Hydro-diplomacy: Opportunities for learning from an interregional process

Abstract

Comparative studies on water-scarce regions show structural similarities and differences on water cooperation through agreements among Israel, Jordan, and Palestine, as well as for the USA and Mexico. Both regions experience an increasing water stress due to demographic pressure, global environmental and climate change, competition between different water uses (agriculture and domestic vs. industrial and services), pollution. Both regions consist of a militarily, socially, and technically powerful upstream partner and unstable border conditions. However, if water can be separated from other parts of regional conflict and negotiation can be implemented, progress can be made. Global geopolitical concerns will dominate over the management of natural resources. Within this framework, a hydro-diplomatic negotiation process is proposed, which operates simultaneously at the international, national, regional, and local level, offering the parameters of negotiation and financial support. The other levels could bring processes of capacitating, rationalization, cooperation, common investment, and management of water, aquifer, and ecosystem restorations, wastewater collection, rainwater harvesting, sewage, new water development, and practices of reduction, but also reuse of treated water. Besides a top-down approach by governments and technicians, the bottom-up process induces a different culture of water, stimulates the local water market, the reduction and saving of water an the transmission of agricultural water to higher valued economic processes without polluting the scarce resource. The interrelationship between both facilitates consolidating human, gender, and environmental security (HUGE) also for highly marginal social groups such as women, children, and elders living downstream, thus enabling them to develop a long-term strategy of sustainability in the region. The hydro-diplomacy model provides a powerful tool to organizational processes at all levels, reducing the demand of the vital liquid through rational management and increasing the supply by diversification of uses and reuses. Above all it shows that a domestic and cooperative infrastructure and a long-term peaceful coexistence process with cooperation is more effective than a conflictive behaviour for water allocation, use and reuse. A holistic management of this scarce, but indispensable resource is needed linked to a rational management of the ecosystem that is being threatened by natural and anthropogenic processes. © 2007 Springer.