African Water Development Report 2006 - United Nations Economic ...

African Water Development Report 2006pressure on the environment.Polluter-pays principle. The individual or organization that inflicts damage on the natural resources system shouldpay for rectifying the damage.Principles related to organization and procedure:Prior notification. If people plan to carry out activities that may harm others, notification should be given.Prior consultation. If people plan to carry out activities that may harm others, consultation should be organized atan early stage.Prior impact assessment. Activities that may seriously affect the functioning of society or the environment shouldbe preceded by a thorough social and environmental impact assessment.Interest-taxation-representation principle. A principle that establishes a link between the right of stakeholders tohave a say in planning and management, and their duty to pay for the services provided.Subsidiarity principle. For a government to be efficient, decisions should be taken at the lowest appropriate level; ifa task can be decentralized to a lower level of government, one should do so. Central government should retainthose tasks that properly belong to that level, however.(Source: Savenije H. and Hoekstra A. 2002)Management of Transnational BasinsThe main thrust of the management of sharedriver basins is to find ways of turning potentialconflicts into constructive cooperation, and toturn what is often perceived as a zero-sum predicament- in which one party’s gain is another’sloss - into a win-win proposition. The foundationfor the sharing of international rivers is therecognition that the management of water resourcesshould be done in a fully integrated fashion.The foundation has three pillars that supportthe sharing of international waters, taken tobe the roof:• The central pillar is technical cooperation,which may also be called the operationalpillar.• The two side pillars are:• The political pillar, responsible for anenabling environment; and• The institutional pillar, responsible forlaws and institutions.All three pillars are necessary for a balanced andequitable sharing of international waters basedon a common strategy for integrated managementof shared river basins, incorporating demand-and-supplymanagement, public participationand regional integration. The basis of sucha strategy is the principle of “unity in diversity”.The differences among riparian countries callsfor complementarity between them and fostercooperation to their mutual benefit. The sharingof international waters may be a consequence ofthis cooperation, and also a crucial factor in furtherstrengthening it.General Principles and Critical IssuesAt the national level, governments appear to basetheir policy for resource management on “emergingprinciples” that are often compatible withinternational policies. Box 11.3 below briefly describessome important management principles.In international law, more specific principles areused with regard to international river basins(Savenije H. and van der Zaag P. 2002).As further pointed out by Savenije H. and vander Zaag P. ( 2002), a number of critical factsemerge with respect to the sharing of internationalwatercourse systems. These include thefact that:(a) River basins do not respect village, district,provincial, and national boundaries. Toooften, we have attempted to fit the waterinto these administrative and institutionalboundaries, rather than to design institutionsthat fit the physical and spatial characteristicsof the resource. As a consequence;258