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An Ounce of Prevention: International Water Law and Transboundary Water Cooperation

present many new projects are being considered or already being be used to overcome and correct power asymmetries between
carried out. All this activity has prompted the need to prepare riparian states. In addition, International Water Law may also
guidelines for the development of new hydropower structures serve as a framework for the engagement of non-state actors,
that take into account the views of a large variety of stakeholders, such as civil society organizations, the private sector, and
including civil society organizations, private companies, and the scientific community. Taken together, all these elements
public agencies. These stakeholders are recognized as observers constitute a powerful set of useful tools for the strengthening
at the meetings of the relevant expert and decision making of international peace and stability, and for the prevention of
bodies of the Commission for the Protection of the Danube armed conflicts.
River and thus have a say in the decision making process. Other
river basin organizations, such as the Cubango-Okavango or the However, two critically important tasks have to be emphasized
Zambezi River Basins have their own mechanisms for engaging in this context.
with stakeholders. Stakeholder involvement strengthens the
monitoring and implementation of International Water Law. First, prevention tools will remain idle unless they are
systematically promoted and fully utilized. The leadership of
The experience gained through transboundary water cooperation the UN Secretary-General and the UN Secretariat in this regard
suggests that civil society organizations should play an would be very helpful. The UN should take a broader look
increasingly significant role so that needs, requests and concerns, across the system and define an agenda for the strengthening
as well as risks and opportunities, are properly mapped out. It is of international water cooperation, in addition to the use of the
important to recognize the knowledge and capability that these instruments of International Water Law.
stakeholders bring to the table to find and implement solutions
that may be better suited and adapted to the circumstances Second, it is important to support transboundary water
in which the communities live. The right combination of this cooperation activities with the necessary improvements in
“bottom-up” approach and the government-led “top-down” international financing regimes. Many international disputes
approach, combined with interactive vision building, provides relating to international water cooperation are centered on large-
the best insight into problems and can lead to better solutions. scale infrastructure projects, such as large dams for hydropower
generation. These infrastructures require large amounts of
Preventive purpose external financing, much of which is provided by international
financial institutions, such as the World Bank, and increasingly,
The paragraphs above depict some of the work necessary for the by the private sector. Often funding institutions have their own
promotion and strengthening of International Water Law as an safeguard policies and conditionalities, as well as environmental
instrument of preventive diplomacy. These include enhancing and social standards. The principles of International Water Law
awareness of the cooperative dimension of International Water should be central in the overall policy approach to the design
Law, as well its usefulness as an instrument of confidence and financing of transboundary water cooperation, and all major
building, and as a platform for developing specific regional projects should be developed in this context. In fact, financing
and basin agreements. Universal, regional and basin specific for collaborative water infrastructure is of central importance to
agreements, together with international customary law, can this topic and will be discussed in a separate chapter.

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