Bringing contributions by a variety of authors together in one volume is part of an attempt to show that hydropolitics is a growing discipline in its own right. The prevailing definition of hydropolitics is widened to include the elements of scale and range. This is illustrated through a focus on theoretical and legal issues, case studies from Southern Africa and a proposed research agenda. The book is an important addition to the literature on hydropolitics.

With more than 50 percent of the world's landmass covered by river basins shared by two or more states, competition over water resources has always had the potential to spark violence. And growing populations and accelerating demands for fresh water are putting ever greater pressures on already scarce water resources. In this wide-ranging study, Arun Elhance explores the hydropolitics of six of the world's largest river basins. In each case, Elhance examines the basin's physical, economic, and political geography; the possibilities for acute conflict; and efforts to develop bilateral and multilateral agreements for sharing water resources. The case studies lead to some sobering conclusions about impediments to cooperation but also to some encouraging ones--among them, that it may not be possible for Third World states to solve their water problems by going to war, and that eventually even the strongest riparian states are compelled to seek cooperation with their weaker neighbors.

This book examines the political economy that governs the management of international transboundary river basins in the developing world. These shared rivers are the setting for irrigation, hydropower and flood management projects as well as water transfer schemes. Often, these projects attempt to engineer the river basin with deep political, socio-economic and environmental implications. The politics of transboundary river basin management sheds light on the challenges concerning sustainable development, water allocation and utilization between sovereign states. Advancing conceptual thinking beyond simplistic analyses of river basins in conflict or cooperation, the author proposes a new analytical framework. The Transboundary Waters Interaction NexuS (TWINS) examines the coexistence of conflict and cooperation in riparian interaction. This framework highlights the importance of power relations between basin states that determine negotiation processes and institutions of water resources management. The analysis illustrates the way river basin management is framed by powerful elite decision-makers, combined with geopolitical factors and geographical imaginations. In addition, the book explains how national development strategies and water resources demands have a significant role in shaping the intensities of conflict and cooperation at the international level. The book draws on detailed case studies from the Ganges River basin in South Asia, the Orange–Senqu River basin in Southern Africa and the Mekong River basin in Southeast Asia, providing key insights on equity and power asymmetry applicable to other basins in the developing world.

This volume offers up-to-date and comprehensive information on various aspects of the Nile River, which is the main source of water in Egypt. The respective chapters examine the Nile journey; the Aswan High Dam Reservoir; morphology and sediment quality of the Nile; threats to biodiversity; fish and fisheries; rain-fed agriculture, rainfall data, and fluctuations in rainfall; the impact of climate change; and hydropolitics and legal aspects. The book closes with a concise summary of the conclusions and recommendations provided in the preceding chapters, and discusses the requirements for the sustainable development of the Nile River and potential ways to transform conflicts into cooperation. Accordingly, it offers an invaluable source of information for researchers, graduate students and policymakers alike.

Implementing the goal of sustainable development has long been heralded as the means by which the needs of both present and future generations can be met. However, finding a long-term balance between economic, social and environmental interests, the basic tenet of sustainable development, has proved largely illusive in practice. This book shows that while a number of legal frameworks to help promote the goal of sustainable development have been proposed at the international level they fail to fully capture the essence of sustainable development and international law's capacity to support its implementation. The book offers a critical analysis of past attempts to develop legal frameworks for promoting sustainable development at the international level, and advocates for a fresh approach based on lessons learnt from the law of international watercourses. The book is divided into four sections. The first section includes an overview of the topic area and an understanding of international law. In section two the book explores the meaning of sustainable development and considers the term's relationship with international law. A detailed analysis of how the law of international watercourses seeks to reconcile competing economic, social and environmental interests is carried out in section three. The book concludes with a section advocating the need for a fresh approach to international law and sustainable development and offering the foundations for this approach based on lessons learnt from the law of international watercourses.

In Africa, most major rivers, freshwater lakes, and aquifers are shared by two or more countries. These nations are becoming increasingly vulnerable to conflict, and their vulnerabilities are made more acute by climatic variations in precipitation, increasing urbanization, industrialization and environmental degradation. The concept of resilience and vulnerability as it relates to water resources is tackled in this report within the framework of sustainability and relates to the ability of the human and bio-physical systems to adapt to change.

Water and Development is a component of Encyclopedia of Water Sciences, Engineering and Technology Resources in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. Water is perhaps the most critical natural resource upon which humans depend. Agricultural and food production, trade and ultimately the economic development of all regions of the world depend on rivers, streams, dams, oceans and other water resources. This critical relationship has persisted through the agricultural and industrial revolution and into the era of economic globalization. The relationship between human activity and the water resources on which it depends also continues to be reciprocal. Human consumption, energy, agricultural, industrial and other economic activity have significant impacts on water quality and quantity for better or worse. A key element of sustainable development rests on our global capacity to interact with the water resources on which we depend in ways that preserve them for our use and that of future generations. The two volumes on the subject present some of the topics such as Water, Agriculture and Food Interactions, dams, water valuation, arid regions, water-management, and Conflict over Water Resources, Water and Sustainable Development: They consider the implications which contributions have in each of these areas as well as introduce additional issues relating to the future of dams, innovative ways of increasing water supply, transboundary water resources, and the implications of global climate change for water resources. These two volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College students, Educators, Professional practitioners, Research personnel and Policy analysts, Managers, and Decision makers and NGOs

Geologists, physicists and ecologists currently promote the idea of a post-Holocene epoch – the Anthropocene. As a result of constant innovation and modernisation in the fields of engineering, natural science, management studies and environmental studies there has been a growing awareness of the intrinsic interaction between humankind and the environment. Humankind has become part of the environmental dynamics, to the extent that they are literally able to change ecosystems. Nowhere is the impact more evident than in the anthropogenic engagement with the hydrosphere – from the smallest pool of water to the earth’s atmosphere. Comprehensive infrastructure development in water and sanitation, the growing trend to seek additional resources in the form of groundwater, desalinated seawater, and recycled wastewater, as well as special attention being given to capturing and preserving rainwater, bear evidence of a timely response to climate change, population growth and rapid development in many water-stressed regions of the world. The purpose of the book is to provide a historical overview of the manner in which South Africa’s water resources have been governed from a time when the Union of South Africa was formed, in 1910, up to 2008, a time of a growing global awareness of the potential impact that climate change may have on water resources in a key region of southern Africa, notable for increasing levels of aridity and more erratic rainfall patterns. This focus on the history of water affairs in South Africa makes it possible for scholars to comprehend the contemporary transitions made in the country’s water governance system since the establishment in 2014 of the Department of Water and Sanitation. The focus is on the Water–Energy–Food nexus, a strategy which holistically contemplates the governance and use of water from the perspective of the interconnection between water, energy and food as resources.

While most books examine only the classical aspects of hydrology, this three-volume set covers multiple aspects of hydrology, and includes contributions from experts from more than 30 countries. It examines new approaches, addresses growing concerns about hydrological and ecological connectivity, new quantitative and qualitative managing techniques