Transboundary water conflicts and cooperation throughout the world still pose huge challenges to the international community. At this year’s World Water Week, which took place in early September in Stockholm, 2,600 participants from 130 countries came together to discuss water issues, primarily focusing on sanitation and water quality. There were also panels devoted to transboundary issues and the water security nexus. Of particular interest were smaller scale water conflicts, such as those in the Competing for Water project headed by the Denmark Institute of International Studies. Panelists shared lessons learned about solving local water conflicts, the use of third party conflict mediation, and the importance of addressing interpersonal power dynamics at the local level.

Another good example of agreements on small-scale transboundary water resources came from a river basin in Tanzania, which used principles of 'Negotiate’, the latest book in the Water and Nature Initiative (WANI) series of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Negotiating water agreements may not be a sexy endeavor, but it is crucial for the best use and management of water resources. The authors of 'Negotiate’ emphasize the 4 Rs: rights, risks, responsibilities, and rewards. This may be more useful than the World Commission of Dams’ previous emphasis on rights and risks, which only later added responsibilities to the mix. The 4 Rs together may have a better chance of catching the interests and issues of the differing risks and responsibilities, and they make it easier to deal with winners and losers because the process is not set up as a zero-sum game, but rather as a forum where everyone gains some things and loses others.

Returning to the Tanzania example, Irene Chikira described how groups in the Pangani Basin were more likely to engage in the negotiation process when they felt increased responsibility over local water resources. (Irina Comardicea)

Download the IUCN publication “Negotiate”here.

For more information and to download all the WANI series books, see http://www.iucn.org/about/work/programmes/water/resources/toolkits/.

Published in: ECC-Newsletter, October 2010