Management Of International Rivers Research Articles

Optimal design of the ecological compensation mechanism in transboundary river basins under the Belt and Road Initiative

The ecological compensation mechanism is an effective economic policy for solving resource conflicts, enhancing interest synergies, and achieving environmental sustainability. In the development of the Belt and Road, it is also an essential tool for promoting the cooperative management of international rivers. Therefore, this study discusses the necessity of transboundary ecological compensation and explores how to promote its stable establishment. First, the evolutionary game theory was used to clarify the interaction mechanism between upstream and downstream countries and the supervision commission, which is co-financed by riparian countries. Second, scenario simulation analyses are presented to explore the influence of key parameters on the dynamic evolutionary behaviors of the tripartite game subjects. Based on the above research, we proposed to establish an ecological compensation elastic mechanism and optimize the design of the path. The results showed that: (1) The higher the asymmetry between countries along transboundary rivers, the more difficult it is for ecological compensation projects to be smoothly implemented; (2) supervision is always valid for upstream and downstream countries to comply with the ecological compensation contract as asymmetry varies, especially in shared rivers with high asymmetry; (3) charging liquidated damage for upstream and downstream countries is an effective restraint measure, especially for downstream countries; and (4) there is a marginal diminishing effect on the constraints of downstream countries when the liquidated damage is at a certain high level (i.e., the liquidated damage is higher than the increased water ecological benefits).

Spatial characteristics of total phosphorus loads from different sources in the Lancang River Basin

Lancang River, the upstream reach of Mekong River, is a hotspot region in the sustainable management of water resources and environment as it is currently facing the deterioration of aquatic ecosystems. Nutrient balance (i.e., Phosphorus) in the Lancang-Mekong River Basin has become a highly disputed issue in recent years due to the construction of cascade hydropower stations. However, the estimation of the total phosphorus (TP) load faces great difficulties and challenges due to the absent measured water quality data. This study estimates the TP load based on the social economic data, analyzes the spatial distribution of TP and the contribution of different TP sources in the Lancang River basin under the level of social-economic development in 2014. Results show that the annual average TP load in the Lancang River Basin is 1.6 × 104–3.9 × 104 tons, which is at a very low level compared with other large-scale basins in China. The TP load from natural soil erosion dominates all other sources, accounting for 69%, followed by agricultural production and fertilization. In general, the TP load increases from upstream to downstream, but heterogeneity also exits in different regions under the influence of various factors, such as rainfall intensity, soil properties and human activities. The results reveal a holistic picture of TP load in the Lancang River Basin, which could provide a new perspective on the trans-border international river management.

Fair social orderings for the sharing of international rivers: A leximin based approach

We consider the problem of sharing water among agents located along a river. A vector of entitlements specifies the amount of water each agent is entitled to. A social welfare function provides a complete ranking of the allocations based on the vector of r-equivalents. The r-equivalent of an agent at an allocation is the amount of money that, when consumed with the agent's entitlement, leaves the agent indifferent to its bundle assigned by the allocation. Using axioms of efficiency and fairness, a social welfare function called the r-leximin is characterized. The r-leximin ranks an allocation over another if the vector of r-equivalents of the former leximin dominates the vector of r-equivalents of the latter. We further show that maximizing the r-leximin over the set of acceptable allocations (defined in the sense of the core) leads to a class of solutions that meet the three key objectives of international river management: efficiency, fairness, and stability. We show that this class contains new solutions as well as the downstream incremental solution of Ambec and Sprumont (2002). Finally, we present an application of our approach to the case of the Blue Nile River Basin, shared among Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt. JEL Codes D62, C71.

Climate Change and International Conflict: How Climate Change’s Impact on the Nile Affects Egypt-Ethiopia Conflict

This article aims to explain the influence of climate change on the international conflict between Egypt and Ethiopia. Climate change phenomenon was already felt in various parts of the world, but its impact will be more significant if it hits hotspot areas such as the Nile. Therefore, first, the author will describe a literature review of relations between climate change and international conflict. Second, the article will explain how the climate change phenomenon in the Nile is resulting in some security risks, especially toward Egypt. The result of this research concludes that the climate change phenomenon in the Nile can exacerbate the conflict escalation between Egypt and Ethiopia along with security threats in Egyptian water, food, and economy as the result of climate change. Although many who doubt the possibility of armed conflict, Nile’s condition as one of the hotspots areas of climate change and coupled with the absence of comprehensive international river management make all options are still counted and must be undertaken cautiously.

The 1997 United Nations Convention on the Law of Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses: what contribution to the development of the Water Charter for the Volta Basin?

ABSTRACTIn 2007, the six riparian countries of the Volta Basin adopted the Convention on the Status of the Volta River and the Establishment of Volta Basin Authority (Volta Basin Convention). This legal framework is strongly inspired by the United Nations Convention on the Law of Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses (UNWC). However, the Volta Basin Convention merely states the major international river management principles without specifying either the terms or the procedures for their implementation. This article examines the potential contribution of the UNWC provisions to the development of a water charter.

Public Access to Information and Participation in Decision-Making over International River Management

Public Access to Information and Participation in Decision-Making over International River Management

Spatial distribution and sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the reservoir sediments after impoundment of Manwan Dam in the middle of Lancang River, China

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have received increasing attentions owing to their carcinogenicity, teratogenicity and environmental toxicity. The studies on the spatial variations, sources identification and potential ecological risk assessment of PAHs in the reservoir sediments after dam construction are becoming new hotpots. Sixteen PAHs contamination levels were investigated from 15 sample sections in the sediments of Manwan Reservoir in the middle of Lancang River, China. Total concentrations of 16 PAHs ranged from 14.4 to 137.7ngg(-1)dw with a mean concentration of 70.68ngg(-1)dw. The areas with residential settlement at large tributaries and near dam had higher PAHs concentrations. In the sight of classification of PAHs pollution levels, the sediments of Manwan Reservoir could be considered as low to moderate PAHs polluted levels. One-way analysis of variance for spatial analysis revealed that there were no significant differences (P<0.05) for 16 PAHs at the reservoir head, centre and tail. Moreover, no significant differences (P<0.05) were found for most individual PAH at the mainstream and tributaries except that BaP showed significant differences (P<0.05) in the mainstream and tributaries. According to the diagnostic ratios, the possible pollution sources of PAHs in Manwan Reservoir might be mixed, primarily including the petroleum source and coal combustion. As compared with sediment quality guidelines, the observed concentrations of PAHs in all sample sections did not exceed the effects range low (ERL) and the threshold effect level (TEL) values, suggesting that there were little harmful biological toxic effects on the aquatic organisms in Manwan Reservoir. The study provided a comprehensive overview on the PAHs contaminations on the reservoir sediments in the middle Lancang River, which may have an important significances on the international river management.

A Discussion on the Construction of Information Integration Based on the Integrated Development and Management of International River

Integrated development and management of international rivers requires objectively international river’s information integration.Based on the analysis of the connotation and requirement of integrated development and management of international rivers, the article point out that the information integration is the basis and means of the of integrated development and management of international rivers. And then analyze how to utilize modern information technology to build information management system of international river to achieve international river’s information sharing and scientific decision-making. Finally, analyze the factors affecting international river information integration.

Conflict and Cooperation along International Rivers: Crafting a Model of Institutional Effectiveness

The management of international rivers is increasingly marked by a heightened attention to and growth in institutions at the river-basin level to promote cooperation and resolve conflicts between states in a basin. Yet, little theoretical and empirical research exists to understand when these institutions are most effective. Here we draw from diverse literatures, including work on social and ecological systems, international institutions, common-pool resources, and international waters, to capture and integrate the design elements associated with effective collaborative management along an international river. We apply and test the validity of our model in a plausibility probe through the analysis of the conflict between Argentina and Uruguay over the construction of pulp mills along the Uruguay River, and the role of the established and functioning river basin organization—the Administrative Commission of the Uruguay River (CARU)—in this conflict. We re-examine our model based on our case findings to highlight the challenge and role of public input and representation in institutional effectiveness along international rivers.

The Management of International Rivers as Demands Grow and Supplies Tighten: India, China, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh

In this study, we describe the challenges of managing Himalayan rivers as a result of climate change and the industrialization and economic growth of India and China. We discuss a range of conceptual issues relevant for negotiations over the management of Himalayan rivers. We introduce the concept of multi-track diplomacy, and apply it to the case of international river management, in the context of innovations incorporated in five international treaties signed in 1996 and 1997. We examine past problems with bilateralism in international river diplomacy, in particular as an obstacle to successful agreement and the potential of more multilateral approaches. We describe the wave of Himalayan water projects being designed and constructed at the beginning of the twenty-first century, based on earlier agreements as well as new initiatives. We note the subsequent implementation problems that have arisen, and the substantial issues that need to be addressed by an expanded group of countries depending on Himalayan rivers. Finally, we consider directions in which current innovations might be extended as bases of regional cooperation, using the multi-track diplomacy framework. We suggest that an independent regulatory agency could facilitate rational development, assist in the management of substantial uncertainties about future flows, and reduce the potential for conflict. We describe the possible structure and functioning of such a new institution.

The benefit-sharing principle: Implementing sovereignty bargains on water

A global water crisis is emerging that may challenge states' existing and future water availability. With countries already heavily reliant on international rivers, the issue of managing water scarcity in these basins is mounting. An already complex issue due to climatic change and the politics of access, the management of water resources is complicated further by sovereignty. In a context shaped by political boundaries and a concomitant territorial exclusivity, nation-states seek to guarantee their societies' water by exerting control through physical and institutional infrastructure. Yet, the basin's hydrological interdependency implies co-riparian countries remain vulnerable to each other's use of the shared river, suggesting ecological rather than just political limits to sovereignty. The continued vulnerability, as envisaged within the greening of sovereignty, suggests international cooperation is necessary. Explained as sovereignty bargains, in which states trade reduced autonomy for future benefits, international cooperation is, we suggest, bi-directional and can stem from or create international institutions. We examine an instance of international cooperation that exemplifies an alternative approach to international river management. The benefit-sharing principle focuses on allocating the outputs from water use, rather than the water itself; and was used by the Senegal basin riparians to access key services such as electricity despite a context of poverty, climatic change and intra-basin politics. What emerges is a strong narrative of cooperation sustained, over decades, by the states' willingness to engage in sovereignty bargains.

The Institutionalization of River Treaties

AbstractThis article seeks to expand our understanding of why states use international institutions to manage transboundary rivers. Agreements governing the use and management of international rivers can contain a variety of different institutional features. We address the question of why riparian states choose to include or exclude these features from river treaties. Our explanation focuses on the problem of securing post-agreement compliance. Institutions perform a variety of functions that help states maintain cooperation over time. We analyze this explanation using a data set of river treaties formed between 1950 and 2002. We find that the institutionalization of river treaties is associated with water scarcity, the flow pattern of shared rivers, trade interdependence, and the level of economic development. These findings have important implications for the possibility that rivers will be a source of future conflicts.

Integration in the Management of International Waters: Economic Perspectives on a Global Policy Discourse

In recent years an emergent global policy discourse has promoted the concept of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) as a strategy for the sustainable management of international waters. However, integration remains a considerable challenge in large international river basins. This article addresses the relevance of the global discourse on IWRM, asking how much integration can be expected and how much integration is desirable in international water management. The article presents a novel compilation of eighty-six international river basin organizations and examines their degree of integration in terms of three dimensions: membership, substantive scope, and form. More particularly, the article examines the integration problem from an economic perspective, asking whether integration serves the self-interest of the respective riparian states. The empirical evidence highlights the difficulties of integration, as the majority of international river basin organizations remain narrow in membership and scope. Economic considerations suggest that voluntary cooperation in river basins is institutionally demanding and that the degree of integration depends on the problem at hand. Hence, the challenge for international waters management is to search for the economically desirable degree of integration in each case. Keywords: international river basins, Integrated Water Resources Management, Coase theorem, integration. The Problem Some 263 river basins on earth cross international boundaries. (1) Whenever a water resource is international, competing claims over shared waters can generate conflict among riparian countries. In response, a global policy discourse has emerged that promotes Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) as a concept for sustainable resource use. IWRM calls for the integrated management of different water uses within the hydrological confines of a river basin. Proponents of IWRM often advocate the establishment of special river basin organizations. However, a number of social scientists have rejected IWRM as unrealistic with respect to international waters. For example, Frank Marty, basing his predictions on experiences with six bilateral agreements, expects that the majority of international water agreements will be bilateral and narrow in scope and that this is indeed how it should be. (2) John Waterbury warns that the quest for integrated development in international river basins will be elusive and excessively costly, although he concedes that bilateral agreements are not necessarily a solution for multiparty basins. (3) Empirical research suggests that existing arrangements are limited in membership and substantive scope, but large-N analyses are rare and generally limited to the analysis of membership. In terms of membership, Jesse Hamner and Aaron Wolf find that 86 percent of 145 international water treaties concluded since 1945 are bilateral; however, they do not distinguish between bilateral and multilateral basins. (4) According to Ken Conca, Fengshi Wu, and Ciqi Mei, thirty-three of forty-nine international river agreements established in multilateral basins between 1980 and 2000 are bilateral. (5) In terms of substantive scope, Ludwik Teclaff suggests that the majority of international water institutions are single-purpose, but the basis of his analysis is unclear. (6) In terms of form, it is an open question as to what extent riparian states not only conclude agreements but also set up specific river basin organizations. (7) Hence, only vague knowledge is available concerning integration of existing international river basin institutions in terms of substantive scope and form. How much integration can be expected in the management of international waters? How much integration is desirable in terms of membership, substantive scope, and form? In other words, how viable is the IWRM concept for the management of international rivers? To address these questions, I discuss in this article IWRM in the light of empirical evidence and economic considerations. …

The legislative framework and policy for the water resources management of transboundary rivers in Europe: the case of Nestos/Mesta River, between Greece and Bulgaria

Abstract This paper describes the current legislative framework with respect to the management of transboundary river basins within the geographical area of Europe. It analyses the main aspects of the European Water Framework Directive as well as the important role of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE) on the management of international rivers. Finally, it presents the case study of the transboundary river Mesta/Nestos which flows through Bulgaria and Greece. It describes the cooperation of the two countries since 1964, when the negotiations started, and the current situation, whereas Bulgaria is a candidate Member State of the European Union and a new regime on the cooperation of the two countries will be developed.

Geopolitics, water and development in South Asia: cooperative development in the Ganges–Brahmaputra delta

In light of the new cooperative water development agreements in South Asia since 1996 and, in particular, the 1996 Ganges Waters Treaty between India and Bangladesh, this paper explores the geopolitical obstacles to cooperation between states in the joint development of large‐scale river systems and current opportunities for successful development. The general problems of cooperation faced by the riparian states which share successive rivers are examined with reference to the geopolitical obstacles to cooperation in the Bengal delta since the Partition of the Indian subcontinent through which India and Pakistan gained Independence as separate states in 1947. Against the background of repeated attempts to resolve water‐sharing issues between India and East Pakistan and its successor state, Bangladesh, this paper concludes that for cooperation to succeed contemporary large‐scale river development has to meet a wide range of criteria which go beyond conventional engineering or economic cost‐benefit analyses to include geopolitical criteria. These range from global‐scale environmental concerns to micro‐scale issues of mutual regional benefit. This paper proposes a major new development on the Brahmaputra and Ganges which the authors argue could break the log‐jam of a zero‐sum game approach to surface water development in the Bengal delta. Unlike most large‐scale dam‐building proposals, the barrage construction outlined would cause negligible population displacement, and making maximum use of existing river channels would minimize the environmental impacts associated with the large canal or dam construction envisaged in earlier Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna (GBM) schemes. Yet the paper also recognizes that while such a proposal could bring economic, environmental and political advantages to all users in the GBM basin, new thinking on the management of international rivers is less in favour of supply‐side solutions, and the case would need to be substantiated by detailed evaluation.

Beyond the river: the benefits of cooperation on international rivers

Management of international rivers can be a cause of conflict or cooperation between states. Benefits of cooperation include benefits to the ecological river, the economic river, the political river and the catalytic river. The challenges are in balancing the trade-offs between states.

River Symposium 2002: “The Scarcity of Water—the Future of Rivers—the Future of Water.” Fifth International River Management Symposium, 3–6 September 2002

River Symposium 2002: “The Scarcity of Water—the Future of Rivers—the Future of Water.” Fifth International River Management Symposium, 3–6 September 2002

Explaining success and failure in international river management

When and why are international efforts to solve transboundary river management problems successful? When and why do such efforts fail, and what does success or failure mean? With more than 260 international river basins covering 45% of the Earth's land surface, and with freshwater being humanity's most valuable natural resource, these questions are hardly trivial. Natural scientists and engineers have provided some answers, but they remain far from complete without major input from the social sciences. While technical know-how and innovation are also crucial to successful international river management, success in this context hinges primarily on political processes in which institutional arrangements are designed and implemented. This review essay maintains that social scientists have made considerable progress in this field since 1977, when a landmark book by David Le Marquand on the politics of international river management was published. This progress includes the development of theoretically better informed explanatory models and their evaluation against an increasing amount of empirical information. It provides a solid foundation for proceeding to a larger-scale research effort that involves the analysis of a larger set of empirical cases on the basis of a single explanatory model.

Can there be confluence? A comparative consideration of Western and Islamic fresh water law

The authors examine and analyze comparatively the bases, nature, and workings of international Western and Islamic fresh water law and attempt to answer such questions as whether the two legal systems, one secular the other religious, can be sufficiently harmonized or integrated to enable effective, basin-wide management of such waterways as the Indus and the Nile Rivers where the two systems of law co-exist? Does Islamic law (sharia) have a direct, practical role to play in the management of international water basins in today's world? If precedence is given to the hydro-political dimensions of transnational river basin issues, is there an effective role for law in the processes of international river management? What are the implications of the fact that Muslim nations where Islamic law prevails are members of the UN and have signed UN conventions and treaties? The authors attempt to provide answers to these and other questions and to offer at least one way in which the two systems of law could possibly be made to work compatibly over fresh water issues.

Equitable utilisation and effective protection of sharing transboundary water resources: international rivers of western China

Western China includes 12 provincial divisions (the 7 provinces of Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai and; 5 autonomous regions of Tibet, Ningxia, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Guangxi; and one city of Chongqing), which comprise 71.4% of the national land area, 28.5% of the national population and produce 17.5% of the national GDP in China. There are 17 countries that have riparian relationships with western China, most of which are water-short countries. All are listed by UN ESCAP as countries with potential water crisis. The co-operative development and coordinated management of international rivers in western China is an important step toward the implementation of the national Great Western Development program. Taking into account of the national strategy and object hierarchy, as well as the development demand of the western region, it is necessary to pursue the multi-disciplinary study of the equitable allocation, utilisation, and eco-environment protection of transboundary water resources in the region. Such efforts will undoubtedly provide scientific evidence and support for the decision-making of the environmental protection and ecological construction and management in the western regions, the enforcement of the sub-regional economic co-operation, mitigation of trans-boundary conflicts, and enhancing bio-diversity conservation.