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1 Drieschova, A.; Fischhendler, I.; Giordano, Mark. 2011. The role of uncertainties in the design of international water treaties: an historical perspective. Climatic Change, 105(3-4):387-408. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-010-9896-4]
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H043446)
(0.35 MB)
Water is one natural resource whose management is especially susceptible to uncertainties, many of which are being exasperated by climate change. Some of these uncertainties originate from knowledge deficits in physical conditions while others relate to behavioral and social variability related to water supply and use. However, to our knowledge no quantitative analysis of how uncertainties have been translated into transboundary water treaty structures exists. The present paper partially fills this gap through an examination of how uncertainty has been reflected in basin specific transboundary treaties and how that reflection has changed over the last century. While we could identify only minor trends in the frequency with which uncertainties are mentioned in treaties, we did find two clear patterns in the strategies adopted to deal with them. First, treaties seem to adopt a portfolio approach that spreads the dangers of uncertainty by concurrently including several management strategies simultaneously. Second, there is a trend towards more openended strategies in recent decades, rather than hard codification of rules as had earlier been more common.
2 Drieschova, A.; Giordano, Mark; Fishhendler, I. 2009. Climate change, international cooperation and adaptation in transboundary water management. In Adger, W. N.; Lorenzoni, I.; O’Brien, K.L. (Eds.). Adapting to climate change: thresholds, values, governance. New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press. pp.384-398.
Climate change ; International waters ; Water management ; International cooperation ; Agreements ; International law ; Treaties ; Water availability ; Ecosystems
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H046381)
(0.15 MB)
3 Giordano, Mark; Drieschova, A.; Duncan, J. A.; Sayama, Y.; De Stefano, L.; Wolf, A. T. 2014. A review of the evolution and state of transboundary freshwater treaties. International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, 14(3):245-264. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10784-013-9211-8]
International waters ; Freshwater ; Treaties ; River basins ; Water resources ; Water allocation ; Water law ; Water quality ; Water power ; Groundwater ; Environmental legislation ; Stakeholders
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H046778)
(0.79 MB)
Internationally shared basins supply 60 % of global freshwater supply, are home to about 1/3 of the world’s population, and are focal points for interstate conflict and, as importantly, cooperation. To manage these waters, states have developed a large set of formal treaties, but until now these treaties have been difficult to access and systematically assess. This paper presents and makes publicly available the assembly and organization of the largest known collection of transboundary water agreements in existence. We apply for the first time a “lineage” concept to differentiate between independent agreements and groups of legally related texts, spatially reference the texts to a global basin database, and identify agreement purposes, goals and a variety of content areas. The 688 agreements identified were signed between 1820 and 2007 and constitute 250 independent treaties which apply to 113 basins. While the scope and content varies widely, these treaties nominally govern almost 70 % of the world’s transboundary basin area. In terms of content, treaties have shifted from an earlier focus on regulation and development of water resources to the management of resources and the setting of frameworks for that management. While “traditional” issues such as hydropower, water allocation and irrigation are still important, the environment is now the most commonly mentioned issue in treaty texts. Treaties are also increasingly likely to include data and information sharing provisions, have conflict resolution mechanisms, and include mechanisms for participation beyond traditional nation-state actors. Generalizing, treaties have become more comprehensive over time, both in the issues they address and the tools they use to manage those issues cooperatively.
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