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WATER DIPLOMACYIn the Lake Titicaca basin shared by Peru and Bolivia, BRIDGEhas focused on fostering dialogue and cooperation through agreementson knowledge and information. BRIDGE facilitated directcollaboration between the national hydrometeorological institutesof Bolivia and Peru to develop a water information systemand management platform. While cooperating on maps and datasharing, a dialogue on management of the lake system was begun,involving the Lake Titicaca Authority, national water agencies ofPeru and Bolivia and, for the first time, municipalities and localstakeholders. While working to widen stakeholder involvement,BRIDGE responded to requests from Peru and Bolivia for trainingon the principles of transboundary water governance. Bothsides, supported by BRIDGE, agreed that fundamental reform ofthe Lake Titicaca Authority was needed, to make it a more representativeand effective transboundary basin organization that bothimplements technical projects and takes the lead on promotingcooperation through multi-level participation and effective transboundarywater resource management.Steps toward greater cooperationTo build water diplomacy in practice, BRIDGE uses a basic frameworkof demonstrations and multi-stakeholder participation thatintegrates five elements:• Demonstration – demonstrating and testing ways to makecooperation operational in a basin as the basis for confidenceand trust building, shared learning and joint action to buildnational and transboundary water governance capacity• Learning – training and capacity building in water governance,international water law and benefit sharing for multiplestakeholders at municipal, civil society and national levels• Dialogue for consensus building – using demonstrationsand learning events to catalyse new dialogues on technical,development and political matters• Leadership – supporting champions who can effectivelyadvocate for the mobilization of water diplomacy fortransboundary water cooperation and better water governance• Advisory/support facilities – providing advice and technicalassistance on water governance to governments and stakeholders,including effective institutional and legal frameworks, promotingthe application of lessons learned and demonstrating results inregional and global transboundary hotspots.By demonstrating how water diplomacy functions at the local level, thefirst phase of BRIDGE showed that local-level cooperation can be scaledup to reach multiple levels. The second phase strengthens this approachby reinforcing demonstrations of cooperation at the watershed leveland, recognizing that formal agreements require the legitimacy andauthority of states, placing more emphasis and resources on capacitybuilding and technical support at the national level.Additionally, many regional institutions are playing a larger rolein promoting cooperation through transboundary water governance.The second phase of BRIDGE seeks to intervene in new entry pointswith regional organizations such as the Association of SoutheastAsian Nations, the Andean Community of Nations and the CentralAmerican Integration System, emphasizing the principles of integratedwater resources management and international water law.Further developing cooperation through local leadership andadvocacy of transboundary water management, BRIDGE willcontinue to support and develop the Champions Network topromote exchange and empower local stakeholders.Local actors have a potentially tremendous influenceon cooperation in transboundary watersheds, creatingplatforms for sharing knowledge and experience andreinforcing sustainable practices on water management,thus putting water diplomacy into practice onthe ground. By continuing to build and strengthen goodwater governance through water diplomacy, water usershave the basic building blocks for cooperation on watersupply, quality and protecting ecosystems, therebypreserving the rich biodiversity on which their healthand livelihoods depend.The Champions Network: locally driventransboundary cooperationA Champions Network meeting in San Marcos, GuatemalaThe Champions Network was created to promote exchangeand empower local stakeholders in transboundary watercooperation. “Water diplomacy has to happen under theauthority of national governments, but water accords need theagreement of local users,” says Mark Smith, Director of theGlobal Water Programme at IUCN.Shortly after their first regional meeting in May 2012, leadcoordinator Mitzela Dávila and 14 network members – fromfour transboundary regions and eight countries in Mesoamerica– decided to recruit reticent local officials into discussions overshared national watershed management. The group adoptedthe slogan ‘vamos pa´lante’ (‘Let’s get moving’).“They agreed that they had to get the mayors to come to theirnext regional meeting,” recalls Rocio Córdoba, coordinator ofthe Livelihoods and Climate Change Unit of IUCN’s regionalheadquarters in San José, Costa Rica. “Mostly vice-mayorsshowed up – but even that was remarkable given theprevious lack of interest by local officials and the fact thatmost of them had to travel hundreds of kilometres from theirhome countries to Guatemala, where the meeting was held.”In the Las Tablas community of the Sixaola River basin, whereDávila lives, a representative of the Champions Network hasbeen invited to sit on an important transboundary committee,creating a link between this official body and the communitiesaffected by its decisions. “Since we have someone on thecommission, we know what is going on,” says Dávila. “We can goto a community and tell them what the commission is doing. Andwe can take information from them back to the commission.”Initial successes have fuelled more enthusiasm and evengreater ambitions. “In our meetings, we have shown that we areunited as a network,” says Dávila. “We think we can work at aneven higher level – at the regional level or even beyond.”Image: ©IUCN\Mitzela Davila[ 27 ]