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

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One of the critical aims of water management is to continually reconcile the competing interests of all water users, be they individuals, corporations, interest groups, administrative or sovereign entities. The management of water-related conflicts, confrontations, competitions, and cooperation is thus a part of water resources management in its broadest sense. This may range from overseeing peaceful cooperation between users of a resource to facilitating negotiation of disputes between sovereign states. All elements of the PCCP program were conceived with the idea that although shared water resources may be a source of conflict, their joint management should be strengthened and facilitated to promote cooperation between the users. 1.2.2. Some Comments on Terminology As the population grows in a watershed or region, there is increasing competition for the finite resource that is water. There is competition between allocations for human use (e.g. drinking water and sanitation, energy production, irrigation, industrial use). There is competition between these uses and water needed for environmental sustainability, and sometimes to respect cultural values. This competition brings with it tension, which in turn may lead to conflict among users. If this conflict cannot be resolved peacefully, it leads to disputes that may be resolved legally to avoid armed conflict or even war. In this report these terms are used in this ascending order of degree of seriousness. Freshwater flows (whether surface water or groundwater), and the lakes and wetlands which some of these flows may pass through, derive from, or terminate within, are described by some as watercourses. Others who believe that this term should cover the full extent of the hydrologic basin and all its water sources reject this and use the term rivers. This report uses the two terms interchangeably, intending that either be interpreted in the broadest sense. There is debate about the term to be applied to freshwaters whose basins are situated within the borders of more than one state. Some use the word international for this purpose. Others believe this is incorrect as it implies that the waters (as in seas) do not belong to any state, whereas the basin states have rights over such rivers. Some use transboundary rivers or watercourses, while others hold that this is confusing because many river channels form international borders without crossing them (although in these cases the river basins themselves will almost certainly be transboundary). Transboundary rivers may be interpreted to include those that cross intra-national (e.g. state) borders, not only international borders. This is the case in countries that are federations of states or provinces (e.g. Canada, India, Germany, Russia, and the United States). Others use the term shared rivers. Yet it might be argued that shared rivers can exist even within a state, because many users share them, upstream and downstream, urban and rural. This report uses the term transboundary, hopefully distinguishing in the text whether it refers to international or intra-national boundaries. Some may note that there are several sections of this report that deal with the management of water at a national and even community level where there are no administrative boundaries involved. While the focus of the report is on transboundary watercourses, even within states there may be conflicts between competing uses and users. They are included in this report partly because lessons learned from these situations may be applicable to transboundary watercourses. More importantly, good water management institutions and practices at this level can facilitate cooperative management of transboundary watercourses. 4
1.2.3. Outline of this Report The program has been designed with the overall objective of helping the parties involved in potential water conflicts to negotiate the way towards cooperation. It analyzed historical experiences and reviewed legal, negotiation, and systems analysis tools and their ability to solve water-related conflicts. Case studies of successful cooperation and other educational material were developed. Another component of the project was aimed at developing skills and methods of facilitating open discussions and other similar mechanisms. The program’s overall objectives were translated into five operational objectives that have guided the three tracks of the project. These are: ! defining and surveying conflicts in water resources management ! monitoring indicators of potential conflicts (PC) and cooperation potential (CP) ! developing educational material targeting all respective levels ! providing decision support tools, by indicating how best to transform PC into CP ! disseminating results and good practices. Activities were carried out along three major tracks in order to achieve its above mentioned objectives (see Figure 1). CASE STUDY TRACK EDUCATIONAL TRACK DISCIPLINARY TRACK PROJECT OUTPUTS Figure 1. Structure of the PCCP program ! A disciplinary track investigated the professional approaches as well as the scientific background to conflict management, water-related negotiations, and cooperation building techniques and methods. ! A case-study track surveyed and analyzed a selection of real-world water conflicts, in order to draw lessons on both the root causes of such conflicts and the successful use of cooperation in shared water resources management. ! An educational track concentrated on how to develop skills for successful management of shared resources, at all levels from professionals to decision makers. This track also studied public information needs. The Water for Peace activities centered on practical projects in six international river basins: the Danube, the Jordan, the Okavango, La Plata, the Volga, and the Volta. These locally managed projects have worked to raise awareness and identify solutions to disputes and conflicts by facilitating dialogue between citizens, governments, local authorities, the private sector, and water experts from the different basin states. One major objective of the Water for Peace project has been to ensure that civil society is 5
Page 3 and 4: WATER SECURITY AND PEACE A synthesi
Page 5 and 6: ACKNOWLEDGMENT This report is a con
Page 7 and 8: Jerome Delli Priscolli, Participati
Page 9 and 10: 4.3.3. The Obligation to Cooperate
Page 11 and 12: 11.5.2.3. Integration of Fuzzy Anal
Page 13 and 14: PROLOGUE The UNESCO-Green Cross Ini
Page 15: 1. WATER SECURITY AND PEACE 1.1. Co
Page 19 and 20: changes (social and economic order)
Page 21 and 22: 2. A HISTORY OF HUMANITY AND WATER
Page 23 and 24: 2.2. An Anthropology of Water Manag
Page 25 and 26: eventually faced with periodic wate
Page 27 and 28: The Romans, who in essence capitali
Page 29 and 30: Poor countries are now facing the d
Page 31 and 32: 3. ETHICS: THE IDEAL AND ONLY LONG-
Page 33 and 34: Box 3.1. Principles Adopted at the
Page 35 and 36: professional team is imbued with em
Page 37 and 38: 4. LEGAL APPROACHES: A SOUND FRAMEW
Page 39 and 40: Over the last fifty years many cust
Page 41 and 42: existing and potential uses, conser
Page 43 and 44: 4.2.6. Convention on Environmental
Page 45 and 46: ejoins the main stem of the river f
Page 47 and 48: The obligation to give notice in em
Page 49 and 50: seek what is called the win-win sol
Page 51 and 52: disagreements on the future of the
Page 53 and 54: Canada-US International Joint Commi
Page 55 and 56: Recent advances in international en
Page 57 and 58: effective international criminal co
Page 59 and 60: A number of issues will arise as th
Page 61 and 62: elevations, and third, there are no
Page 63 and 64: 2. This section is drawn from the P
Page 65 and 66: acceptance of the logic of public p
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egulators of water quality and quan
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about through government invitation
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Sinhala schools, as well as local a
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at both the locations where the dam
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7. OBSTACLES TO COOPERATION 7.1. So
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new ways of thinking, and additiona
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externalities. It accepts too that
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there were only twenty-one (eightee
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years or, more commonly, decades to
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Ganges-Brahmaputra, Han, Incomati,
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9. WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED FROM RECENT
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infrastructure. A Joint River Commi
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this with the widespread belief tha
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two of the three “vital” planet
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issues. Comprehensive and coherent
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10.4.3. The Role of the Private Sec
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10.5. The Role of International Age
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The stage is set for even greater b
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Management systems should incorpora
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11.3.2. Impartial Sources of Suppor
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esources systems and their operatio
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traditional centralized database mo
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Various social actors deploy strate
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However, reliance on one or a few o
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3) a class discussion or debriefing
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5. Based on the concepts of The Uni
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interdependence and integrated mana
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