Use of decision support systems to improve dam planning and dam ...

While transboundary basins present challenges, they also present opportunities. Collective decision
making allows for achievement of benefits over and above those which would normally be available to
individual countries. Although countries may not benefit equally from pure maximization of collective
benefits, increasingly there are ways to offset this by viewing water in a broader context. Indeed, recent
thought in the international water movement has called for a shift from sharing water to sharing water’s
benefits and considering these benefits in a broader context of regional collaboration and economic
development (Sadoff and Grey 2002).
Within Africa there are numerous instances of states cooperating to build and operate dams on their shared
rivers (e.g., Orange, Senegal and Zambesi basins). Maximizing the benefits of water resources is increasingly
recognized to require basin-wide water management. In international basins, this calls for a transboundary
decision making framework typically manifested through an international agreement. In recent years,
there has been a significant increase in transboundary water agreements in Africa that have focused on the
development of equitable use of shared water resources and led to the formation of institutions to manage
international rivers (Giordano and Lautze 2009). Nonetheless, the majority of Africa’s transboundary basins
currently have no basin-level agreement in place.
DSSs can contribute in various ways to confidence-building between nations, the development of
international water agreements and improved management of water resources in transboundary basins.
They can do this by providing a mutually acceptable platform for information management and analyses of
water resource interventions within the basin. In an appropriate political and institutional environment, the
beneficial functions that DSSs can provide for transboundary basins are typically:
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• A knowledge base from which riparian countries can draw and to which they can contribute
information relevant to the sustainable development of water resources.
• A common basis for policy and strategic analyses, facilitating dialogue/ negotiations between riparian
states.
• A platform for communication, facilitating the joint identification of development strategies and the
coordination of responses to emergencies such as floods and droughts.
• A platform for identifying potential cooperative projects (including large dams) and the tangible
benefits, impacts and trade-offs that would accrue to each state from such projects.
• A tool for the integrated management of infrastructure (including large dams) throughout the basin
with the objective of maximizing benefits and minimizing costs for all the riparian countries.
Clearly, in transboundary basins the process of development and the manner of application are critical if
a DSS is to be useful, with the results accepted as credible and objective by all the riparian states. To increase
credibility, it is also important that DSSs developed for use in transboundary basins support the IWRM
principles of stakeholder and community involvement. Ideally, they should be able to respond to nonstate
as well as state actors requests for information in addressing transboundary issues. Furthermore, the
knowledge gained through application of DSSs should be made publicly available (Lee and Scurrah 2009).
Hence as much effort needs to go into the establishment of appropriate institutional arrangements as goes
into the technical aspects of the DSS development and use, if not more (see Appendix 1, Development of
DSSs in the Nile Basin).
Decisions pertaining to planning and operation of large dams made by individual states within
transboundary basins are rarely equitable nor, when viewed from the perspective of the entire basin, as effective
or efficient as they could be. The challenges in developing DSSs that will be accepted by all the riparian states
are manifold. However, when they can be implemented within an appropriate institutional framework, they
have an important role to play in building confidence, enhancing cooperation and maximizing the multiple
benefits that can be generated within a basin.