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

Uruguay River merging into Rio de la Plata (forming the Delta, together with the Paraná River). Photo credit: Rolando León.
such a project will have on the integrity of the
basin. The project is designed to allow large
barge ships to travel to and from the landlocked
countries of Bolivia and Paraguay. While the
economic incentives are large for some, local
communities and environmentalists feel the
impact will be negative (Wolf 1999).
The geopolitical ramifications of such a
project are also very important and give the
opportunity for increased cooperation between
the nations. This would promote regional and
economic development and integration where
the agricultural intensive countries of Paraguay
and Bolivia would be able to export their goods
not only to other markets in South America, but
to the entire globe. Urban and industrial development
would also increase with the amount of
hydrological and construction works needed to
maintain such a project (Gottgens 2000). In the
end, a middle ground will have to be found in
order to balance environment and trade.
The La Plata basin is a very large, complex
watershed complete with high population density,
significant urban centers, climate variability, and
many more adverse elements that a management
institution is responsible for mitigating. The
Intergovernmental Coordinating Committee
(CIC), created at the time of the 1969 La Plata
River Basin Treaty has been very good at facilitating
cooperation among riparians and initiating
projects related to transportation (Wolf 1999).
In the past few years, CIC has also been able
to set criteria for standardized water quality
measurements, implement a flood warning
system and employ a Geographic Information
System (GIS) with databases involving hydrological,
legal, institutional and project-related
information (Calcagno et al. 2002) in order to
facilitate data-sharing between governments.
While progress may be with small steps, this is
how an institution builds a solid foundation to
later confront bigger issues with firmer footing.
CIC was initially only put in place to help
facilitate cooperation between basin-states rather
than act as an umbrella institution for managing
the La Plata River basin. This has caused
numerous difficulties throughout its existence in
that there is no supra-authority in the basin by
which countries are bound to follow as the CIC
can only recommend action, not enforce it
(Quirós 2003). As a result, the Itaipu and
Yacyretá dams, Lake Salto Grande, and the
Hidrovía Committee are all autonomous entities
that do not have to answer to the CIC (GEF
2003). Combined with the lack of a permanent
technical arm of the CIC (Quirós 2003) and the
Chapter 3. Hydropolitical Vulnerability, South America — 69