A review of the evolution and state of transboundary freshwater treaties

Internationally shared basins supply 60 % of global freshwater supply, are home to about 1/3 of the world’s population, and are focal points for interstate conflict and, as importantly, cooperation. To manage these waters, states have developed a large set of formal treaties, but until now these tre...

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Main Authors: Giordano, Mark, Drieschova, Alena, Duncan, J.A., Sayama, Y., Stefano, L. de, Wolf, A.T.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Springer 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/58455
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author Giordano, Mark
Drieschova, Alena
Duncan, J.A.
Sayama, Y.
Stefano, L. de
Wolf, A.T.
author_browse Drieschova, Alena
Duncan, J.A.
Giordano, Mark
Sayama, Y.
Stefano, L. de
Wolf, A.T.
author_facet Giordano, Mark
Drieschova, Alena
Duncan, J.A.
Sayama, Y.
Stefano, L. de
Wolf, A.T.
author_sort Giordano, Mark
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Internationally shared basins supply 60 % of global freshwater supply, are home to about 1/3 of the world’s population, and are focal points for interstate conflict and, as importantly, cooperation. To manage these waters, states have developed a large set of formal treaties, but until now these treaties have been difficult to access and systematically assess. This paper presents and makes publicly available the assembly and organization of the largest known collection of transboundary water agreements in existence. We apply for the first time a “lineage” concept to differentiate between independent agreements and groups of legally related texts, spatially reference the texts to a global basin database, and identify agreement purposes, goals and a variety of content areas. The 688 agreements identified were signed between 1820 and 2007 and constitute 250 independent treaties which apply to 113 basins. While the scope and content varies widely, these treaties nominally govern almost 70 % of the world’s transboundary basin area. In terms of content, treaties have shifted from an earlier focus on regulation and development of water resources to the management of resources and the setting of frameworks for that management. While “traditional” issues such as hydropower, water allocation and irrigation are still important, the environment is now the most commonly mentioned issue in treaty texts. Treaties are also increasingly likely to include data and information sharing provisions, have conflict resolution mechanisms, and include mechanisms for participation beyond traditional nation-state actors. Generalizing, treaties have become more comprehensive over time, both in the issues they address and the tools they use to manage those issues cooperatively.
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spelling CGSpace584552025-06-17T08:23:12Z A review of the evolution and state of transboundary freshwater treaties Giordano, Mark Drieschova, Alena Duncan, J.A. Sayama, Y. Stefano, L. de Wolf, A.T. international waters freshwater treaties river basins water resources water allocation water law water quality water power groundwater environmental legislation stakeholders law Internationally shared basins supply 60 % of global freshwater supply, are home to about 1/3 of the world’s population, and are focal points for interstate conflict and, as importantly, cooperation. To manage these waters, states have developed a large set of formal treaties, but until now these treaties have been difficult to access and systematically assess. This paper presents and makes publicly available the assembly and organization of the largest known collection of transboundary water agreements in existence. We apply for the first time a “lineage” concept to differentiate between independent agreements and groups of legally related texts, spatially reference the texts to a global basin database, and identify agreement purposes, goals and a variety of content areas. The 688 agreements identified were signed between 1820 and 2007 and constitute 250 independent treaties which apply to 113 basins. While the scope and content varies widely, these treaties nominally govern almost 70 % of the world’s transboundary basin area. In terms of content, treaties have shifted from an earlier focus on regulation and development of water resources to the management of resources and the setting of frameworks for that management. While “traditional” issues such as hydropower, water allocation and irrigation are still important, the environment is now the most commonly mentioned issue in treaty texts. Treaties are also increasingly likely to include data and information sharing provisions, have conflict resolution mechanisms, and include mechanisms for participation beyond traditional nation-state actors. Generalizing, treaties have become more comprehensive over time, both in the issues they address and the tools they use to manage those issues cooperatively. 2014-09 2015-03-17T14:40:00Z 2015-03-17T14:40:00Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/58455 en Limited Access Springer Giordano, Mark; Drieschova, A.; Duncan, J. A.; Sayama, Y.; De Stefano, L.; Wolf, A. T. 2014. A review of the evolution and state of transboundary freshwater treaties. International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, 14(3):245-264. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10784-013-9211-8
spellingShingle international waters
freshwater
treaties
river basins
water resources
water allocation
water law
water quality
water power
groundwater
environmental legislation
stakeholders
law
Giordano, Mark
Drieschova, Alena
Duncan, J.A.
Sayama, Y.
Stefano, L. de
Wolf, A.T.
A review of the evolution and state of transboundary freshwater treaties
title A review of the evolution and state of transboundary freshwater treaties
title_full A review of the evolution and state of transboundary freshwater treaties
title_fullStr A review of the evolution and state of transboundary freshwater treaties
title_full_unstemmed A review of the evolution and state of transboundary freshwater treaties
title_short A review of the evolution and state of transboundary freshwater treaties
title_sort review of the evolution and state of transboundary freshwater treaties
topic international waters
freshwater
treaties
river basins
water resources
water allocation
water law
water quality
water power
groundwater
environmental legislation
stakeholders
law
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/58455
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