Transboundary River Basin Management Research Articles

“Where we need water, we find guns instead”: understanding the securitization of sovereignty claims on the Brahmaputra

ABSTRACT The article analyzes Indian and Chinese sovereignty claims on the Brahmaputra river through the lens of securitization theory. The approach, which looks at the escalation of an issue from normal to emergency politics, allows us to examine the resultant redefinition of the state’s rights and prerogatives. Taking the Brahmaputra river basin as its case study, the article focuses on the multiple hydropolitical contexts in which India’s and China’s pitched efforts to assert their respective user rights on its waters is situated. The securitization this has entailed, by way of structural, institutional, and discursive mechanisms, has only served to amplify existing patterns of state behavior, be it hydro-nationalism or opacity in information sharing. Drawing on experiences from other case studies of transboundary river basin management, it seeks to examine how the water conflicts between both states could be resolved. The article argues that federalizing the securitization debate in India is essential to grasping the layered narratives that have evolved around the Brahmaputra. Acknowledging the polyphonic nature of securitization would open new avenues for desecuritizing the water discourse. This in turn could entail rescaling politics and, by implication, reconfiguring sovereignty itself.

Nitrate sources and mixing in the Danube watershed: implications for transboundary river basin monitoring and management

Dispersed and unknown pollution sources complicate water management in large transboundary watersheds. We applied stable isotopes of water and nitrate together with contaminants of emerging concern (CECs: carbamazepine, caffeine, sulfamethoxazole, perfluorooctanoic acid and 2,4-dinitrophenol) to evaluate mixing and inputs of water and contaminants from tributaries into the mainstem of the transboundary Danube River. Stable isotope (δ18O, δ2H) variations from low values (− 13.3 ‰, − 95.1 ‰) in the Upper Danube after the Inn River confluence to high values (− 9.9 ‰, − 69.7 ‰) at the Danube River mouth revealed snowmelt dominated tributary mixing (~ 70%) in the mainstem. Stable isotopes of nitrate (δ15N-NO3) in the Danube River varied from lower values (+ 6.7 ‰) in the Upper Danube to higher values after the mixing with Morava River (+ 10.5 ‰) and showed that cold snowmelt can reduce biological activity and controls nitrate biotransformation processes in the mainstem up to 1000 km downstream. Data on emerging contaminants affirmed the low biodegradation potential of organic compounds transferred into the mainstem by tributaries. We found pollutant source tracing in large rivers is complicated by mixing of multiple sources with overlapping isotopic signatures, but additional tracers such as CECs improve the interpretation of hydrological processes (e.g., water transit time) and support tracing of nitrate pollution sources, and biogeochemical processes. Our approach can be applied to other watersheds to improve the understanding of dilution and mixing processes. Moreover, it provides directions for improving national and transboundary water quality monitoring networks.

Havza Yönetiminde Bölgesel Elektrik Ticareti Modeli: Aral ve Kura-Aras Havzaları Üzerine Bir Değerlendirme

Transboundary river basin management problems have been on top of the agenda of Central Asian politics, especially after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. This issue area has was given priority in the global political-environmental debates since the emergence of the Aral Sea problem during the Soviet era. In contrast, the environmental issues regarding the Kura-Araks river basin were relatively less discussed in the literature and thus have been paid less attention in the global political -environmental debates. This paper compares the environmental and economic issue areas of the water management and hydroelectricity generation in the Kura-Araks river basin and the Aral Sea basin and recommends solutions based on dyad-level regional electricity trade schemes based on regional cooperation models.

Simulation of streamflow and instream loads of total suspended solids and nitrate in a large transboundary river basin using Source model and geospatial analysis

The management of LULC changes in transboundary river basins continues to challenge water resources managers due to the differences in development and conservation priorities of the countries sharing the basin. While various watershed models (WMs) exist to support decision making, basin-wide sustainable application of the instituted WM depends on the management priorities, resources, data availability, and knowledge gaps at national and sub-basin levels. Building on the results of our prior comparative analysis of WMs for a large transboundary river basin, we applied the ‘Source’ model to the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB). The constructed LMB-Source model was evaluated based on its streamflow and instream total suspended solids (TSS) and nitrate loads simulative performances. A combination of predictive performance metrics (PPMs) and sophisticated hydrologic signatures were used to calibrate model parameters and diagnose the model performance. Calibration results indicated strong similarity between the simulated and observed time series data and were further confirmed by the validation results. The successful model calibration generated parameters that represent hydrologic response characteristics (HRCs) and overland TSS and nitrate generation and removal dynamics (GRDs) previously not available for the LMB. The HRCs and GRDs can be regionalised with physical attributes of the LMB in future studies which can be used to support the management of ungauged sub-basins. This study confirms Source's capability as a decision support tool for the management of transboundary river basins, and provides basin-specific values of HRCs and GRDs that can be used for a better evaluation of the potential effects of LULC changes.

Towards a rights-based approach in EU international river basin governance? Lessons from the Scheldt and Ems Basins

ABSTRACTThis article finds that the introduction of a rights-based approach in EU transboundary river basin management to remedy observed systemic difficulties and to better achieve legal water quality standards could be a next step in achieving integrated river basin management. However, its effectiveness largely depends on the willingness of member states to share river basin districts to subordinate their separate socio-economic interests to ecological needs, as well as to grant a clear mandate and partly transfer responsibilities and powers to a competent supranational authority.

Transboundary river catchment areas of developing countries: Potential and limitations of watershed models for the simulation of sediment and nutrient loads. A review

Study regionThe management of transboundary river basins is challenging given frequent divergences in political, cultural, developmental and conservation priorities of countries that make up the basin. In the Lower Mekong River Basin where multiple countries are beneficiaries of its water resources, ensuring good quality of the river waters is crucial for sustainable development, and for protecting the integrity of its ecosystems. Study focusThe focus of this paper is on identifying an appropriate decision support tool for assisting the management of in-stream nutrients and sediment concentrations taking into account the abilities to (i) satisfactory simulate hydrological processes and pollutant loadings in a time continuous manner; (ii) simulate the effects of various land use change scenarios; (iii) handle issues of data scarcity and compatibility stemming from different development policies and priorities of each administrative jurisdiction; (iv) have a record of previous applications in a large transboundary river basin; and (v) have a track record of use by government agencies to support decision making. These criteria guide in-depth analysis of 250 peer-reviewed journal papers. New hydrological insights for the regionFour models meet the pre-determined criteria, with eWater Source providing a comparative advantage of prior use in a transboundary catchment larger than the Lower Mekong River Basin.

Can ‘learning spaces’ shape transboundary management processes? Evaluating emergent social learning processes in the Zambezi basin

Social learning in collaborative processes is considered important for addressing complex natural resource dilemmas and for supporting multi-actor interactions in joint problem framing, and the co-construction of solutions. While social learning is often presented as a normative approach for stimulating shared understanding among multiple actors, little is known about how long-term emergent social learning processes occur. In this paper, we analyse a long-term emergent social learning process within transboundary river basin management. To this end, we apply the concept of the learning space - meaning arenas for interaction, deliberation and re-framing - as a lens for evaluating emergent social learning processes. Results show that in the Zambezi Basin, social learning in emergent processes occurs in stages and is triggered by various factors that result in collective outcomes throughout the process. Emergent social learning processes were triggered by structural reorganization processes, natural calamities, the influences of cooperating partners and international frameworks. Over time, the spaces for interaction and deliberation led to the reframing of basin management practices and the subsequent development of new institutions. In addition, social learning outcomes included increased relational capacities of national and regional actors and trust, but also mistrust and power issues. While emergent long-term processes are difficult to evaluate, our findings reveal that the concept of the learning space provides a structure for assessing long-term emergent social learning process outcomes, and thus, can provide a broader understanding of processes needed in designing long-term management practices or institutions.

Critical Success Factors in Transboundary Water Management: a US-EU Comparison

In light of the increasing pressure on freshwater resources, good governance of rivers is key in meeting the challenges ahead. Integrated river basin management has been advocated both in the European Union and the United States. This paper will adopt a comparative approach to the analysis of river basin management by scrutinizing the legal regimes governing the Scheldt River in the EU and the Delaware River in the US. Based on these case studies, in combination with literature review, the article will set forth Critical Success Factors for integrated transboundary river basin management.

Conjunctive management of surface and groundwater in transboundary watercourses: a first assessment

Abstract Cooperative management of transboundary river basins is widely recognized as important. Emphasis on joint management of shared aquifers has also grown in recent years. Perhaps surprisingly, despite abundant focus on transboundary surface water and growing focus on shared groundwater, there is scant focus on their intersection. To address this knowledge limitation, this article reviews experiences in transboundary water treaties oriented toward different water sources, in order to: (i) understand how transboundary water institutions vary according to the water source to which they are oriented, (ii) gauge the nature and strength of conjunctive transboundary water management treaties, and (iii) identify ways to enhance conjunctive water management in transboundary contexts. The results reveal the existence of more than 50 treaties that make mention of both water sources. Nonetheless, only eight treaties devote ‘substantive’ focus to both surface and groundwater. Review of treaty contents reveals that their focus is on ‘softer’ issues related to institutional development. Moving forward, the reality that the evolution of conjunctive treaties is relatively nascent, and that scope of such treaties is still limited to institutional issues, may indicate large untapped potential – it may be time to outline pathways toward practical implementation of conjunctive water management in transboundary contexts.

Intergovernmental cooperation on the Amur River basin management in the twenty-first century

This article describes several important topics in river management relationships between the Chinese, Mongolian and Russian governments, such as hydropower, water transfer and flood control, to illustrate various less known aspects of transboundary river basin management patterns in the Amur River basin. This is intended to establish a baseline account of transboundary water management in this shared river basin in the wake of major changes dictated by China’s wider transboundary and domestic policies such as the Belt and Road Initiative and Ecological Civilization and to consider to what extent the emerging shifts in environmental and development policies have already been manifested in cooperation on the transboundary river.

Regional science collaboration on “Transboundary River Basin Management: The Case of the Koshi River Basin”, held during the 33rd IGC, 24 August 2016, Beijing, China

Regional science collaboration on “Transboundary River Basin Management: The Case of the Koshi River Basin”, held during the 33rd IGC, 24 August 2016, Beijing, China

Transboundary Cooperation in European Water Governance – A set‐theoretic analysis of International River Basins

AbstractThe pursuit of more integrated water resource management based on hydrological boundaries (i.e. river basins) poses significant challenges for domestic environmental governance, let alone in situations where rivers transcend national borders. This paper examines which conditions of governance (and beyond) favour cooperative transboundary river basin management practices under the European Water Framework Directive. This directive, with its detailed procedural provisions for (international) river basin management planning, offers an excellent test bed to investigate and assess the factors and mechanisms of transboundary river basin management. Postulates of neo‐liberal theory of international cooperation, drawn from international relations, help to identify relevant conditions for analysis, covering the two dimensions of state interests and transaction costs. Results of a qualitative comparative analysis show that transaction costs have a strong mitigating influence on the occurrence of cooperative river basin planning. However, reduced transaction costs alone do not suffice for states to enter into cooperation, but the latter have to be activated by a favourable incentive structure, i.e. high problem pressure or legal or domestic incentives. While these insights hold for most cooperative river basin districts, a few basins that follow a contradictory pattern without reduced transaction costs deserve further attention. The findings shed further light on the influence of contextual factors in shaping water governance. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Weighted Bankruptcy Rules and Transboundary Water Resources Allocation

One significant problem of transboundary river basins causing various challenges and disputes throughout the world is that because of increasing water resource variability and consumption, the water demand often exceeds water availability. Hence, one of the main challenges in transboundary river basin management is how to allocate the available water among the riparian states equitably and reasonably. In this study, we propose a novel weighted bankruptcy solution method to cope with the problem of demands or “claims” exceeding resources or “assets”. Certain desirable key properties of the proposed method are provided. Furthermore, we investigate its application to the Tigris River, a shared river among Turkey, Syria and Iraq, as a real case. The available water is allocated under two different situations: homogeneous and heterogeneous group. We use the Shapley Value and compare the solution with other allocation methods applied in this study. The results suggest that this new rule may facilitate negotiation in solving conflict over the allocation of water in transboundary river basins.

Tools to improve the management of transboundary river basins for disaster risk reduction

This paper firstly presents a brief overview of the complex environment of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region in the context of disaster risk reduction (DRR), analyzing characteristics of the major hazards and actors involved. Secondly, it argues that the SADC Water Division and International River Basin Organizations (RBOs) in Southern Africa can play a crucial role in DRR in the water sector, providing a platform where agreements on data and information sharing are reached, best practices are exchanged, policies harmonized, new collaboration mechanisms are discussed, and coordinated interventions are decided upon. Moreover, RBOs can facilitate the adoption of basin-wide Integrated Water Resource Management plans, building on the pillars of economic efficiency, social equity and environmental sustainability with the result of reducing hazards and increasing resilience. RBOs can represent the shared interests of riparian states from a basin perspective to other international actors. To achieve these goals, RBOs in Southern Africa face significant challenges: broadening stakeholder participation, gaining buy-in from Member States on their representation and facilitation of specific matters. Possible approaches to overcome these challenges will be suggested in this paper.

Pathways for building capacity and ensuring effective transboundary water resources management in Africa: Revisiting the key issues, opportunities and challenges

The performance of most organizations and institutions set up to facilitate transboundary water resources management in Africa remains unsatisfactory and new frameworks are required to address this performance gap. Using the Nile and Senegal River Basins as case studies, this paper applies qualitative research methods to explore the transboundary river basin management terrain in Africa with a view to identifying and articulating some of the major issues, challenges and opportunities faced in building the capacity of the main actors and institutions in the sector. The paper establishes that the creation of basin management institutions as the assumed panacea to challenges evident in this sector has not delivered the desired results. Some of the institutions established for this purpose in Africa have remained functionally weak and ineffective. Thus, demand for capacity-building interventions in this landscape remains high. The paper concludes that comprehensive capacity-building interventions should seek to improve the competencies and skills of key actors in implementing the broad range of activities constituting integrated water resources management in transboundary basins. In-depth analysis of the fundamental capacity constraints and challenges that key players face in relation to key drivers for cooperation is the absolutely necessary ingredient.

Knowledge leads, policy follows? Two speeds of collaboration in river basin management

The 21st century began as a period of increasing water scarcity, conflicts over shared water resources and major flood disasters. This context keeps the establishment of effective basin management on the top of the global water agenda. Capacity development in the field is often modelled on the experience of existing river commissions, such as the International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine (ICPR), widely perceived as a reference for successful trust and knowledge-based collaboration. The relevance of knowledge in transboundary river basin management is uncontested, but its concrete function remains unclear. This pilot study investigates the influence of knowledge collaboration in internal working groups on ICPR development during the implementation of its milestone Rhine Action Programme, testing a phenomenological approach based on actor accounts. The results suggest that active stimulation of knowledge-based collaboration can lead to substantial influence on policy processes, but that the direction of such influence is ambiguous. Internal dynamics of the ICPR are likely to have assumed patterns of scale-dependent, cross-level interplay at the time. This has significant implications for capacity development, since such dynamics can both support and obstruct the development of effective resource management.

Current and future challenges facing transboundary river basin management

This review employs academic and policy literature to gage the relative importance and concerns associated with the main challenges facing the management of transboundary river basins: increasing pressures; management and policy that has not kept pace with a broadened set of actors; the influence of climate change; and the politics of reconciling political borders and basin boundaries. The persistence of the supply‐side management philosophy within current political economies is also reviewed, along with infrastructure and institutional responses to the challenges (e.g., IWRM, dams, treaties). An analytical frame developed from the review is applied to three basins where there has been successful, considerable, or no effort at transboundary basin management: the Rhine, the Nile, and the Euphrates. International politics and national self‐interest are found to be the key challenge facing international basins, though each of the challenges is interconnected and should be considered in combination. If transboundary basin management is to confront the challenges successfully, it should develop along two paths: away from a supply‐side management paradigm toward adaptive management, and away from sovereignty and unilateralism to multilateralism. While infrastructure built under a paradigm of reducing uncertainty is found to reduce the adaptation options set, adaptive management that can make the most of the increasingly diverse governance and confront the supply‐management philosophy is seen as best‐suited to meet future challenges. The disabling effect of sovereignty and international politics may best be addressed by confronting resistance of the promotion of ‘shared sovereignty’ and fair water‐sharing. WIREs Clim Change 2013, 4:331–349. doi: 10.1002/wcc.228This article is categorized under: Climate and Development > Social Justice and the Politics of Development

From a sewer into a living river: the Rhine between Sandoz and Salmon

After presenting some key data about the River Rhine, the main problems, tasks and the structure of the International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine (ICPR) as an intergovernmental organization are explained. Right up to the 1970–1980s, the river was so heavily polluted with wastewater that it was generally called the sewer of Europe (ICPR, A Programme for Migratory Fish in the Rhine System 2004, Kobl enz, 2004). Some milestones—disasters and resulting programmes—in the history of the ICPR are shown, following the main topics of the ICPR work: water quality, ecology, flood protection and climate change. The main outcomes of the programmes are presented and linked with European Directives. It is shown how the achievements of the Rhine Commission have triggered the development of directives at European level, such as the Water Framework Directive (2000) and the Directive on Flood Assessment and Management (2007). Finally, positive and negative experience is reconsidered and factors for a successful transboundary river basin management are pointed out against the background that other river basin co-operations starting their work today could share the lessons learnt by the ICPR.

Environmental Information in European Transboundary Water Management

Environmental Information in European Transboundary Water Management aims to examine the role of information in transboundary river basin and water management, and the way it is used (or not) in policy and decision and decision-making within the wider European area. While having forward-looking perspective justified by the ongoing implementation of the EU water Framework Directive among EU Member States and Candidates Countries, many of the chapters draw on the experiences gained from the past and existing transboundary river basin co-operation experiences. Chapters are organised according to a framework that shows the sharing of water resources to be based upon a foundation of integrated water resources management, supported by three pillars: Politics - concerned with the enabling of sharing water resources, including the recognition of differences in riparian interests and international collaboration. Technical cooperation - concerned with concrete co-operation including exchange of information; tools and techniques to produce, use and disseminate information; joint research programmes; joint river basin plans; and joint ventures i.e. jointly performed water management actions. Legal-institutional - dealing with institutions and legal instruments that support the vision of fair and equitable sharing of international water resources; this pillar finds its basis in internationally laid down principles of cross border co-operation. Environmental Information in European Transboundary Water Management will appeal to professionals involved in the various aspects of transboundary river basin co-operation, both on strategic and operational levels, but also to the academic community concerned with the study of transboundary river basin or water management. It will also be an important source for graduate students in (transboundary) river basin management. ISBN: 9781843390381 (Print) ISBN: 9781780402666 (eBook)

Evaluation of streamflow estimates for the Rovuma River

Reliable estimates of historic streamflow are important when estimating future flows and water resources availability based on factors such as climate change, population growth, and changes in land use or land cover. Many regions across the globe have limited streamflow observations. Additional information about streamflow in these basins is critical to water resources planning and economic development strategies. In southeastern Africa, the remote Rovuma River lies on the border between Mozambique and Tanzania. There are limited historic measurements in the main tributary, the Lugenda River, and no publicly available observations from recent years. Improved knowledge of the water resources availability and seasonal and annual variability of this river will enhance transboundary river basin management discussions. A combination of methods, including index-gauge methods and a macro-scale hydrological model are used to estimate historic streamflow conditions in the Rovuma River. These methods incorporate data from remote sensing, gridded global soil data, a composite runoff dataset, and in situ observations. The hydrological model was tested in a nearby gauged basin yielding a Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency ratio of 0.8, an efficiency ratio based on mean historical streamflow by month of 0.6, an efficiency ratio based on inverse flows (sensitive to low flows) of 0.9, and a coefficient of determination equal to 0.99. In the Rovuma River, the mean and standard deviation of the index gauge-estimated mean monthly flows agree with streamflow estimates using the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) hydrologic model with a 0.25 decimal degree spatial resolution. A closer look at precipitation records suggests that the model results provide a more accurate historic flow record than the index gauge methods due to small-scale precipitation events. Model inputs and results are evaluated by leveraging available regional in situ data in comparison to remote sensing data input data. Uncertainties in the streamflow estimates are high, however, additional in situ measurements can reduce these uncertainties. This combination of methods could prove useful for estimating flows in other rivers in southern Africa and other regions with intermittent or sparse streamflow observations.