Publication: Conflict and Cooperation on South Asia's International Rivers : A Legal Perspective
Loading...
Files in English
3,854 downloads
Other Files
1,787 downloads
Published
2003
ISSN
Date
2013-08-19
Author(s)
Salman, Salman M.A.
Editor(s)
Abstract
The book analyzes five major bilateral treaty regimes on the South Asian subcontinent: between India and Bangladesh for the Ganges River; between India and Nepal for the Kosi, Gandaki, and Mahakali rivers; and, between India and Pakistan for the Indus River. It explains the background, and legal regimes of these international rivers in the context of the serious challenges to the water resources of the subcontinent, posed by significant population increases, urbanization, industrialization, and environmental degradation. International lawyers, and natural resource specialists will find this book to be useful and informative.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Salman, Salman M.A.; Uprety, Kishor. 2003. Conflict and Cooperation on South Asia's International Rivers : A Legal Perspective. Law, Justice and Development;. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/15171 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Resilience to Climate Change-Induced Challenges in the Mekong River Basin : The Role of the MRC(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-05)Climate change and its consequences, ranging from increased water variability to more extreme weather events and from sea level rise to ecosystem changes, introduce new challenges to transboundary watercourses, which already face a variety of collective action problems due to their border-crossing nature. Other changes occurring in river basins, such as changing water-use patterns, development of large infrastructure schemes, and changing socioeconomic development levels of riparian states also challenge the institutional capacity of current cooperative management mechanisms. Thus, River Basin Organizations (RBOs), which manage the river basins, must be highly adaptive to ensure not only resilience to change but also long-term sustainable development of the basin and its people. This paper examines the 'adaptation capacity' of the Mekong River Commission (MRC), which manages the Mekong River Basin, a river basin particularly vulnerable to challenges related to climate change as well as to human-caused change. Resilience may be encoded in treaty provisions, but in practice it depends on a broad array of factors, most importantly the capacity of the major institution established by the riparian states to cooperatively manage the river basin. Several key points have been identified regarding the contribution of the MRC to increasing resilience to environmental and human-caused change in the Mekong River Basin. The aim of the paper is to assess the adaptation capacity of a particular RBO, the MRC, and the related resilience of the Mekong River Basin with regard to climate change but including other challenges such as hydropower development and the related change induced in the basin. This assessment is based on an analytical framework developed with the overall aim to provide a means for assessing the adaptation capacity of RBOs and thus apply it to other river basins as well.Publication The World Bank Policy for Projects on International Waterways : An Historical and Legal Analysis(World Bank, 2009)This study deals with the evolution and context of the Bank policy for projects on international waterways. It starts with a brief description of how the Bank has faced the challenges stemming from such projects, and the different approaches deliberated by the Bank that led to the issuance of the first policy in 1956. The study then reviews the implementation experience of the policy and analyzes the principles and procedures, as well as the main features of each of the policies issued in 1956, 1965, and 1985 respectively. The principles of international water law prevailing at each stage of the policy issuance are examined and compared with those of the Bank policy. The study also discusses in detail the notification process: its basis, by whom, to whom, its content, different riparian's responses, and the exceptions to the notification requirement. It then analyzes how the Bank handles an objection from one or more of the riparian's to projects proposed for Bank financing. It also examines how the Bank has dealt with transboundary groundwater, as well as the linkages between the policy for projects on international waterways and the policies on disputed areas and environmental impact assessment. The conclusion provides an overview of the main findings of the study, and highlights some of the lessons drawn from the implementation experience of the policy.Publication Managing Water for Sustainable Growth and Poverty Reduction : A Country Water Resources Assistance Strategy for Zambia(World Bank, 2009-08-01)The country water resources assistance strategy for Zambia provides an analysis of the role of water in the economy and identifies the specific challenges, development opportunities and policies which inform an agreed framework for priority areas of assistance. Zambia lies entirely within the catchments of the Zambezi and Congo rivers and all internal runoff is shared by downstream and parallel riparian countries. This strategic geographic position in the upper reaches of both these catchments provides an important context for any water resources development. Zambia has played an important role in development of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) revised protocol on shared water courses (2000) and is engaged in the process of developing co-operative mechanisms with riparian states. However, the existing legal framework explicitly excludes any provisions for addressing issues on shared waters in the Zambezi and Luapula rivers, along with that portion of the Luangwa River which constitutes the boundary between Zambia and Mozambique. These account for more than 60 percent of Zambia's water resources. Economic development is undermined by physical scarcity of water. Despite the relative abundance, the uneven distribution of water resources across the country, high climatic variability (resulting in frequent floods and droughts) and degradation of water quality increasingly results in localized issues of scarcity. Despite continuing efforts to reduce pollution flow into the Kafue River, severe water quality issues persist in the Copper belt, posing serious health risks to the population and limiting the availability of water for productive purposes. The high dependency on hydropower, with 96 percent of the installed capacity produced within a 300km radius in the Kafue/Zambezi complex, will further increase vulnerability of the national economy to impacts associated with changing climatic conditions.Publication Water Resources Management in South Eastern Europe : Volume 2. Country Water Notes and Water Fact Sheets(Washington, DC, 2003-01)This two-volume report seeks to examine key issues and strategic concerns regarding water resources management (WRM) at the national and transboundary levels in the South Eastern Europe (SEE) region, documents the approach adopted by the SEE countries to address their water challenges, identifies ways of strengthening both WRM regimes and international cooperation to optimize resources management, and makes recommendations for future action. Most of the analysis and assessment included in the report is based on the brief Country Water Notes and Country Water Fact Sheets presented in Volume 2. These notes provide a brief description of the socioeconomic and geographical context and development objectives pursued in each country and their implications for water resources management. WRM includes such crosscutting issues, such as river basin management, flood and watershed management monitoring, institutional management, inter-sectoral water allocation, and water quality management. Volume 1 comprises four chapters. Chapter 1 is a description of the water resource base at the regional level. It includes an assessment of past and present trends in water use by sector. Chapter 2 analyzes key water issues in each of the focus countries, emphasizing problems of common concern, Chapter 3 presents the main water issues at the transboundary level and some emerging trends. Following the national and regional analysis of water resources, Chapter 4 presents key recommendations for improved water management at the national and transboundary levels.Publication Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects : Findings and Recommendations(World Bank, 2009)The overall goal of the analysis presented in this report is to advance the understanding and integration in operational terms of environmental water allocation into integrated water resources management. The specific objectives of this report are the following: 1) document the changing understanding of environmental flows, by both water resources practitioners and by environmental experts within the Bank and in borrowing countries; 2) draw lessons from experience in implementing environmental flows by the Bank, other international development organizations with experience in this area, and a small number of developed and developing countries; 3) develop an analytical framework to support more effective integration of environmental flow considerations for informing and guiding: (a) the planning, design, and operations decision making of water resources infrastructure projects; (b) the legal, policy, institutional, and capacity development related to environmental flows; and (c) restoration programs; and 4) provide recommendations for improvements in technical guidance to better incorporate environmental flow considerations into the preparation and implementation of lending operations.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Water Matters(Washington, DC, 2022)Water security is a matter of increasing concern across the world and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is no exception. With rapidly growing demands for water and increasing variability due to climate change, ensuring water access to all users and mitigating water-related risks should be at the center of national and regional adaptation strategies. With nearly a third of the world's water resources, the LAC region's development has been inadvertently driven by water. This rich water endowment has allowed LAC to position itself as the world's largest net food-exporting region and greenest in terms of electricity production through hydropower. Water has played a fundamental role in reducing poverty, preserving LAC's natural wealth, and accelerating economic growth. More importantly, access to safe drinking water and sanitation services has contributed to improve the health and living conditions of millions of people. Despite this progress, there are urgent water sector challenges that threaten the region's sustainable development. Access to water and sanitation services is inequitable, with greater gaps in rural, indigenous, and peri-urban communities. In addition, water-related extremes such as floods and droughts are becoming more frequent and severe, having negative effects in lower-income communities. These gaps are more likely to be broadened by unsustainable water management practices, growing demands by competing water users, increasing pollution, and climate change impacts. In LAC, inadequate infrastructure results in a lack of storage and limited investment reduces the capacity of institutions to achieve integrated water resources management and improve service provision. The Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) conducts research, convenes multi stakeholder dialogues, builds institutional capacity, and provides policy advice to water decision-makers. Focused on improving water governance, the authors aim to contribute to more prosperous and inclusive societies.Publication World Development Report 2009(World Bank, 2009)Places do well when they promote transformations along the dimensions of economic geography: higher densities as cities grow; shorter distances as workers and businesses migrate closer to density; and fewer divisions as nations lower their economic borders and enter world markets to take advantage of scale and trade in specialized products. World Development Report 2009 concludes that the transformations along these three dimensions density, distance, and division are essential for development and should be encouraged. The conclusion is controversial. Slum-dwellers now number a billion, but the rush to cities continues. A billion people live in lagging areas of developing nations, remote from globalizations many benefits. And poverty and high mortality persist among the world’s bottom billion, trapped without access to global markets, even as others grow more prosperous and live ever longer lives. Concern for these three intersecting billions often comes with the prescription that growth must be spatially balanced. This report has a different message: economic growth will be unbalanced. To try to spread it out is to discourage it to fight prosperity, not poverty. But development can still be inclusive, even for people who start their lives distant from dense economic activity. For growth to be rapid and shared, governments must promote economic integration, the pivotal concept, as this report argues, in the policy debates on urbanization, territorial development, and regional integration. Instead, all three debates overemphasize place-based interventions. Reshaping Economic Geography reframes these debates to include all the instruments of integration spatially blind institutions, spatially connective infrastructure, and spatially targeted interventions. By calibrating the blend of these instruments, today’s developers can reshape their economic geography. If they do this well, their growth will still be unbalanced, but their development will be inclusive.Publication World Development Report 2011(World Bank, 2011)The 2011 World development report looks across disciplines and experiences drawn from around the world to offer some ideas and practical recommendations on how to move beyond conflict and fragility and secure development. The key messages are important for all countries-low, middle, and high income-as well as for regional and global institutions: first, institutional legitimacy is the key to stability. When state institutions do not adequately protect citizens, guard against corruption, or provide access to justice; when markets do not provide job opportunities; or when communities have lost social cohesion-the likelihood of violent conflict increases. Second, investing in citizen security, justice, and jobs is essential to reducing violence. But there are major structural gaps in our collective capabilities to support these areas. Third, confronting this challenge effectively means that institutions need to change. International agencies and partners from other countries must adapt procedures so they can respond with agility and speed, a longer-term perspective, and greater staying power. Fourth, need to adopt a layered approach. Some problems can be addressed at the country level, but others need to be addressed at a regional level, such as developing markets that integrate insecure areas and pooling resources for building capacity Fifth, in adopting these approaches, need to be aware that the global landscape is changing. Regional institutions and middle income countries are playing a larger role. This means should pay more attention to south-south and south-north exchanges, and to the recent transition experiences of middle income countries.Publication World Bank Annual Report 2024(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-25)This annual report, which covers the period from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, has been prepared by the Executive Directors of both the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA)—collectively known as the World Bank—in accordance with the respective bylaws of the two institutions. Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank Group and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors, has submitted this report, together with the accompanying administrative budgets and audited financial statements, to the Board of Governors.Publication Building Effective, Accountable, and Inclusive Institutions in Europe and Central Asia(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-06)Countries around the world are facing the need to build effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions. There has never been a more important moment to tackle this agenda, as countries grapple with increasing fragility and migration flows, more complex service delivery requirements, and greater demands for transparency and inclusion, all in a more resource-constrained environment. Moreover, the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic crisis has provided new evidence of the need for effective, accountable, and inclusive government responses. Governments’ capacity to respond to these complex challenges is understandably stretched, but this has not limited the rise of citizens’ expectations. Instead, it has often increased tensions and, in some cases, has affected the trust between governments and their citizens. This publication builds on the World Bank’s vast engagement across ECA and on the 2019 regional governance conference. It consists of six chapters, each corresponding to one of the governance areas around which governments across the world organize their institutional functions. Each chapter contains background and analysis by World Bank specialists, complemented by country case studies authored by regional experts and policymakers.