Water cooperation

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Water cooperation

Water and Peace

When properly managed, water can be a peacemaking platform for long lasting cooperation

Water is a growing concern in many parts of the world. Countries can improve their water resilience through transboundary water cooperation over shared waters.

Many of the most pressing challenges in the world are about water: too little, too much or too inferior. Such challenges can only be effectively addressed through adequate governance of available water resources.

Water and the 2030 Agenda

In 2015, the global community launched the 2030 Agenda, with 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that should be reached by 2030. Some progress has been made, but for most of the goals, the world is not on track to meet the deadline. Water can help us do better.

Groundwater

Groundwater is the regulator of the entire freshwater cycle, but its invisibility makes it difficult to manage and protect.

Water and climate

The climate crisis is essentially a water crisis. When we treat it as such, we get new tools to mitigate climate change and adapt to consequences that are unavoidable.

Water scarcity

Insufficient supply and inadequate infrastructure leaves millions of people in the world without water.

Agriculture and water

How to increase the productivity of agriculture around the world through better water management.

The impact of COVID-19

The global COVID-19 pandemic has pushed millions of people back into poverty and exposed unacceptable gaps between the rich and the poor. One in three people are still not able to wash their hands with soap and water at home.

Indigenous knowledge

Indigenous peoples are the custodians of many of the world’s most fragile and important ecosystems. They also possess invaluable knowledge about sustainability and resilience, so they have a vital role in protecting our environment.

Source-to-Sea

The source-to-sea approach focuses on the strong connection between what happens on land, along waterways, and in the sea.

Water in landscapes

A growing number of people, societies and companies are discovering the power of resilient landscapes. It is still possible to shift to more sustainable practices that recharge water, restore soil health, sequester carbon, and strengthen biodiversity – but we need to make the transformation now.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)

More than two billion people in the world lack safely managed drinking water and twice as many lack safely managed sanitation, making WASH one of the most urgent development challenges.

Rivers

While we all depend heavily on rivers for our survival, many rivers are under constant threat from unsustainable human activities

PERSPECTIVES

Youth and water

More and more young people offer important contributions to solving the growing water challenges they are inheriting.

Human rights and water

Having access to water and sanitation has been recognized as a human right since 2010. But water is also essential to ensuring the fulfilment of many other rights.

Gender and water

To improve water governance, we need to take a close look at gender roles.

Water is a growing concern in many parts of the world. Climate change makes rainfalls more unpredictable and is likely to trigger more and more disasters such as droughts, floods, and massive water pollution. But countries can improve their resilience through transboundary water cooperation over shared waters. More regions need agreements where countries jointly manage rivers, lakes, and groundwater aquifers.

Contrary to popular belief, water scarcity has so far tended to unleash cooperation rather than conflict. When researchers from Oregon State University analyzed the world’s international water basins, they found that no war had been fought specifically over water in the 20th century. On the contrary, 149 water-related treaties had been signed. Furthermore, these treaties seemed to be long-lived and respected even when the parties fell out over other issues. Cooperation over water can be conducive to peace since it forces countries to maintain a dialogue even in times of growing regional tensions.

Despite the strong case that can be made for transboundary water cooperation, it remains an under-utilized tool for peace and resilience. Only about one-third of the world’s approximately 310 transboundary river basins currently have formalized cooperation agreements. The number is lower still for transboundary groundwater aquifers. This is a growing concern given the unsustainable pressure on much of the world’s freshwater, especially in poor and conflict-affected regions. About 40 per cent of the global population live in a transboundary river basin and two billion people get their water from aquifers shared by more than one country.

Transboundary cooperation principles can also be applied within countries where regions and sectors identify with competing interests. Research by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre has identified five “hotspot” water basins where a combination of intense water stress, climate change and population growth exacerbates “hydro-political risks”: the Nile, the Ganges/Brahmaputra, the Indus, the Tigris/Euphrates, and the Colorado River Basin.

So, what determines if countries and other actors are interested in collaboration?

An important factor is trust, which can be hard to build in regions with a long history of conflict. Many governments are used to viewing water resources as a matter of national security and may be unwilling to share data. This makes their countries more vulnerable to growing pressures like climate change, for example. Fear-mongering among populist politicians and on social media can stoke nationalistic sentiments that also go against a spirit of cooperation.

Facilitated dialogues have proved to be effective in increasing collaboration, step by step. It is important that the public has access to accurate information about the water situation and what transboundary water cooperation would really mean. Insightful, independent, and unbiased media reporting has a crucial role to play. Governments need to be transparent and willing to share information about their water resources with their own population as well as other states in the region. Many civil society organizations make great contributions through grassroot water initiatives across borders.

When countries agree to cooperate, they need formal frameworks and processes that stand the test of time, and last even when their relationship might be strained for other reasons. It is important to set up mechanisms for monitoring, data sharing, and joint management of the shared water body. With this in place, countries are much better prepared for an uncertain and potentially challenging water future.