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

or even local level, but add to this the potential
complexity of an international dynamic and the
situation becomes even more challenging.
Governance of international water resources
in South America is still nascent and has room for
improving its effectiveness in order to combat the
vulnerability issues that these basins face. If
governance is considered to be a comprehensive
system that includes all aspects of society—
political, economic, social, administrative
(Rogers 2002)—then the 38 international basins
on the continent are missing many aspects of
water governance. In this report’s collection of
international river basin collaborations (see
Appendix 1), for example, very few in South
America (only the Amazon, La Plata, and
Titicaca) have multinational initiatives that address
economic, environmental, social, and
institutional concerns. Of the rest, many have
one or two collaborations, but there are eleven
that have little or nothing and another dozen that
have only small international initiatives. This is
especially worrisome in basins such as the
Orinoco and the Essequibo, as they are the third
and fourth largest rivers in South America.
Waterfall, Parque Nacional Vincente Perez Rosales, Chile. Photo credit:
William M. Ciesla, Forest Health Management International, Bugwood.org.
In some areas, governance is difficult due to
political tensions between the basin-states. In the
Essequibo, for example, Venezuela and Guyana
are at odds over the location of the border
between the two nations (Hensel 1998). As a
result, management efforts are crippled by a
lack of political willingness. Other examples of
this can be seen between Peru and Ecuador,
which just ended wars over the delineation of
their borders, and between Chile and Bolivia,
concerning the Silala River (see below).
Without proper governance mechanisms in
place, which are more difficult to achieve on an
international level, transboundary river basins will
be more vulnerable to disputes between stakeholders
within those basins. Once a multifaceted
management program can be established, the
likelihood of conflict will be reduced.
3.2.2.2 Treaties
Of the 38 international water basins found in
South America, only 4 have international treaties
signed by the riparian nations (La Plata, Titicaca,
Amazon and Lagoon Mirim, see Map 6). The third
and fourth largest basins on the continent, the
Orinoco and Essequibo, both do not have
treaties. The treaties in the region have played
an important role in the attempt at mitigation of
conflict. In all four cases, after treaties have
been signed by the nations, river basin organizations
(RBOs) have followed (see Map 7 and
Appendix 1). The only basins with RBOs without
treaties are the relatively minor basins of Zapaleri,
Cullen, San Martin and Lake Fagnano, the last
three of which are found in the distant, almost
unpopulated region of Tierra del Fuego in
Patagonia. And, in looking at Map 8, it can be
seen that those basins with treaties also have
more collaborations between basin-states than
those which do not. This shows the importance
of treaties in the formation of RBOs within international
river basins in South America.
The Amazon River Basin is an example of
how this treaty-to-organization process has
functioned. The Amazon Cooperation Treaty was
signed in 1978 by all eight basin-states (Bolivia,
Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru,
Surinam, and Venezuela). The treaty’s main goals
were to promote the development of the basin in
a cooperative manner with an underlying theme
58 — Hydropolitical Vulnerability and Resilience along International Waters: Latin America and the Caribbean