Sharing Benefits of Transboundary Waters through Cooperation

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Sharing Benefits of Transboundary Waters through
Cooperation
International Conference on Freshwater Bonn, 2001

• David Grey
• The World Bank

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River basin management boundaries

• Basins within nations with strong central
  government
• Basins within federal nations with strong state
  governments (transboundary waters)
• Basins shared by nations (international
  transboundary waters)

Legal complexity
Political complexity
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International transboundary waters

• Extent 260 river basins shared by 2 nations
• Culture river/society, pride, sovereignty
• Jurisdiction no entity unless negotiated
• Politics anarchy of international relations
• Principles UN Convention foundation
• Tensions longstanding, always, growing with
  demand, water wars.

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New Geography of Conflict

• Possible flashpoint for resource conflict
• Water systems aquifers
• Jordan
• Nile
• Tigris Euphrates
• Amu Darya
• Indus
• Mountain Aquifer (W. Bank/Israel)

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Overview

• What are the benefits of cooperation?
• How can these benefits be shared?
• Some lessons and conclusions

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Benefits of International Waters Cooperation
The Challenges
The Opportunities
Limited water resour. management degraded
watersheds, wetlands, biodiversity, water
quality.
Improved water quality, riverflow
characteristics, soil conservation, biodiversity
a pre-requisite
Level 1 Benefits to the river
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Benefits of International Waters Cooperation
The Challenges
The Opportunities
Limited water resour. management degraded
watersheds, wetlands, biodiversity, water
quality.
Improved water quality, riverflow
characteristics, soil conservation, biodiversity
a pre-requisite
Level 1 Benefits to the river
Sub-optimal water resources development
Improved hydropower agricultural production,
flood-drought management, environmental
conservation water quality
Level 2 Benefits from the river
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Benefits of International Waters Cooperation
The Challenges
The Opportunities
Limited water resour. management degraded
watersheds, wetlands, biodiversity, water
quality.
Improved water quality, riverflow
characteristics, soil conservation, biodiversity
a pre-requisite
Level 1 Benefits to the river
Sub-optimal water resources development
Improved hydropower agricultural production,
flood-drought management, environmental
conservation water quality
Level 2 Benefits from the river
Policy shift to cooperation development, from
dispute from food energy self-sufficiency to
security reduced conflict risk military
expenditure (/-)
Tense (/-) regional relations political
economy impacts
Level 3 Costs because of the river
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Benefits of International Waters Cooperation
The Challenges
The Opportunities
Limited water resour. management degraded
watersheds, wetlands, biodiversity, water
quality.
Improved water quality, riverflow
characteristics, soil conservation, biodiversity
a pre-requisite
Level 1 Benefits to the river
Sub-optimal water resources development
Improved hydropower agricultural production,
flood-drought management, environmental
conservation water quality
Level 2 Benefits from the river
Policy shift to cooperation development, from
dispute from food energy self-sufficiency to
security reduced conflict risk military
expenditure (/-)
Tense (/-) regional relations political
economy impacts
Level 3 Costs because of the river
Level 4 Benefits beyond the river
Regional fragmentation
Integration of regional infrastructure, markets
trade
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Sharing the benefits

• The Challenge
• Optimal river development may give unacceptable
  distribution of benefits
• A mechanism for redistribution compensation
• Fairness subjective situation specific
• Potential benefits to be shared
• Water quantity/quality water supply hydropower
  agricultural production fisheries transport
  eco-tourism trade.
• Political decisions

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Sharing the benefits

• Principles
• Some international consensus on principles
• 1997 UN Convention on the Law of the
  Non-navigable Uses of International Watercourses
  (SADC Protocol, etc)
• Equitable and reasonable utilization
• No significant harm
• No consensus on prioritization
• UN Convention vital human needs
• No consensus on specific criteria

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Sharing the benefits

• Potential Criteria
• Physical factors geography, hydrology,
  contribution to flow
• Socioeconomic factors total population,
  dependent population, economic social needs
• Water Uses existing potential, efficiency of
  use
• Alternative sources availability costs
• Externalities upstream downstream
• Conservation impacts efforts to preserve
• Formulae Equal (or proportionate) shares of
  flows or benefits

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Sharing the benefits

• Past practices
• Compensation for lost benefits
• Equal apportionment of flow to each riparian
• Prioritization of uses
• Payments for water
• Absolute sovereignty of tributaries
• Equal allocation of benefits, and
• Relinquishing of prior uses
• (after Wolf)

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Sharing the benefits

• Some possible mechanisms
• Water sharing
• (Re)assigning rights
• Payments for water
• Payment for use rights, bilateral sale or water
  markets
• Payments for benefits
• Compensation for lost benefits, payments to allow
  new uses
• Purchase agreements power, agriculture, etc.
• Agreed price can effect a transfer of benefits
• Financing ownership arrangements
• Agreed terms can effect a transfer of benefits
• Bundling broader benefits
• Trade, transport.

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Lessons in Benefit Sharing

• Importance of political PROCESS
• Perception of fairness essential to sustain
  cooperation on transboundary waters
• Sharing benefits /or water
• Benefit bundles the broader the better
• Innovative benefit sharing mechanisms
• Unique solutions

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Process the key lesson

• Imperative of trust
• Build capacity to level playing field
• Wide civil society engagement basin community
  of interest
• Share experiences in the bus
• Riparian ownership ownership builds commitment
• Self-financed institutional arrangements
  essential
• Riparian commitment
• Shared Vision recognizing win-win
• Share benefits, not only water
• Inclusiveness subsidiarity
• Build basin-wide framework
• Achieve early results through sub-basin action

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Conclusions

• No blueprints from simple to very complex
• Process as important as product to achieve
  cooperation
• Twice as long costly as planned - then some
• From river cooperation to economic integration
• An instrument to support PROCESS?
  sustainability security (public goods)

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