Parallel Sessions IV

B) Water Security through International Cooperation - Trade and Water Policy Reforms

Conveners:

Chair:
Susanne Neubert, German Development Institute (DIE), Bonn, Germany

Co-Chair:
Waltina Scheumann, Technical University (TU), Berlin, Germany

Speakers:

Anthony Turton, GIBB-SERA, Pretoria, South Africa
John Rao Nyaoro Water Services Regulatory Board, Nairobi, Kenya
Claudia Arce KfW Regional Director MENA, Germany
Axel Klaphake, Technical University (TU), Berlin, Germany
Peter Mollinga, Centre of Development Research (ZEF), Bonn, Germany

Abstract:

While it is true that, on the whole, existing global water resources are sufficient to supply a growing world population, the resource is highly unequally distributed across countries and continents. Whereas the economically advanced countries for the most part have sufficient water resources, many developing countries and countries in transition will soon be unable to cover their growing water needs. The panel will discuss what the affected countries can do to bring about more water security in the future.

On the one hand, the concern is an equitable distribution of transboundary water resources, a challenge that can be met only through international agreements. The panel will discuss the following issues: What role can transboundary river-basin organisations play in this connection? What forms of cooperation and what arrangements may be seen as particularly promising, and what instruments should be used to promote cooperation? On the other hand, water deficits can in principle also be compensated for through direct or indirect trade in (virtual) water. The panel will also look into the question of whether or not it might prove beneficial for water-poor countries to import more food from water-rich countries in the future, or whether the associated drawbacks may turn out to be more weighty - e.g. by making these countries dependent on new sources of food imports. Not least, however, water-sector reforms at the national level must be seen as measures crucial to creating more water security for the countries affected. Most of these countries could achieve huge savings and efficiency gains by embarking on reforms aimed at developing an integrated water resources management approach (IWRM). The panel will also address the question of what kind of obstacles block such reforms and how existing concepts and strategies can best be translated into successful practice.

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