Transboundary water resources

Building River Dialogue and Governance (BRIDGE) has been running since 2011 with the goal to secure sustainable development, livelihoods and peace through transboundary cooperation. This document aims at presenting a summary of the unique approach of the programme which has been built over the last almost fifteen years, taking stock of key elements of the programmes approach in support of effective water management arrangements in over twenty river and lake basins worldwide.

The objective of this study is to develop a vision for the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services in the Aoos River Basin, including improving the effectiveness of management and coordination of local protected areas, and develop a roadmap for the final designation of a protected area in accordance with IUCN standards for protected area classification. Key components of the study include analyses of threats to identified environmental values in the Aoos River Basin and supporting activities for expansion or establishment of

The objective of this study is to develop a vision for the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services in the Aoos River Basin, including improving the effectiveness of management and coordination of local protected areas, and develop a roadmap for the final designation of a protected area in accordance with IUCN standards for protected area classification. Key components of the study include analyses of threats to identified environmental values in the Aoos River Basin and supporting activities for expansion or establishment of

The Ganges River Basin is shared by four countries – Bangladesh, China, India and Nepal – and though it lacks a regional basin-level cooperation agreement to facilitate its joint management and address common challenges such as floods and climate change, there are four bilateral agreements on the Ganges River and its tributaries. A number of studies appraising the provisions and implementation of these bilateral agreements are available online, but none assess the degree to which international water law principles have already been integrated into the existing agreements.

Management of transboundary waters in increasingly becoming more challenging, and climate change is likely to exacerbate these pressures. Not least because climate change is a global issue, adaptation will require an international response. This book aims to identify issues, both theoretical and practical, that States face in establishing cooperative transboundary mechanisms to effectively adapt water management to climate change.

Considering the increasing recognition of the role of benefit sharing in facilitating transboundary water cooperation, the IUCN BRIDGE GBM project is facilitating development of a Transboundary Benefit Sharing Strategy (TBSS) for the Meghna Basin. This report has been developed as an input to anchor dialogue on the development of the Meghna TBSS. This report has therefore attempted to create a compendium of the Meghna Basin, consolidating information on its geophysical, ecological and cultural value.

Issues of women’s participation and gender equality in the governance of shared waters have received insufficient attention to date in both the research and practice literature, yet action is happening on the ground. Women play key roles in generating change in the way water is used, shared, and allocated, from local to transnational levels and in spite of legal, regulatory and institutional frameworks that provide little space for their participation in planning and decisionmaking.