Abstract: Water and Politics in Transboundary Water Management
Keywords: Conflict, Co-operation, Hydro-Hegemony, Sanctioned Discourse, Water Regimes and Benefit Sharing
The aim of this presentation is to analyze the inherently political nature of transboundary water management. While transboundary waters (at least to some extent) have been treated as a natural scientific issue, it is argued that it is imperative to include an account of the political context in which decisions guiding the water management of a transboundary basin are taken. Some of the main areas to be covered are:
First, water is linked to other political concerns. This is evidenced in the discussions on sanctioned discourses where concerns relating to history, and national heritage, to a larger or lesser extent, influence the water policy decisions.
Secondly, transboundary waters seem to be a source of co-operation, and that relates in part to the regime/institutional characteristics that evolve over time in different basins. However, to achieve improved co-operation with increased trust among the riparian donors, other actors need to keep in mind that a key aspect is that the evolvement of co-operation is a process which takes time and patience.
Thirdly, the co-operation that takes place shall be viewed through a hydro-hegemony perspective which helps understand the underlying power structures and the fact that what may seem like genuine co-operation is rather a “coercive” function.
Fourthly, the area of benefit sharing of international waters is a promising field of work. However, it is well to remember that in poor regions generating benefits presume good will and politically sanctioned institutional and other cooperation.
About the Speaker:
Anders Jägerskog (Sweden): Ph.D. is Project Director at the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) where his work focuses on international water issues and in particular transboundary waters. Previously he has worked at the secretariat for the Expert Group on Development Issues (EGDI) at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, at the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (Sida) with water resources in southern Africa and at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) with Middle Eastern security issues. In 2003, he finished his PhD on the water negotiations in the Jordan River Basin at the Department of Water and Environmental Studies at the Linköping University, Sweden. He was a member of the Scientific Programme Committee at the Stockholm International Water Institute from 2002-2006 and is currently a member of the Scientific Committee of the International Lakes Commission (ILEC). He has published over 60 scientific articles, book chapters, debate articles and reports.
Interested persons are invited.
