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TRANSBOUNDARY WATER MANAGEMENTSustaining transboundary water managementby investing in community cooperationBenjamin Noury, Associate Director, Oxyo WaterTransboundary cooperation is often associated with interstatemechanisms and high political levels. However,among the 276 transboundary river basins presentlyidentified, numerous examples of cooperation involve acombination of international, regional, national and localstakeholders in a complex interplay. This article analysestwo case studies on multi-scale interactions and shows howprojects can generate benefits at the transboundary level whileacting at the community scale.Communities living in transboundary river basins share a commonenvironment. Yet, they are often separated by borders, which areusually indicated by the river itself. People live in similar conditionsand generally depend on the same water resources. However, theyrarely have opportunities to meet with each other and exchange oncommon issues. This lack of communication can generate mistrustbetween these populations and facilitate the emergence of preconceivedideas. In the case of the Okavango, some communities inBotswana believed that the decrease of the river flow every yearwas due to an excessive use of the riparian communities locatedLocal children are involved in the GWN project to promote sustainable water managementImage: B Nouryupstream. During project implementation in this basin,they realized that the recurring drought they werefacing had been the result of a natural phenomenonlinked to the rainfall system.In order to create the right transboundary watermanagement conditions, it is important not to neglectthese communities and to invest time and money toencourage innovative local approaches. These initiativesand approaches contribute to establishing a climate ofconfidence that encourages transboundary cooperation.Local communities are stakeholders that can be reliedupon and who are more quickly dedicated to initiativesrelating to the long-term development of their territoryand environment. In addition to exchanging dataor signing treaties, community-level transboundaryactivities contribute directly to sustain and strengthencooperation within a river basin.Two projects carried out by non-governmentalorganizations (NGOs) promote this approach of localcooperation for transboundary benefits: the GoodWater Neighbors (GWN) in the Jordan river basin andthe Every River Has Its People Project (ERP) in theOkavango river basin.The GWN project was established by Friends of theEarth in the Middle East (FoEME) in 2001 within theJordan river basin with two primary goals. The first wasto advance cross-border cooperation by focusing attentionon shared water concerns and the need to protectshared water resources. The second was to foster peaceand cooperation through long-term trust building basedon the shared interests of neighbouring communities.To achieve these goals, the GWN project selectedneighbouring communities on opposite sides of thenational border or political divide, and located in closeproximity to a shared water resource. In each community,FoEME hired a local staff person from within thecommunity to lead activities on common water issues.Initially, eleven Israeli, Palestinian and Jordaniancommunities, divided into groups of neighbours, wereselected to participate in the project. Many of thesecommunities were able to see each other directly overthe border. People living in these bordering communitiesobtained their water from the same sources, oftenjointly polluting those water sources as well. By 2013,the GWN project had successfully been expanded to28 communities.[ 45 ]