China
Africa
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Transboundary Lake Governance
Published in Velma I. Grover, Gail Krantzberg, Lake Governance, 2018
Velma I. Grover, Gail Krantzberg
A study (Lubner 2015) has shown that between 1990 and 2013, 52 international water treaties related to large lakes were implemented and out of this 24 focused mainly on joint management but only 4% of these treaties included enforcement mechanism. Other treaties focused mainly on water quality and quantity while none focused on border issues or ground water or recreation. Most of these treaties were signed during the 1990s (39) while the rest of the 13 treaties were implemented during the 2000s. Also, between 1990 and 2013, 53 international water conflicts were registered for the 17 of the 35 largest transboundary lakes but none of them was violent. Most of these conflicts were reported in Africa and Lake Malawi alone had 15 conflicts between Malawi and Tanzania. Out of these 53 reported conflicts, 20 were because of water quantity (mainly around Aral Sea and Lake Victoria), 14 were due to border issues (between Malawi and Tanzania). Although most of the treaties were signed in the 1990s, more conflicts (40 of the 53) were reported in 2000s. The study also concludes that having a treaty among riparian nations does not always influence conflict or cooperation, there are some external factors that will impact conflicts. These external factors include: location, political regime, population, and environmental variables; water scarcity; water mismanagement and governance (since most of the water conflicts relate to water allocation and water use) (Lubner 2015). The next sections discuss some of these elements as described by the authors of this book.
Water − state of the resource
Published in Amithirigala Widhanelage Jayawardena, Fluid Mechanics, Hydraulics, Hydrology and Water Resources for Civil Engineers, 2021
Amithirigala Widhanelage Jayawardena
Water conflicts can arise because of territorial disputes, competition over resources and/or political reasons. During the period 2000−2009, there had been 94 registered conflicts where water played a role (49 as a Trigger, 20 as a Weapon and 34 as a Casualty2).1The period 2010−2018 (up to May 2018) reported 263 registered conflicts (123 with water as a Trigger, 29 as a Weapon, and 133 as a Casualty) (WWDR, 2019).
Cooperative water-sharing agreements between highlands and drylands: the Tambo-Santiago-Ica river basin in Peru
Published in International Journal of Water Resources Development, 2023
Rosario Gómez, Hans-Peter Weikard
This paper analyses how water users’ welfare levels change when infrastructure investments are designed to foster cooperation. Water-sharing remains a challenge in the 21st century despite efforts to resolve conflicts. Growing population and economic development leading to increasing water demand are drivers of water conflicts. Moreover, climate variability threatens water supply (Dinar, 2015; Rahman et al., 2019). Therefore, water infrastructure investments are growing to satisfy water demand. Infrastructure investments have different impacts according to regions’ economic, social, ecological and institutional characteristics. They can affect the hydrological system, increase a river basin’s vulnerability to climate change and lead to conflicts (Qin et al., 2019; De Stefano et al., 2017). Conflicts are common in transboundary river basins. There are 310 international river basins, according to the updated Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database, home to 52% of world’s population (McCracken & Wolf, 2019). The main regions affected by water conflicts are Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia, where 32% of the world water conflicts are located (Pacific Institute, 2020).
From ‘merchants and ministers’ to ‘neutral brokers’? Water diplomacy aspirations by the Netherlands – a discourse analysis of the 2011 commissioned advisory report
Published in International Journal of Water Resources Development, 2022
Farhad Mukhtarov, Des Gasper, Aditya Alta, Neha Gautam, Maria Sattwika Duhita, Diego Hernández Morales
One key area within the water sector is conflict resolution and peace in transboundary water basins (e.g. Conca, 2006; Wolf, 1997). Efforts to build an international legal regime around transboundary waters have not been successful, leaving the field to a multitude of institutional initiatives and approaches that govern through norm-building and soft law (Biermann & Pattberg, 2012; Conca, 2006). An important field within this transnational activity is ‘water diplomacy’ – a multi- and bilateral engagement of nation-states and non-state actors in building institutions, channelling investment, promoting regional development and preventing, mediating and transforming water conflicts (Pohl et al., 2014; Pohl & Swain, 2017; Zeitoun et al., 2020a). In the absence of a strong multilateral regulatory framework, third parties such as individual states have more space for water diplomacy activities (e.g. Zeitoun et al., 2020b).
Water markets as coupled infrastructure systems: comparing the development of water rights and water markets in Heihe, Shiyang and Yellow Rivers
Published in Water International, 2019
Jesper Svensson, Dustin E. Garrick, Shaofeng Jia
Beginning in 1978, China experienced a trend of fiscal and administrative decentralization in the period of reform and opening up. A consequence of the reforms was greater autonomy for local officials. In 1978–1987, water policy in China gradually shifted from traditional water allocation for agriculture to an emphasis on industrial and urban development. With increasing water demands, water conflicts emerged. In 1949, China’s total water consumption was only 103.1 BCM, but by 1980 it had reached 443.7 BCM (Jia & Zhang, 2000). From 1949 to 1985 in the Heihe basin, the utilization ratio of surface water increased 19-fold, irrigated area expanded by 89.5%, and the area of desertified land increased by 4%, to 11% (Deng & Zhao, 2015). River discharge to the lower reaches decreased, and as a result, West and East Juyan Lakes dried up, in 1961 and 1992, respectively (Hu, Lu, Lin, Wang, & Guo, 2015). Meanwhile, allocation conflicts increased among both provinces and municipal-level jurisdictions in the Yellow River basin, leading the central government in 1987 to implement China’s first formal institutional arrangement for water allocation, the Yellow River Water Allocation Plan. The Yellow River Basin Commission allocated 37 BCM to the provinces, setting aside 21 BCM for sediment transportation and other ecological water uses. However, local circumvention of water allocation regulations persisted (Pietz, 2015).