IUCN, Water Programme

Lake Titicaca exists within a fragile high altitude ecosystem shared between Bolivia and Peru. Since 2011, BRIDGE has been working in Lake Titicaca basin taking a non-conventional approach to water diplomacy promoting better cooperation. The region has a long history of technical expertise and water resource management with a transboundary institution established in 1993 on Lake Titicaca.

The Sesan, Sre Pok, and Sekong rivers, referred to as the 3S river basin, are shared by three countries and constitute a significant part of the Lower Mekong river basin. The BRIDGE project implements water diplomacy in transboundary basins, and is working in the 3S to build and strengthen water governance capacity. The 3S river basin contains the only transboundary tributaries of the Mekong covering over 78,650 square kilometres.

The waters of the Goascorán River are shared between Honduras and El Salvador. Since 2011, BRIDGE has worked to promote better cooperation over transboundary waters, taking a non-conventional approach to water diplomacy. One of the challenges was the level of involvement in the institutional arrangement existing in the basin.

Climate change and the over exploitation of water resources is challenging the sustainability of the Pangani River Basin to deliver water services. Competition for diminishing water resources has led to tensions between the various stakeholders within the basin. Together with the government of Tanzania and donor partners, WANI has responded to this crisis by supporting the implementation of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).

Inappropriate water management practices in the Komadugu Yobe Basin, upstream of Lake Chad in northern Nigeria, changed the seasonal river flow and caused widespread environmental degradation. Coupled with this were fragmented regulation and conflicting responsibilities among institutions, a lack of coordination for hydro-agricultural developments, inequitable access to water resources and growing tensions and risk of conflicts among water users.