Transboundary Waters: Challenges in Sharing Water Resources
There are a total of 263 individual international basins that share a common watercourse.
The basins cover about 45% of the world's land surface.
About 60% of the world's groundwater lies within thee international basins.
Transboundary Agreements Between Nations Sharing a Basin
The focus of the first 2014 attached file below (Part I) is a compilation and analysis of relevant water management principles (WMPs) in the context of international water law (IWL) as it pertains ot transboundary agreements (TBAs) concerning international river basins. Given that the world's freshwater resources are becoming increasingly taxed and that approximately one- half of the land area of the earth's surface is covered by basins, or watersheds, with a river bounded by two or more countries (see Figure 1), the need for a workable TBA template to promote international cooperation through written agreements is evident.
The second file below (Part II) is aTBA template, and the template's contents are intended ot be consistent with the Convention on the Law of the Non-navigable Uses of International Watercourses ('1997 convention') (United Nations, 1997). Ratification of hte 1997 convention by 35 nations was completed in 2014 and is now entered into force. The template is also consistent with the UN General Assembly resolution on the law of transboundary aquifers (United Nations, 2008), which closely follows the principles of the 1997 convention in its application to transboundary groundwater management.
The template is a model TBA for international river basins, as well as a model TBA for the Pilcomayo River basin, which is shared by Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay.