Why do states often fail to cooperate, using transboundary natural resources inefficiently and unsustainably? This book, first published in 2002, examines the contemporary international norms and policy recommendations that could provide incentives for states to cooperate. Its approach is multi-disciplinary, proposing transnational institutions for the management of transboundary resources. Benvenisti takes a fresh approach to the problem, considering mismanagement as the link between domestic and international processes. As well, he explores reasons why some collective efforts to develop the international law on transnational ecosystems have failed, while others succeeded. This inquiry suggests that adjudicators need to be assertive in progressively developing the law, while relying on scientific knowledge more than on past practice. Global water policy issues seem set to remain a cause for concern for the foreseeable future; this study provides a new approach to the problem of freshwater, and will interest international environmentalists and lawyers, and international relations scholars and practitioners.

China has forty major transboundary watercourses with neighbouring countries, and has frequently been accused of harming its downstream neighbours through its domestic water management policies, such as the construction of dams for hydropower. This book provides an understanding of water security in Asia by investigating how shared water resources affect China’s relationships with neighbouring countries in South, East, Southeast and Central Asia. Since China is an upstream state on most of its shared transboundary rivers, the country’s international water policy is at the core of Asia’s water security. These water disputes have had strong implications for China’s interstate relations, and also influenced its international water policy alongside domestic concerns over water resource management. This book investigates China’s policy responses to domestic water crises and examines China’s international water policy as well as its strategy in dealing with international cooperation. The authors describe the key elements of water diplomacy in Asia which demonstrate varying degrees of effectiveness of environmental agreements. It shows how China has established various institutional arrangements with neighbouring countries, primarily in the form of bilateral agreements over hydrological data exchange. Detailed case studies are included of the Mekong, Brahmaputra, Ili and Amur rivers.

This publication examines the characteristics of successful transboundary resource management. Various cases of different shared resources, from water to fish to air, are described and their strengths and weaknesses analyzed. Successful management of transboundary resources is growing in relevance as resources become sparse and conflicts over them increase. However, many of its elements have not yet been sufficiently defined and applied. The publication will serve to further this important discussion.

This volume provides a broad perspective of the water scenario in India by examining the various developments in the sector and the emerging alternative paradigms. It points out the inadequacies of the existing legal frameworks and institutional mechanisms to manage water efficiently.