Course Description:
Water planning and management in a transboundary context is much more complex and multifaceted than water management within one nation state. Transboundary water planning and management approaches are interwoven from a landscape perspective, considers societies and cultural differences, and must work within a complex and country-to-country diverse political system. The course involves multi-level governance, which implies there is a multi-level network of interactions among trans-national, national, state, sub-state, public and private entities. However, experience in shared and collaborative planning and management approaches for international basins has shown that issues addressed from collective actions are more likely to serve as incentives for cooperation, particularly when riparian states realize that cooperation can generate benefits and lead to positive basin wide results.
Course Learning Outcomes: important and key considerations for enabling cooperation and shared transboundary water planning and management, are the need for:
- An appropriate institutional framework based on supporting policy and legal instruments;
- Clarity of functions at each level of governance while strengthening top-down guidance and bottom-up initiative;
- Integrated planning and management approach to meet socio-economic priorities and realize sustainable development;
- Modernized and strengthened capacity for water planning and management through science, technology and good practices.
- Multi-channel financing and strengthened incentives for efficient public services and market-like responses and
- An understanding of climate change implications and constraints.
In addition to these institutional aspects, the course will focus on the concepts of trans-boundary water planning and management with specific discussions on issues such as project cost sharing; benefits sharing; and joint operation and management of water structures. The implications that these concepts and issues have on trans-boundary river basin organizations will be highlighted through discussion and an overview of relevant trans-boundary study cases.
