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

Wave pattern in silty soils on La Plata River beach. Photo credit: Rolando León.
major cities such as Buenos Aires, Asunción, and
São Paulo, irrigation, transport, hydroelectric
projects, industry/mining and an effluent disposal
site (Anton 1996). With such a variety of needs
required of the basin, it is difficult to optimize the
use of waters.
In looking at the countries within the basin
and the dependence they have on waters that
TABLE 3.3 LA PLATA RIVER BASIN INFORMATION.
AREA OF BASIN IN COUNTRY
COUNTRIES KM 2 % POPULATION
Brazil 1,378,800 46.67 39,600,000
Argentina 818,500 27.71 9,910,000
Paraguay 399,800 13.53 5,280,000
Bolivia 245,400 8.31 1,470,000
Uruguay 111,200 3.76 728,000
Total 2,954,200
Annual Discharge: 736 km 3
Climate: Temperate (58%), Tropical (32%), Dry (8%), Polar (2%)
Management Institution: Intergovernmental Coordinating
Committee (CIC) for the La Plata Basin
originate outside their borders (see Map 6b),
all but Brazil receive between 76% and 100%
of their waters from other nations. This makes
Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay
more vulnerable to changes that may occur in
the system.
Other issues that create higher hydropolitical
vulnerability are flooding (San Martin
2002) and the amount of
contamination in many of
the branches and reservoirs
of the La Plata (Tundisi et
al. 1998). Given the
factors in the above
paragraphs, the possibilities
of risk for conflict
are very high, especially
given the institutional
difficulties outlined below.
The future project of
the Hidrovía, a proposed
dredging and straightening
of the Paraguay-Paraná
Rivers for improved
navigation, has also
increased the risk of
conflict, as stakeholders
disagree about the effect
68 — Hydropolitical Vulnerability and Resilience along International Waters: Latin America and the Caribbean