‘Complexity of Transboundary Water Conflicts’ seeks to understand transboundary water issues as complex systems with contingent conditions and possibilities. To address those conditions and leverage the possibilities it introduces the concept of enabling conditions as a pragmatic way to identify and act on the emergent possibilities to resolve transboundary water issues. Based on this theoretical frame, the book applies the ideas and tools from complexity science, contingency and enabling conditions to account for events in the formulation of treaties/agreements between disputing riparian states in river basins across the world (Indus, Jordan, Nile, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Colorado, Danube, Senegal and Zayandehrud). It also includes a section with scholars’ reflections on the relevance and weakness of the theoretical framework.

Water Conflicts applies cutting-edge thinking to identify pathways that can transform complex water conflicts. It challenges existing power-blind and politics-lite analysis that is very deeply-held and recurring in debates that suggest causal links between scarcity and violence-or peace. This book presents a much needed revision of transboundary water analysis, leading to a rethink on the way water is used and contested, with a focus on harm experienced both by the most vulnerable water users and the environment. Recognizing that conflicts are never static, Mark Zeitoun, Naho Mirumachi, and Jeroen Warner's "transformative analysis" provides multi-disciplinary tools and perspectives to understand and address the complexities involved. The approach is stress-tested through dozens of examples around the globe, and it incorporates collective evidence and knowledge of the London Water Research Group. The insights on water diplomacy will be most welcome by analysts, activists, diplomats, and all others tackling water conflicts. Seeking to motivate improvement of transboundary water arrangements towards further equity and sustainability as a practical agenda, the book is a fresh antidote to the detached role that researchers and policymakers often play.

Bridges over Water places the study of transboundary water conflicts, negotiation, and cooperation in the context of various disciplines, such as international relations, international law, international negotiations, and economics. It demonstrates their application, using various quantitative approaches, such as river basin modeling, quantitative negotiation theory, and game theory. Case-studies of particular transboundary river basins, lakes, and aquifers are also considered.This second edition updates the literature on international water and in-depth analyses on political developments and cooperation between riparian states. With an appended chapter on principles and practices of negotiation, and a new case study on the La Plata Basin, this edition is a timely update to the field of transboundary water studies.

What is the one thing that no one can do without? Water. Where water crosses boundaries – be they economic, legal, political or cultural – the stage is set for disputes between different users trying to safeguard access to a vital resource, while protecting the natural environment. Without strategies to anticipate, address, and mediate between competing users, intractable water conflicts are likely to become more frequent, more intense, and more disruptive around the world. In this book, Delli Priscoli and Wolf investigate the dynamics of water conflict and conflict resolution, from the local to the international. They explore the inexorable links between three facets of conflict management and transformation: Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), public participation, and institutional capacity. This practical guide will be invaluable to water management professionals, as well as to researchers and students in engineering, economics, geography, geology, and political science who are involved in any aspects of water management.

Complex water problems cannot be resolved by numbers or narratives. Contingent and negotiated approaches are necessary for actionable outcome. In the face of a constantly changing array of interconnected water issues that cross multiple boundaries, the challenge is how to translate solutions that emerge from science and technology into the context of real-world policy and politics. Water Diplomacy in Action addresses this task by synthesizing two emerging ideas––complexity science and negotiation theory––to understand and manage risks and opportunities for an uncertain water future. Rooted in the ideas of complexity science and mutual gains negotiation, this edited volume shows why traditional systems engineering approaches may not work for complex problems, what emerging tools and techniques are needed and how these are used to resolve complex water problems.

The management of water resources across boundaries, whether sub-national or international, is one of the most difficult challenges facing water managers today. The upstream exploitation or diversion of groundwater or rivers can have devastating consequences for those living downstream, and transboundary rivers can provide a source of conflict between nations or states, particularly where water resources are scarce. Similarly, water based-pollution can spread across borders and create disputes and a need for sound governance.This book is the first to bring together in a concise and accessible way all of the main topics to be considered when managing transboundary waters. It will raise the awareness of practitioners of the various issues needed to be taken into account when making water management decisions and provide a practically-based overview for advanced students. The authors show clearly how vital it is to cooperate effectively over the management of shared waters to unlock their contribution to regional sustainable development. The book is largely based on a long-running and tested international training programme, run by the Stockholm International Water Institute and Ramboll Natura, and supported by the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (Sida), where the respective authors have presented modules on the programmes. It addresses issues not only of conflict, but also of managing power asymmetries, benefit-sharing, stakeholder participation, international water law, environmental water requirements and regional development. It will be particularly useful for those with a background in hydrology or engineering who wish to broaden their management skills.

This book examines the political economy that governs the management of international transboundary river basins in the developing world. These shared rivers are the setting for irrigation, hydropower and flood management projects as well as water transfer schemes. Often, these projects attempt to engineer the river basin with deep political, socio-economic and environmental implications. The politics of transboundary river basin management sheds light on the challenges concerning sustainable development, water allocation and utilization between sovereign states. Advancing conceptual thinking beyond simplistic analyses of river basins in conflict or cooperation, the author proposes a new analytical framework. The Transboundary Waters Interaction NexuS (TWINS) examines the coexistence of conflict and cooperation in riparian interaction. This framework highlights the importance of power relations between basin states that determine negotiation processes and institutions of water resources management. The analysis illustrates the way river basin management is framed by powerful elite decision-makers, combined with geopolitical factors and geographical imaginations. In addition, the book explains how national development strategies and water resources demands have a significant role in shaping the intensities of conflict and cooperation at the international level. The book draws on detailed case studies from the Ganges River basin in South Asia, the Orange–Senqu River basin in Southern Africa and the Mekong River basin in Southeast Asia, providing key insights on equity and power asymmetry applicable to other basins in the developing world.