The document discusses international water law and cooperation in transboundary water basins in the Middle East and North Africa region. It provides an overview of the main legal frameworks for international water law. It analyzes the status of ratification of the UN Watercourses Convention in MENA countries. It also examines examples of agreements for shared basins and challenges in operationalizing equitable utilization. Further, it discusses the nexus between water, law, and politics in negotiations, and reviews main cooperative attempts in MENA basins, highlighting the political nature of transboundary water cooperation.
1. Hydropolitics in the MENA Region Ana Elisa Cascão King’s College of London Presentation to TWM 2008 MENA 2nd-3rd November 2008 3rd November
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9. 2002 Agreement on Al-Kabir Al-Janoubi River (Lebanon-Syria) Agreement informed by IWL principles Agreement is derived from relevant provisions of international law and, in particular, the United Nations Convention
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15. Transboundary river basins: Conflict or Cooperation? CONFLICT COOPERATION CONFLICT ? COOPERATION ? Reality is not Black & White ! Conflict and Cooperation Co-exist Mirumachi 2007 HOW?
16. Diplomatic conflict, not war! Wolf et al 2003 Diplomatic, strong or mild verbal official hostility Conflict resolution: Political and diplomatic
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18. Cooperation – Overcoming the deadlocks Deadlock COOPERATION How? Capacity- Building Information Sharing Applied Training Stakeholder Involvement Shared Vision Joint Projects Benefit- Sharing Legal and Institutional Frameworks Socio-econ. development River Basin Organisation (RBO)
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21. Cooperation is as political as water BASIN/ AQUIFER Multiple stakeholders, positions, decision-making layers, strategies, external actors, ... Multilateral Donor Bilateral Donor Civil Society Riparian C Riparian B Riparian A