9 research outputs found
Water rationality : mediating the Indus Waters Treaty.
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Knowledge priorities on climate change and water in the Upper Indus Basin: a horizon scanning exercise to identify the top 100 research questions in social and natural sciences
River systems originating from the Upper Indus Basin (UIB) are dominated by runoff from snow and glacier melt and summer monsoonal rainfall. These water resources are highly stressed as huge populations of people living in this region depend on them, including for agriculture, domestic use, and energy production. Projections suggest that the UIB region will be affected by considerable (yet poorly quantified) changes to the seasonality and composition of runoff in the future, which are likely to have considerable impacts on these supplies. Given how directly and indirectly communities and ecosystems are dependent on these resources and the growing pressure on them due to ever-increasing demands, the impacts of climate change pose considerable adaptation challenges. The strong linkages between hydroclimate, cryosphere, water resources, and human activities within the UIB suggest that a multi- and inter-disciplinary research approach integrating the social and natural/environmental sciences is critical for successful adaptation to ongoing and future hydrological and climate change. Here we use a horizon scanning technique to identify the Top 100 questions related to the most pressing knowledge gaps and research priorities in social and natural sciences on climate change and water in the UIB. These questions are on the margins of current thinking and investigation and are clustered into 14 themes, covering three overarching topics of âgovernance, policy, and sustainable solutionsâ, âsocioeconomic processes and livelihoodsâ, and âintegrated Earth System processesâ. Raising awareness of these cutting-edge knowledge gaps and opportunities will hopefully encourage researchers, funding bodies, practitioners, and policy makers to address them
Knowledge Priorities on Climate Change and Water in the Upper Indus Basin: A Horizon Scanning Exercise to Identify the Top 100 Research Questions in Social and Natural Sciences
River systems originating from the Upper Indus Basin (UIB) are dominated by runoff from snow and glacier melt and summer monsoonal rainfall. These water resources are highly stressed as huge populations of people living in this region depend on them, including for agriculture, domestic use, and energy production. Projections suggest that the UIB region will be affected by considerable (yet poorly quantified) changes to the seasonality and composition of runoff in the future, which are likely to have considerable impacts on these supplies. Given how directly and indirectly communities and ecosystems are dependent on these resources and the growing pressure on them due to ever-increasing demands, the impacts of climate change pose considerable adaptation challenges. The strong linkages between hydroclimate, cryosphere, water resources, and human activities within the UIB suggest that a multi- and inter-disciplinary research approach integrating the social and natural/environmental sciences is critical for successful adaptation to ongoing and future hydrological and climate change. Here we use a horizon scanning technique to identify the Top 100 questions related to the most pressing knowledge gaps and research priorities in social and natural sciences on climate change and water in the UIB. These questions are on the margins of current thinking and investigation and are clustered into 14 themes, covering three overarching topics of âgovernance, policy, and sustainable solutionsâ, âsocioeconomic processes and livelihoodsâ, and âintegrated Earth System processesâ. Raising awareness of these cutting-edge knowledge gaps and opportunities will hopefully encourage researchers, funding bodies, practitioners, and policy makers to address them
How do you turn a poacher to gamekeeper? Working with anti-corruption.
âGoing from Political Rhetoric to Anti-Corruption Action in Water: What will it
tak
The benefit-sharing principle : implementing sovereignty bargains on water
A global water crisis is emerging that may challenge statesâ existing and future water availability. With
countries already heavily reliant on international rivers, the issue of managing water scarcity in these
basins is mounting. An already complex issue due to climatic change and the politics of access, the
management of water resources is complicated further by sovereignty. In a context shaped by political
boundaries and a concomitant territorial exclusivity, nation-states seek to guarantee their societiesâ
water by exerting control through physical and institutional infrastructure. Yet, the basinâs hydrological
interdependency implies co-riparian countries remain vulnerable to each otherâs use of the shared river,
suggesting ecological rather than just political limits to sovereignty. The continued vulnerability, as
envisaged within the greening of sovereignty, suggests international cooperation is necessary. Explained
as sovereignty bargains, in which states trade reduced autonomy for future benefits, international
cooperation is, we suggest, bi-directional and can stem from or create international institutions. We
examine an instance of international cooperation that exemplifies an alternative approach to international
river management. The benefit-sharing principle focuses on allocating the outputs from water use,
rather than the water itself; and was used by the Senegal basin riparians to access key services such as
electricity despite a context of poverty, climatic change and intra-basin politics. What emerges is a strong
narrative of cooperation sustained, over decades, by the statesâ willingness to engage in sovereignty
bargains
Hydrology vs sovereignty : managing the hydrological interdependency of international rivers
In managing international rivers, governments are subject to two different boundaries. The socio-politically
constructed boundaries governed by sovereignty and the physical boundaries imposed by the riverâs hydrology.
The existence of a hydrological interdependency within an international basin means that ââhowââ it is managed
is important in constructing certainty in water supply. We compare two experiences from Europe and Africa to
see the effect of sovereignty on the management of a basinâs hydro-interdependency. Portugal and Spain have
followed a Westphalian interpretation of sovereignty in the Guadiana basin to develop their physical infrastructure unilaterally and ââseverââ the hydro-interdependency. In contrast, using an operational interpretation of sovereignty, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal have chosen to embrace the Senegal riverâs hydro-interdependency and develop it jointly. A key lesson that emerges is that the approach used determines the pattern of resilience constructed in each system
The benefit-sharing principle : implementing sovereignty bargains on water
A global water crisis is emerging that may challenge statesâ existing and future water availability. With
countries already heavily reliant on international rivers, the issue of managing water scarcity in these
basins is mounting. An already complex issue due to climatic change and the politics of access, the
management of water resources is complicated further by sovereignty. In a context shaped by political
boundaries and a concomitant territorial exclusivity, nation-states seek to guarantee their societiesâ
water by exerting control through physical and institutional infrastructure. Yet, the basinâs hydrological
interdependency implies co-riparian countries remain vulnerable to each otherâs use of the shared river,
suggesting ecological rather than just political limits to sovereignty. The continued vulnerability, as
envisaged within the greening of sovereignty, suggests international cooperation is necessary. Explained
as sovereignty bargains, in which states trade reduced autonomy for future benefits, international
cooperation is, we suggest, bi-directional and can stem from or create international institutions. We
examine an instance of international cooperation that exemplifies an alternative approach to international
river management. The benefit-sharing principle focuses on allocating the outputs from water use,
rather than the water itself; and was used by the Senegal basin riparians to access key services such as
electricity despite a context of poverty, climatic change and intra-basin politics. What emerges is a strong
narrative of cooperation sustained, over decades, by the statesâ willingness to engage in sovereignty
bargains
Cooperating internationally over water : explaining lâespace OMVS
Since the early 1960s, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal have cooperated over the Senegal river. Contrary to the norms of managing international rivers, the riparians have subjugated their sovereignty and incurred national debt to jointly develop the benefits from their shared river, despite intra-basin tensions and conflict. The Senegal experience highlights an alternative path to tackling
the consequences of climate change, poor water management and increasing demand. In seeking to explain the intensity of international cooperation displayed in the basin, this article examines the characteristics of international rivers and the Senegal basinâs history, and concludes that Pan-Africanism, francophonie and the political leadersâ attitudes to regional cooperation shaped lâespace OMVS