Latin America; in English (pdf) - Transboundary Freshwater Dispute ...

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Young woman works construction in Padre Nuestro in the Dominican Republic, a new housing development with running water and electricity, aimed at replacing a settlement without water and sewage infrastructure located above a critical aquifer. . Photo: Henry Welhouse/USAID elhouse/USAID. xvi
CHAPTER 1. HYDROPOLITICAL VULNERABILITY AND RESILIENCE: SERIES INTRODUCTION Aaron T. Wolf Water management is, by definition, conflict management. Postel (1999) describes the roots of the problem: Water, unlike other scarce, consumable resources, is used to fuel all facets of society, from biologies to economies to aesthetics and spiritual practice. Moreover, it fluctuates wildly in space and time, its management is usually fragmented, and it is often subject to vague, arcane, and/or contradictory legal principles. There is no such thing as managing water for a single purpose—all water management is multi-objective and based on navigating competing interests. Within a nation these interests include domestic users, agriculturalists, hydropower generators, recreators, and environmentalists—any two of which are regularly at odds—and the chances of finding mutually acceptable solutions drop exponentially as more stakeholders are involved. Add international boundaries, and the chances decrease exponentially yet again (Elhance 1999). Surface and groundwater that cross international boundaries present increased challenges to regional stability because hydrologic needs can often be overwhelmed by political considerations. While the potential for paralyzing disputes is especially high in these basins, history shows that water can catalyze dialogue and cooperation, even between especially contentious riparians. There are 263 rivers around the world that cross the boundaries of two or more nations, and untold number of international groundwater aquifers. The catchment areas that contribute to these rivers comprise approximately 47% of the land surface of the earth, include 40% of the world’s population, and contribute almost 80% of freshwater flow (Wolf et al. 1999). Twenty-five of these international or transboundary basins cover some 37% of the land area of seven nations in Central America. Within each international basin, allocations from environmental, domestic, and economic users increase annually, while the amount of freshwater in the world remains roughly the same as it has been throughout history. Given the scope of the problems and the resources available to address them, avoiding water conflict is vital. Conflict is expensive, disruptive, and interferes with efforts to relieve human suffering, reduce environmental degradation, and achieve economic growth. Developing the capacity to monitor, predict, and preempt transboundary water conflicts, particularly in developing countries, is key to promoting human and environmental security in international river basins, regardless of the scale at which they occur. 1.1 HYDROPOLITICAL VULNERABILITY AND RESILIENCE In general, concepts of “resilience” and “vulnerability” as related to water resources are often assessed within the framework of “sustainability,” (Blaikie et al. 1994), and relate to the ability of bio-physical systems to adapt to change (e.g., Gunderson and Pritchard 2002). As the sustainability discourse has broadened to include human systems in recent years, so too has work been increasingly geared towards identifying indicators of resilience and vulnerability within this broader context (e.g., Bolte et al. 2004; Lonergan et al. 2000; Turner 2003). In parallel, dialogue on “security” has migrated from traditional issues of war and peace toward also beginning to incorporate the human-environment relationship in the relatively new field of “environmental security” (see UNEP 2004; Vogel and O’Brien 2004). Chapter 1. Series Introduction — 1
Page 5: Copyright © 2007, United Nations E
Page 8 and 9: CHAPTER 3. HYDROPOLITICAL VULNERABI
Page 10 and 11: MAPS Map 1 (A) Climate regions ....
Page 13 and 14: PREFACE Wherever a major river, lak
Page 15 and 16: FOREWORD During the 2002 World Summ
Page 17: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project, exem
Page 21 and 22: Figure 1.2 International river basi
Page 23 and 24: a more accurate gauge of hydropolit
Page 25 and 26: Scientist conducting ecological res
Page 27 and 28: The great waterfall of Iguazú, on
Page 29 and 30: Canal of Artibonite River, Haiti. T
Page 31 and 32: Jaribu storks, Pantanal (Brazil), P
Page 33 and 34: Ricefield with water buffalo and eg
Page 37 and 38: TABLE 2.2 INTERNATIONAL RIVER BASIN
Page 39 and 40: Haitian people who live in the hill
Page 41 and 42: Río Goascorán en el puesto fronte
Page 43 and 44: El lago cerce de Tehscall, El Salva
Page 45 and 46: Verrettes waterfall, Haiti. Photo c
Page 47 and 48: Landslide damage in the aftermath o
Page 49 and 50: The Cimarron project has provoked s
Page 51 and 52: Damage along Choluteca River in the
Page 53 and 54: 2.6 GOVERNANCE IN INTERNATIONAL RIV
Page 55 and 56: TABLE 2.9 CENTRAL AMERICA AND THE W
Page 57 and 58: Figure 2.2 Lempa River Basin. trans
Page 59 and 60: Lining up for water in the aftermat
Page 61 and 62: In the aftermath of tropical storm
Page 65 and 66: Paraná River beach in Empedrado, C
Page 67 and 68: Boat houses, Amazon. Photo credit:
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Washing clothes, Amazon. Photo cred
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Sawmill on Amazon, photo credit: Gr
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Confluence of Iguazu and Paraná Ri
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Sudden storm sends tourists running
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In the semi-arid “backlands” of
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“Fish sold here, 24 hours.” Fis
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Woman earns income by selling craft
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Public infrastructure project (road
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high population residing within the
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Uruguay River merging into Rio de l
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issues and not in others. The const
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Urubamba River, Peru. Photo credit:
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Seaplane lands near shipping docks,
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Uruguay River seen from Argentina c
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ATLAS OF HYDROPOLITICAL VULNERABILI
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A B Map 2 (A) Groundwater Aquifers.
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SOCIOECONOMIC AND GEOPOLITICAL PARA
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INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY A B Map 6 (A
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A B Map 8 (A) Institutional Capacit
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APPENDICES Appendices — 89
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APPENDIX 1. INTERNATIONAL FRESHWATE
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AMAZON * Total area: 5,866,100 km 2
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CANDELARIA Total area: 12,800 km 2
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COATAN ACHUTE Total area: 2000 km 2
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HONDO Total area 14,600.00 km 2 Are
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LAKE TITICACA-POOPO SYSTEM Total ar
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LA PLATA * Total area: 2,954,500 km
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Comisión Administradora del Río d
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MARONI * Total area: 65,000 km 2 Ar
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PEDERNALES Total area: 400 km 2 Are
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SIXAOLA Total area: 2,900 km 2 Area
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USUMACINTA- GRIJALVA Total area: 12
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LA PLATA A short section of the bou
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Participating countries: Dominican
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Participating countries: Argentina,
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Uruguay to implement their shared v
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Plan Trifinio The Plan Trifinio con
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Participating countries: Costa Rica
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USUMACINTA-GRIJALVA Red de Investig
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LA PLATA Power Plant Dona Francisca
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REFERENCES Agencia Gráfica del Sur
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egional Environmental Profile. Inte
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INDEX OF BASIN NAMES Amazon .......
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