Mark Giordano (IWMI)

Leader, Water and Society Theme

Presentation made to the Strategic Foresight GroupIWMI HQ, Battaramulla, 2009

The Transboundary Waters Program at IWMI

• IWMI’s core business is focused on agricultural water management and poverty, but…

• most IWMI work is centered in transboundary basins, so– Water management often means

transboundary water management

Africa’s 63 transboundary basins contain:

93% of the water77% of the population

• IWMI’s core business is focused on agricultural water management and poverty, but…

• most IWMI work is centered in transboundary basins, so– Water management often means transboundary

water management– International cooperation can be an incredibly

powerful vehicle for poverty reduction and water productivity improvement

4 Key Areas of Work

1. Provision of Data and International Public Goods

2. Research to Fill Key Knowledge Gaps

3. Transboundary Research within on- the-ground IWMI projects

4. Collaboration and Capacity Building

Data and International Public Goods

• Africa Water Law Database– www.africanwaterlaw.org

Source: <http://www.africanwaterlaw.org/>

1. Data and International Public Goods

• African Water Law Database– www.africanwaterlaw.org

• Expansion and merger with the Transboundary Freshwater Disputes Database (Aaron Wolf at OSU*)

• Publications such as Share

*OSU- Oregon State University

Source:. Share – Managing water across boundaries. Gland, Switzerland (2008) ,<http://data.iucn.org/dbtw-wpd/edocs/2008-016.pdf>

2. Research to Fill Key Knowledge Gaps

• Are transboundary waters a source of conflict or cooperation?

• What are the options for climate change and variability management?

• What are strategies for managing water quality?

• Can data and information sharing increase cooperation?

3. Transboundary Research within on-the-ground IWMI projects

• Can a benefit sharing approach be used to overcome the impass on the Nile?

• How might the Red Sea save the Dead Sea?

• How to manage a transboundary irrigation canal in the former Soviet Union?

• The politics of Environmental Impact Assessment in the Mekong

Examples of Project Results

Global paradigms-Help or hindrance?

Change in the global content of transboundary water law

Source: Demanding Supply Management and Supplying Demand Management: Transboundary Waters in Sub-Saharan Africa. Lautze, Jonathan and Mark Giordano. Journal of Environment and Development. 16: 290-306. 2007

Why has it changed?

Figure 3: Water Withdrawal by decade (UNESCO, 2003)

Figure 4: Per Capita Food Consumption

1800

2100

2400

2700

3000

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

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rso

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ay

World

Developing Countries

Malnutrition Threshold

Environmental concerns

Source: Demanding Supply Management and Supplying Demand Management: Transboundary Waters in Sub-Saharan Africa. Lautze, Jonathan and Mark Giordano. Journal of Environment and Development. 16: 290-306. 2007

Source: Demanding Supply Management and Supplying Demand Management: Transboundary Waters in Sub-Saharan Africa. Lautze, Jonathan and Mark Giordano. Journal of Environment and Development. 16: 290-306. 2007

Africa

Global

But Africa follows the Institutional trend

Source: Demanding Supply Management and Supplying Demand Management: Transboundary Waters in Sub-Saharan Africa. Lautze, Jonathan and Mark Giordano. Journal of Environment and Development. 16: 290-306. 2007

Why and Lessons

• Norms are heavily influenced by countries with high levels of income, water resources development and related environmental priorities

• For developing countries to take advantage of the positive, look for opportunities to leapfrog

• To avoid the negative, watch for limits to leapfrogging-avoid global policy prescriptions and “best practices” not built on the experience of local environments. Creative acceptance of support.

Examples of Project Results

Global paradigms-Help or hindrance? Alternatives approaches to conflict

prevention and cooperation Food policy in the Middle East/North Africa Groundwater banking in Central Asia

Food policy in the Middle East/North Africa- Example of Iran

• Fall of Shah, conflict with US/West and Iran-Iraq war made food self-sufficiency a national priority

• Ongoing wars on two borders and nuclear conflict with west give continued reason for policy

• Result is use of water for low productivity grains that could be imported

• Still one of the world’s largest wheat importers (from the USA!)

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Morocco (Triffa) Turkey (Seyhan) Niger (Saga) Egypt (Nile Delta) Pakistan(Chishtian)

India (MahiKadana)

Iran (Karkhehbasin)

Country (Irrigation system)

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Water Productivity in Selected Irrigation Schemes

Source: Mobin Ahmad et. al, 2009, Karkheh Basin Focal Project Report, Unpublished

Hawr Al Azim Wetland Desiccation

Year 1973-76 Year 2000

Source: Mobin Ahmad et. al, 2009, Karkheh Basin Focal Project Report, Unpublished

The potential for high politics?

Source: Water for Food, Water for Life: A Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture, IWMI, 2007

Groundwater Banking in Central Asia

Source: Bucknall, et al.70, Irrigation in Central Asia: Social, Economic and Environmental Considerations, The World Bank, February 2003.

Flow of the Narin River, Uzbekistan

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92

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Source: Compiled by Akmal Karimov, (IWMI-Central Asia), 2009

Sokh Aquifer

Source: Akmal Karimov, (IWMI-Central Asia), 2009

Tentative Lessons

• Potential solution to about 50% of the current upstream/downstream issue

• Provides a new option for enlarging the negotiating space

• Alternatively, provides a challenge to the idea that a basin solution and riparian cooperation should be considered as the first choice option

4. Partnership Examples

• Universities– Oregon State University – Addis Abba University – Hebrew University– University of Arizona

• International Organizations– IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature)– NATO

• Networks– Swedish Transboundary Waters Initiative– M-Power( Mekong Program on Water, Environment and Resilience)

Some publications

• Managing transboundary waters in extreme environments: the role of international actors in Africa. Giordano, Mark and Jonathan Lautze.In Lipchin, C.; Sandler, D.; Cushman, E. (Eds.). The Jordan River and Dead Sea Basin: cooperation amid conflict. New York, NY, USA: Springer Verlag. pp.113-138. 2009

• Treaties with water quality provisions. Meredith Giordano. In Delli Priscolli and Wolf (eds) Managing and Transforming Water Conflicts. Cambridge. New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press. pp.274-307. 2009.

• Climate Change, International Cooperation, and Adaption: Lessons from Transboundary Water Law. Drieschova, Alena, Mark Giordano and Itay Fischhendler. Cambridge Press. Forthcoming.

• Political Altruism of Transboundary Water Sharing. Bhaduri, Anik ; Barbier, E. B. The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy 8.1. 2008.

• International water transfer and sharing: The case of the Ganges River. Bhaduri, Anik ; Barbier, E. B. Environment and Development Economics, 13:29-51. 2008

• Governance Mechanisms to Address Flow Variability in Water Treaties. Drieschova, Alena, Mark Giordano and Itay Fischhendler. Global Environmental Change 18, 285-295. 2008.

• Demanding Supply Management and Supplying Demand Management: Transboundary Waters in Sub-Saharan Africa. Lautze, Jonathan and Mark Giordano. Journal of Environment and Development. 16: 290-306. 2007

• SHARE: Lessons in the management of trans-boundary water resources. Saddoff, Claudia, Kelly, Thomas/Alejandro (eds.). IUCN. Geneva. 2007.

• Does ‘equity’ really matter in international water law? Evidence from Africa. Lautze, Jonathan and Mark Giordano. Colorado Journal of International Environmental Law and Policy.17(1): 89-122. 2006.

• Quantity and Qualities: The Development and Extent of Transboundary Water Law in Africa. Jonathan Lautze and Mark Giordano. Natural Resources Journal 45 (4) :1053-1087. 2006.

More publications

• International Resource Conflict and Mitigation: An institutional paradigm. Giordano, Mark, Meredith Giordano and Aaron Wolf Journal of Peace Research. 42(1), 47-65. 2005.

• Transboundary Aquifers: Do International Borders Serve as Positive or Negative Flow Boundaries? Jarvis, Todd, Mark Giordano, Shammy Puri, Kyoko Mastumoto, and Aaron Wolf. Ground Water 43(5): 764-770. 2005.

• The Geography of international water conflict and cooperation: datasets and applications. Yoffe, Shira, Greg Fiske, Mark Giordano, Meredith Giordano, Kelli Larson, Kerstin Stahl and Aaron Wolf. Water Resources Research. 40: 1-12. 2004.

• Conflict and Cooperation over International Freshwater Resources: Indicators of Basins at Risk. Yoffe, Shira, Aaron Wolf and Mark Giordano. Journal of the American Water Resources Association. 39(5): 1109-1126. 2003.

• Managing the Quality of Transboundary Rivers: International Principles and Basin-level Practice. Giordano, Meredith A. Natural Resources Journal 43 (1): 111-136. 2003.

And a few more