects of the science-policy interface and factors that can influence what information policy makers need from scientists. This paper suggests some ways scientists and analysts can contribute to and inform those making water management policy decisions. Brief descriptions of some water management policy making examples illustrate some successes and failures of science informing and influencing policy.

scholarly journals Mapping the Distribution of Water Resource Security in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region at the County Level under a Changing Context

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (22) ◽  
pp. 6463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li ◽  
Yin ◽  
Zhang ◽  
Croke ◽  
Guo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Resource ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Water Diversion ◽  
County Level ◽  
Populated Region ◽  
Water Resource Security ◽  
Resource Security

The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (Jingjinji) region is the most densely populated region in China and suffers from severe water resource shortage, with considerable water-related issues emerging under a changing context such as construction of water diversion projects (WDP), regional synergistic development, and climate change. To this end, this paper develops a framework to examine the water resource security for 200 counties in the Jingjinji region under these changes. Thus, county-level water resource security is assessed in terms of the long-term annual mean and selected typical years (i.e., dry, normal, and wet years), with and without the WDP, and under the current and projected future (i.e., regional synergistic development and climate change). The outcomes of such scenarios are assessed based on two water-crowding indicators, two use-to-availability indicators, and one composite indicator. Results indicate first that the water resources are distributed unevenly, relatively more abundant in the northeastern counties and extremely limited in the other counties. The water resources are very limited at the regional level, with the water availability per capita and per unit gross domestic product (GDP) being only 279/290 m3 and 46/18 m3 in the current and projected future scenarios, respectively, even when considering the WDP. Second, the population carrying capacity is currently the dominant influence, while economic development will be the controlling factor in the future for most middle and southern counties. This suggests that significant improvement in water-saving technologies, vigorous replacement of industries from high to low water consumption, as well as water from other supplies for large-scale applications are greatly needed. Third, the research identifies those counties most at risk to water scarcity and shows that most of them can be greatly relieved after supplementation by the planned WDP. Finally, more attention should be paid to the southern counties because their water resources are not only limited but also much more sensitive and vulnerable to climate change. This work should benefit water resource management and allocation decisions in the Jingjinji region, and the proposed assessment framework can be applied to other similar problems.

Exploring Northwest China's agricultural water-saving strategy: analysis of water use efficiency based on an SE-DEA model conducted in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province

2016 ◽  
Vol 74 (5) ◽  
pp. 1106-1115 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Mu ◽  
L. Fang ◽  
H. Wang ◽  
L. Chen ◽  
Y. Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Use Efficiency ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Water Demand ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Northwest China ◽  
Water Saving ◽  
Shaanxi Province ◽  
Agricultural Water ◽  
Use Efficiency

Worldwide, water scarcity threatens delivery of water to urban centers. Increasing water use efficiency (WUE) is often recommended to reduce water demand, especially in water-scarce areas. In this paper, agricultural water use efficiency (AWUE) is examined using the super-efficient data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach in Xi'an in Northwest China at a temporal and spatial level. The grey systems analysis technique was then adopted to identify the factors that influenced the efficiency differentials under the shortage of water resources. From the perspective of temporal scales, the AWUE increased year by year during 2004–2012, and the highest (2.05) was obtained in 2009. Additionally, the AWUE was the best in the urban area at the spatial scale. Moreover, the key influencing factors of the AWUE are the financial situations and agricultural water-saving technology. Finally, we identified several knowledge gaps and proposed water-saving strategies for increasing AWUE and reducing its water demand by: (1) improving irrigation practices (timing and amounts) based on compatible water-saving techniques; (2) maximizing regional WUE by managing water resources and allocation at regional scales as well as enhancing coordination among Chinese water governance institutes.

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