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The role of intra-water sector issue linkage in the resolution of transboundary water conflicts

2010; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 35; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/02508061003664013

1941-1707

Ines Dombrowsky,

International Maritime Law Issues

Abstract Issue linkage has often been mentioned as a strategy for resolving transboundary water conflicts. Given that water is a multi-functional resource, there may in principle also be opportunities for issue linkage within the water sector. As a first step this paper introduces two types of intra-water sector issue linkages: (1) the linkage of water uses with effects in reversed directions, and (2) the linkage of water uses with rectified effects in river basins in which riparians hold reversed positions. As a second step it explores the empirical relevance of different linkages in the Scheldt-Meuse and the Colorado-Rio Grande negotiations. Keywords: international riverstransboundary externalitiesside paymentsinter- and intra-sector issue linkageproperty rightslaw of international watercourses Acknowledgements The research on which this paper is based was funded by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ. The revised version benefited from valuable comments by three anonymous referees and from intensive discussions with Andrea Holke, who worked on this topic in the context of her Diploma thesis at the Department of Economics at the Martin-Luther-University of Halle-Wittenberg. Notes 1. An externality is present whenever the activities of one economic agent have direct, non-price-mediated effects on the activities of another economic agent. 2. Fischhendler and Feitelson (2003 Fischhendler, I. and Feitelson, E. 2003. Spatial adjustment as a mechanism for resolving river basin conflicts. Political Geography, 22(5): 557–583. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) term the linkage of two river basins “spatial linkage”. Spatial linkage is necessary in the case of type 2 intra-water sector linkages, but it may also be applied in the case of type 1 intra-water sector linkage. 3. While the Dutch government was ready to sign, opposition to the draft conventions were also aired by the Dutch Province of Zeeland and environmental NGOs due to the negative effects of the Baalhoek channel and the river bypass at Bath on spatial planning and the environment (Meijerink 1999 Meijerink, S.V. 1999. Conflict and cooperation on the Scheldt river basin: a case study of decision making on international Scheldt issues between 1967 and 1997, Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], p. 100). 4. This implied that the Rio Grande was treated as a “quasi” transboundary river in the negotiations.