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

Sudden storm sends tourists running for cover, Machu Picchu, Peru. Photo credit: Keith M. Davis,.
water basins of South America and how the
people are forced to live within them. This
climatic phenomenon causes periods of an
abundance of water and then a lack of water.
Even though these variations in the climate are
expected, as the region has been experiencing
these patterns for thousands of years, slight
variations from the normal rainfall trigger either
floods or droughts, wreaking havoc with local
populations’ economies and general safety.
Several international basins in South America
suffer natural hazards on a regular basis. Floodprone
areas are primarily found in many of the
tributaries of the Amazon, in the La Plata and
Orinoco Rivers (San Martin 2002), but are not
exclusive to these basins. Even Lake Titicaca, with
its large size, has been subjected to floods in the
past two decades (Revollo et al. 2003).
With climate change influencing weather
patterns all over the world, the extreme events that
occur in South America are only going to make
the international basins of the continent more
vulnerable unless physical mitigation efforts, such
as dams and floodways, and policy changes, such
as prohibiting house construction in hazardous
areas, are made by the governments and institutions
that manage these shared bodies of water.
3.2.2 Institutions
3.2.2.1 Governance
Peter Rogers (2002) defines governance as “the
capability of a social system to mobilize energies,
in a coherent manner, for the sustainable development
of water resources.” This is difficult
enough when dealing with issues on a national
Water station, Colombia, photo credit: USAID.
Chapter 3. Hydropolitical Vulnerability, South America — 57