An Analysis of Conflict and Cooperation Dynamics over Water Events in the Lancang-Mekong River Basin

Riparian countries have their respective values and priorities for water management, and their values of shared water often has possible impacts for their propensity to involve in cooperative management and adhere to treaties/agreements. Improving transboundary water management therefore firstly requires nuance understanding of the changing values and interests of each riparian country to better understand factors that encourage and discourage changes toward cooperation or conflict. This paper provides understanding of the evolution of conflict and cooperation dynamics in Lancang-Mekong River Basin with in-depth analysis of the perspectives of multiple countries. Newspaper articles were used as a key data source as it provides insights into events reported on by the media that are representative of each country/sector they are published within. The results depict a continual trend of cooperative sentiments towards water events occurring within the region. The six riparian states have had a greater average sentiment score for cooperation than international countries for the majority of the study period showing that the region perceived transboundary water management more positively than global audiences. Except for few outliers, the trend also shows that countries further downstream showed lower cooperative sentiments. Dam infrastructure was often negatively reported, thus, it is likely a major contributor to conflict for the Lancang-Mekong River Basin, while events that are positively reported are those that aid in connecting leaders and project developers between riparian countries including meetings, bilateral and multilateral cooperation and development projects. These findings provide the basis for further revealing the mechanism of cooperation and conflicts through understanding these inherent and diverse perspectives of each riparian country, we can gain an insight into the underlying interests that create conflictive or cooperative environments and ultimately predict and manage cooperation/conflict in transboundary rivers.

Tsangpo-Brahmaputra: A Perception Study from Riparian Perspectives

Trans-boundary River water has been a constant source of contention since the ancient times. As worldwide water scarcity is an increasing trend, trans-boundary water issues have become more critical. The Yarlung Tsangpo-Brahmaputra is an important river that runs through China, India, and Bangladesh. Recently, it has been emerging as a great concern for India and Bangladesh. As a middle riparian country, India is concerned about the Chinese activities further upstream. On the other hand, Bangladesh is concerned about China’s and India’s upstream activities on the Yarlung Tsangpo-Brahmaputra, as it is the lowest riparian country. Each of the three countries has their own riparian perception and their own views to explain and justify their riparian activities and concerns. This paper will broadly analyze all three perspectives, their concerns, and anxieties, placing them in the context of their riparian location. It will also provide some suggestions based on the core principles of equitable and logical water sharing to deal with the present riparian tension and ensure basin-wide water management. All three riparian countries’ should accept the principle of equitable distribution of Tsangpo-Brahmaputra river water. A Tsangpo-Brahmaputra river basin commission or some kind of commission can be formed with the authority to ensure equitable distribution of water among the co-riparian countries, namely, Bangladesh, China, and India.

The Adoption of the Declaration of the Principles on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and Lessons for South Asia

This paper discusses how an upper riparian country can establish its water right of fulfilling own water needs through development of a transboundary river in a contested terrain of water management. Citing the case of the development of Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) and adoption of the Declaration of the Principles by the Eastern Nile Basin States, this paper highlights the major lessons that South Asia need to learn to achieve water security in the region through cooperation. This paper further argues that if, economically weak upstream riparian country, Ethiopia can initiate such an important and strategic project, then Nepal must also be in similar position to fulfill own demand without causing significant harm, rather benefiting the downstream countries. Like Egypt and Sudan, the lower riparian countries Bangladesh and more importantly India need to be in a position to acknowledge the downstream benefit principle. This paper states that without cooperation among riparian states of the Ganges basin, the sustainable development of the region seems limited. HYDRO Nepal JournalJournal of Water Energy and EnvironmentIssue: 21, July, 2017Page: 17-24Upload Date: July 18, 2017

Adaptation for river basins: connecting policy goals to the water resources system

This paper focuses on a methodology called ‘generic adaptation methodology for river basins’ (AMR) that provides guidance to water managers seeking: (1) potential adaptation measures to climate change and climate variability, (2) measuring impacts, and (3) evaluating adaptations. The methodology uses basic elements addressed in existing adaptation research and is designed for a participatory setting involving various stakeholders. In AMR, the water resources system is seen as an economic asset that provides ‘goods and services’ for both humans and ecosystems. The innovative aspect of AMR is that it distinguishes impacts to water management objectives and impacts to the physical state of water resources in a river basin in a relatively simple iterative approach. Both impact types are quantified using indicators. The framework and results are demonstrated for a case study in the Walawe basin (Sri Lanka). It is explained that actually implementing adaptations in policy making can be difficult in trans-boundary river basins as each riparian country has its own policy objectives and hence ways of dealing with adaptation.