PART 1: MAIN ASPECTS OF TRANSBOUNDARY WATERS
Chapter 1: Hydrology of internationally shared rivers and lakes
Summary: By definition, transboundary watersheds are river and lake hydrological basins divided by political borders. Although the physical characteristics of internationally shared hydrological catchments are independent from the socio-economic conditions of each riparian country, their scientific description may differ from one country to another. This is because countries develop their own monitoring systems for collecting data and information, apply different scientific approaches due to historical and national socio-economic conditions and may have different scientific interpretations of hydrological processes from national expert groups. Before analysing the governance of transboundary surface watersheds both at national and multi-national level, this chapter explains how a unified approach to transboundary surface waters governance may be obtained. The best approach is to enhance discussions between different groups of scientists working in riparian countries, to proceed with harmonisation of national monitoring systems and to obtain a common interpretation of the data collected and hydrological processes at national level. After describing the typology of transboundary hydrological systems, in this chapter, useful recommendations are formulated on how to deal with different national monitoring data and hydrological models.
Chapter 2: Hydrogeological characteristics of transboundary aquifers
Summary: Fresh groundwater resources are stored in aquifer systems and constitute a very precious source of water for human use. UNESCO reports that groundwater supplies nearly half of all drinking water in the world and worldwide, 2.5 billion people depend solely on groundwater for their daily needs. More than 400 major aquifers are shared between two or more countries and the aim of this chapter is to provide basic understanding of their hydrogeological characteristics. The typology of shared aquifers is reported firstly in terms of the location in space of national borders and different geological aquifer characteristics, such as porous, karst and crystalline formations. Relations between the boundaries of surface water basins and hydrogeological basins are also described. Then, the main steps for assessing and mapping transboundary aquifers are analysed. These are: aquifer delineation, hydrogeological description, classification, transboundary diagnostic analysis, and zoning. The need of sharing data and information between riparian countries and establishing a common view of the hydrogeological situation of shared aquifers is again a very important step in order to proceed with an effective governance of groundwater resources.
Chapter 3: Potential water conflicts and cooperation across political borders
Summary: Water is a key factor for socio-economic development of human societies as it is the main element for human and ecosystems survival, and play a major role in different economic activities, such as agricultural irrigation, energy, industrial production and environmental preservation. Various natural and man-made factors, such as physical or economic water scarcity, are sources of potential water conflicts between neighboring countries sharing common surface and groundwater resources. In this chapter, different types of conflicts are analysed as related to water quantity, water quality and water ecosystem problems. International water disputes and conflicts may be related to different socio-economic and political factors and in some extreme cases may lead to armed confrontation between countries. The main issue in this chapter is the investigation of different conflict prevention strategies and the ways to reverse potential conflicts to cooperation, a
About the Author:
Jacques Ganoulis is Emeritus Professor of Civil Engineering at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece), Ph.D. (Doctorat d'Etat) in Natural Sciences from the University of Toulouse (France) and visiting scholar at the Universities of Erlangen (Germany), McGill (Canada), Melbourne (Australia) and Paris VI (France). He has more than 35 years' experience in IWRM (Integrated Water Resources Management), risk analysis, climate change and transboundary water management, including transboundary aquifer resources and conflict resolution. He is currently the State Secretary for Water at the Ministry of Environment and Energy in Athens, Greece, the Director of the UNESCO Chair/International Network of Water-Environment Centres for the Balkans (INWEB), UNESCO's Senior Consultant and Greece representative in UNESCO's International Hydrological Programme (IHP), Paris. He has published more than 200 papers in International Journals and Conferences and he is the co-editor/author of 10 books including "Transboundary Water Resources Management: a Multidisciplinary Approach" (WILEY, 2011), "Risk Analysis of Water Pollution" (WILEY, 2009; 2nd edition; translated into Chinese) and "Transboundary Groundwater Resources: Sustainable Management and Conflict Resolution" (Lambert Academic Publishing, 2016).
Jean Fried, Project Scientist, Urban Planning and Public Policy, School of Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine, USA, and Senior Consultant, UNESCO.
J. Fried is Ingénieur Civil des Ponts et Chaussées (Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, Paris, France); M.S. Civil Engineering (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA); Ph.D. (Doctorat d'Etat) in Physics (University of Bordeaux, France)
As Professor of Fluid Mechanics at the University Louis Pasteur of Strasbourg, France, Expert-Consultant at the European Commission in Brussels and President of the European Institute for Water, J. Fried developed an expert competence in directing multidisciplinary and multicultural professional groups of scientists, policy-makers and planners, administrators and their technical staff, to prepare the scientific background of water legislation in the European Union (EU), and draft the corresponding water directives (laws). He also directed water governance capacity-building programs of the EU in various countries and regions, such as, among others, the Middle East, South America, the European Union and most of its member states, the Maghreb countries, Uzbekistan, South Africa, with an emphasis on water, groundwater and sustainable development. He has been a visiting professor and a guest lecturer in many universities world wide in the US, Australia, Canada, Russia and Siberia, among others. J. Fried has published more than 150 articles in international journals and conferences and is the author/co-author/co-editor of several books and chapters in books or conference proceedings, including Transboundary Water Resources Management: a Multidisciplinary Approach (Wiley, 2011) and Proceedings of the 3rd International Symposium on Transboundary Waters Management (Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Spain, 2006). He has directed the UNESCO Pilot Courses on Transboundary Groundwater Sustainable Management of Thessaloniki, Greece (2008) and Paris, France (2010).