Water security and peace: a synthesis of studies ... - unesdoc - Unesco

Various social actors deploy strategies over varying spatial scales when
competing or cooperating in accessing, using, or allocating water. They also deploy
strategies over widely varying scales when competing to spell out the rules governing
each of these activities. Farmers may resort to oral customary law to regulate their
access and use of a neighboring spring or river for irrigation. This is often the case in
the south of France where the new rules and regulations, especially those introduced
by the European Union, clash with customary law. Very similar situations are also
often found in the developing world, as examples in both the Middle East and South
Africa illustrate. At the other end of the scalar spectrum, diplomats may consider the
entire water resource lying in an international basin when negotiating a treaty with a
riparian state. Is it conceivable that these two sets of actors act in full independence
from each other? Is it possible that water conflicts and competitions occurring at local
and national levels are irrelevant to an understanding of international water conflicts
and conflict resolution? Those researching “water wars” have often assumed such
independence between the various scalar levels of water conflict. This assumption has
its roots in a perception of the state as the sole actor capable of spelling the rules of
social control and as the sole actor capable of mobilizing legitimate means of violence.
Any understanding of international conflict concerning water and any successful
conflict resolution proposals need to rely on multi-scalar analysis of the competitions
and conflicts concerning water. Such an analysis explores the competition and conflict
occurring over several scales. It explores the interactions between those who are
active over different spatial and social scalar levels. The sum of these contradictory
interests constitutes what is often reduced to “an international water conflict.”
The advantage of “shared vision models,” as the name implies, is that consensus
in the model and in the computer results can be reached, since all parties participated
in the development of the model and the model-based vision. The use of such models
will permit stakeholders to confront their normative view of what the world ought to
look like, with the physical and socioeconomic realities to which they must adapt at all
scales.
11.7. Building River Basin Organizations
11.7.1. Conditions for Successful RBOs
Successful RBOs help us work toward better integration of demand and supply,
encourage effective participatory processes, and help create incentives for cooperation
by helping people to see interdependencies. They are a means for water managers
and stakeholders to manage water efficiently across the basin instead of focusing on
individual system efficiencies. For example, the return flow from irrigation may be
managed to meet other uses downstream and to recharge groundwater, thus
enhancing water use efficiency at the basin level while meeting ecosystem needs. By
managing the flow of water in space and time as well as ensuring its quality, water
managers at the basin level can also better align demand with supply.
Several conditions have been identified for successful RBO design. 3 These include
high-level ministerial (political) commitment, meaningful community input, high
knowledge levels, clear accountability among participants, and flexibility and creativity
in the organization. Structures should be designed based on the functions or missions
needed, fostering and/or using existing perceptions of the basin as a whole and as a
shared resource among many users and using process orientations. Good design will
separate the administrative and the larger policy issues, separate regulations and
construction functions, and establish mechanisms for conflict management and
resolution.
Participatory processes can help level the playing field and incorporate a wider
range of values into management decisions. They can facilitate new partnerships
among stakeholders. They encourage public access to data and information. In all of
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