Research, ideas, and leadership for a more secure, peaceful world
Water may be everywhere, but its availability has always been limited in terms quantity and/or quality.
Water may be everywhere, but its availability has always been limited in terms quantity and/or quality. In the past hundred years, the world population is tripled while the demand for water has increased sevenfold. Water is constantly in motion, flowing from one location to another, ignoring political boundaries; hence, increasing competition over such a precious resource can eventually become a source of tension and even conflict between states.
History has shown, however, that the vital nature of freshwater can also be a powerful incentive for cooperation. As such, it can compel stakeholders to reconcile their diverging views instead of allowing their opposing interests, which could escalate to harmful confrontations, to jeopardize the water supply.
Just as water defies political boundaries, the crisis may well be beyond the capability of any individual country and may not be dealt with in isolation. Hence, institutions — be they formally or informally established with expertise accumulated in legal, social, economic, and technological realms — can do a wonderful job to solve the manifold problems emanating from the complexity of management of transboundary water resources.
Against this background, this presentation analyzes many dimensions of transboundary water resources management, and in conclusion, sides cautiously with the optimistic approach which argues for the utility of institutions and coordination mechanisms in coping with water crisis.
Please join us! Coffee and tea provided.
