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INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ON WATER SCIENCES AND RESEARCHof the Commons, is by no means a universal phenomenon, the notionthat human beings as well as nation states are interested in maximizingtheir respective benefits cannot be ignored. Therefore one has totake into account the respective costs and benefits of cooperating on ashared water resource to be able to assess in which cases cooperativebehaviour is worthwhile for a certain actor. In the case of transboundaryriver basins, it might actually be more beneficial to the upstreamriparian not to cooperate at all, since cooperation might imply gettingless water from a river than before in order to increase the availableamount of water for a downstream country. Likewise, the existence ofcooperative measures as such is not necessarily a ‘good thing’. In termsof implementation, cooperative agreements need to be examined moreclosely as to whether they actually help in achieving the goals they havebeen put up for. Likewise, if a cooperative arrangement clearly favoursone party over the other, non-cooperation could be the better optionwith regard to benefits for the disadvantaged party.However, the cost of non-cooperation regarding natural resourcemanagement in terms of degradation or water scarcity can beimmense, and negative effects often transcend international borders.Given that transboundary basins and aquifers are essential to thelivelihoods of hundreds of millions of people, water creates mutualdependencies across societies, countries and continents which oftennecessitate cooperation.So how to overcome a situation in which non-cooperation seemsmore desirable for an actor than cooperation? One solution can beto talk about overall benefits from cooperation on water issues ratherthan about mere water quantities. Approaches that focus on the collectivebenefits that users receive from water sharing can thus be morefruitful in stimulating cooperation than negotiating about water allocationalone. Issue linkage is the notion that if two sides cannot reachan agreement when negotiating on one issue, adding a second issuefor a simultaneous discussion increases the probability of agreement.Therefore, cooperation on transboundary rivers can be strengthenedwhen taking into account more than the issue of water use alone.Therefore, issue linkage can prevent non-cooperative behaviourby broadening a country’s range of options and contributes tobalancing uneven ‘power’ potentials.As mentioned above, the public debate has often discussedwhether the wars of this century will be fought over water ratherthan over oil. However, as Aaron Wolf and others famouslyshowed, cooperation over water exceeds conflict by far and waterwars have barely ever been recorded within the last thousands ofyears. Research findings both of GWSP and others also suggest thatwater cooperation can be a starting point for cooperation in otherareas, preventing political conflict and strengthening ties betweencommunities and nation states. Nevertheless, the above statementthat there are no wars being fought over water does obviously notmean that there is no conflict or suffering due to increasing waterstress. Rather, the accelerating and competing demands for waterresources and the growing uncertainties due to global environmentalchanges necessitate cooperation more than ever.Effective water cooperation does not only mean bringing togetherthose actors that need to cooperate, but similarly knowing which issuesneed to be aligned. A joint discussion of issues that belong togetherbut are usually not discussed as such might in turn require bringingtogether different actors than before. Recent global assessments haverevealed several issues that need to be discussed in a cooperative andjoint manner: we urgently need more collaboration to address water,food and energy issues in an integrated way as well as a joint approach toBenefit sharing through issue linkagein the Volta BasinInterdependency and issue linkage can lead to mutual benefitsRecent studies on transboundary rivers show in which way issuelinkages – for example of water and energy – can improvecooperation between upstream and downstream riparians. Acase study 6 on transboundary water sharing between BurkinaFaso and Ghana, the major upstream and downstream countriesin the Volta River Basin, illustrates that the interdependency ofriparians can lead to mutual benefits if more issues than wateruse are taken into account.While Ghana gets the chance to increase the currentlylimited amount of water used for agricultural purposes,Burkina Faso benefits from cheaper energy from hydropoweras a compensation for constraining its water consumption.In this case, collective benefits of issue linkages of waterand energy can result in improved welfare for both countries,making a sustainable cooperation commonly advantageous.manage land and water resources. These issues need to betaken into account when framing the policies of tomorrow.Today the world is committed to creating a set ofsustainable development goals (SDGs). However, thistask is particularly difficult in the area of water, consideringthe magnitude of human activities transforming theglobal water system. We know that competition for waterbetween societal needs and ecosystem demands will intensifyin the future. At the same time, securing water for othervital human needs such as food and energy production, aswell as safeguarding the quality and quantity of water forthe ecosystem, should not be neglected in pursuance ofwater supply and sanitation goals. Thus, while framing theSDGs, there is further need for knowledge to understandhow to safeguard the global water system on which thewelfare of current and future generations depends and toestablish stategic partnerships to this end, as called for inthe Bonn Declaration.Last but not least, from the perspective of a decade ofglobal water research, financial resources for research,capacity building and education are a key element to facilitatewater cooperation and a fruitful relationship betweenscience and policy. Facing global change, this relationshipmust become a collaborative partnership of mutual learningto meet today’s and future challenges. What is neededis ‘managing to learn in order to learn to manage’. 5Image: UN Photo/Logan Abassi[ 290 ]