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Water in the 21st Century

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Shared Waters

International conflicts over water are becoming more frequent as competition for available freshwater resources increases. There are 215 international rivers as well as about 300 groundwater basins and aquifers that are shared by several countries. Although many difficult issues remain to be resolved, the 1996 treaty signed by Bangladesh and India for managing flows in the Ganges-Brahmaputra system represents a major victory for rational approaches to shared water resources. Similarly, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan-in recognition of their common strategic, economic, and environmental interests-created in 1992 the Interstate Coordinating Water Commission to facilitate water sharing and common solutions to related environmental issues. However, more than 70 water-related flash points have been identified, mainly in Africa, Middle East, and Latin America.

Eight countries in Asia (Bangladesh, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Uzbekistan, and Viet Nam) rely on international rivers to supply more than 30 percent of their annual water resources. Four of these (Bangladesh, Cambodia, Uzbekistan, and Viet Nam) rely on water from external sources for more than 65 percent of their annual water resources. The reliability of water supplies in the face of such dependence is a key issue when seasonal variations, particularly droughts and El Niño events, enter the equation. Unsustainable rates of groundwater extraction can only make matters worse. The impact of global climate change, which cannot be determined at this time, will be to increase the overall uncertainty within which water planners operate.

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