Assessing economic and political impacts of Hydrological variability on treaties : case studies on the Zambezi and Mekong basins, Vol. 1 of 1

About

Countries

Data & Research

Learning

News

Projects & Operations

Publications

Topics

Home > Data & Research > Author Profile > Report Details

Assessing economic and political impacts of Hydrological variability on treaties : case studies on the Zambezi and Mekong basins

Author:	Blankespoor, Brian; Basist, Alan; Dinar, Ariel; Dinar, Shlomi;	Collection Title:	Policy Research working paper ; no. WPS 5996Paper is funded by the Knowledge for Change Program (KCP)
Country:	Africa;	Date Stored:	2012/04/16
Document Date:	2012/03/01	Document Type:	Policy Research Working Paper
Language:	English	Major Sector:	Water, sanitation and flood protection
Rel. Proj ID:	1W-Options For Cleaner Energy In Developing Countries : Transbound -- -- P108623;	Region:	Africa
Report Number:	WPS5996	Sub Sectors:	General water, sanitation and flood protection sector; Roads and highways; Power
SubTopics:	Wetlands; Common Property Resource Development; Water and Industry; Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions; Water Supply and Systems	Volume No:	1 of 1

Summary: International river basins will likely face higher hydrologic variability due to climate change. Increased floods and droughts would have economic and political consequences. Riparians of transboundary basins governed by water treaties could experience non-compliance and inter-state tensions if flow falls below levels presumed in a treaty. Flow information is essential to cope with these challenges through water storage, allocation, and use. This paper demonstrates a simple yet robust method, which measures gauge station runoff with wetness values derived from satellite data (1988-2010), for expanding sub-basin stream flow information to the entire river basin where natural flow information is limited. It demonstrates the approach with flow level data that provide estimates of monthly runoff in near real time in two international river basins: Zambezi and Mekong. The paper includes an economic framework incorporating information on existing institutions to assess potential economic and political impacts and to inform policy on conflict and cooperation between riparians. The authors conclude that satellite data modeled with gauge station runoff reduce the uncertainty inherent in negotiating an international water agreement under increased hydrological variability, and thus can assist policy makers to devise more efficient institutional apparatus.


Official Documents Official, scanned versions of documents (may include signatures, etc.)
File Type		Description	File Size (mb)

	PDF 56 pages	Official version*	3.92 (approx.)
	Text	Text version**

	See documents related to this project

* The official version is derived from scanning the final, paper copy of the document and is the official,
archived version including all signatures, charts, etc.

** The text version is the OCR text of the final scanned version and is not an accurate representation of the final text.
It is provided solely to benefit users with slow connectivity.

Permanent URL for this page: http://go.worldbank.org/FW0GHU0UZ0