10
2 Geography of Transboundary River Basins
the UNECE Water Convention
3 or the EU’s Water Framework Directive.
4 This is an
important condition as earlier political and judicial practice followed a much narrower
approach, attaching legal relevance only to the navigable sections of international
rivers. Although this is no longer the case today, some countries have, until relatively
recently, used this argument to deny the international character of the basin (Allouche
2005).
While this study does not address the issue in any length, mention also must be
made of federal river basins, i.e. basins that are shared by the constituent units of
the 28 or so federal or quasi federal countries of the world. While in the eyes of
international law, these basins lay within a single constitutional system (thus they
are not international), nonetheless they too are governed by multiple jurisdictions
displaying characteristics similar to those of the “proper” transboundary watersheds.
Some of the largest river systems of the world are actually both “transboundary”
(international) and “federal” (Garrick et al. 2014).
2.2 Delineating Transboundary River Basins: The
Methodological Challenges
Delineation of transboundary surface waters is a complex cartographical and political
exercise and, as such, it is not completely free from controversy. Given the potentially
contentious nature of the issue research on the precise extent of international river
basins has, until relatively recently, been somewhat neglected. Thus, up to the year
2000 the most commonly used data source was a 1978 United Nations compendium
– the Register of International Rivers (UN 1978)—developed by the now defunct
Centre for Natural Resources, Energy and Transport of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. The 1978 Register—essentially a desktop study using
solely maps available at the time at the UN Map Library,—grossly underestimated
the number of transboundary basins, giving an erroneous impression of the overall
magnitude and extent of the phenomenon (Biswas 2007).
This knowledge base has been substantially refined by Aaron Wolf and his team
in the late 1990s using modern satellite mapping technologies (Wolf et al. 1999). The
results of this seminal research is summarised and regularly updated in the frame of
3 “Transboundary waters means any surface or ground waters which mark, cross or are located on
boundaries between two or more States; wherever transboundary waters flow directly into the sea,
these transboundary waters end at a straight line across their respective mouths between points on the
low-water line of their banks”. Article 1.2, Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary
Watercourses and Lakes, Helsinki, 17 March 1992.
4 “River basin means the area of land from which all surface run-off flows through a sequence of
streams, rivers and, possibly, lakes into the sea at a single river mouth, estuary or delta.” Article 2.13,
Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a framework for
Community action in the field of water policy.
2 Geography of Transboundary River Basins
the UNECE Water Convention
3 or the EU’s Water Framework Directive.
4 This is an
important condition as earlier political and judicial practice followed a much narrower
approach, attaching legal relevance only to the navigable sections of international
rivers. Although this is no longer the case today, some countries have, until relatively
recently, used this argument to deny the international character of the basin (Allouche
2005).
While this study does not address the issue in any length, mention also must be
made of federal river basins, i.e. basins that are shared by the constituent units of
the 28 or so federal or quasi federal countries of the world. While in the eyes of
international law, these basins lay within a single constitutional system (thus they
are not international), nonetheless they too are governed by multiple jurisdictions
displaying characteristics similar to those of the “proper” transboundary watersheds.
Some of the largest river systems of the world are actually both “transboundary”
(international) and “federal” (Garrick et al. 2014).
2.2 Delineating Transboundary River Basins: The
Methodological Challenges
Delineation of transboundary surface waters is a complex cartographical and political
exercise and, as such, it is not completely free from controversy. Given the potentially
contentious nature of the issue research on the precise extent of international river
basins has, until relatively recently, been somewhat neglected. Thus, up to the year
2000 the most commonly used data source was a 1978 United Nations compendium
– the Register of International Rivers (UN 1978)—developed by the now defunct
Centre for Natural Resources, Energy and Transport of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. The 1978 Register—essentially a desktop study using
solely maps available at the time at the UN Map Library,—grossly underestimated
the number of transboundary basins, giving an erroneous impression of the overall
magnitude and extent of the phenomenon (Biswas 2007).
This knowledge base has been substantially refined by Aaron Wolf and his team
in the late 1990s using modern satellite mapping technologies (Wolf et al. 1999). The
results of this seminal research is summarised and regularly updated in the frame of
3 “Transboundary waters means any surface or ground waters which mark, cross or are located on
boundaries between two or more States; wherever transboundary waters flow directly into the sea,
these transboundary waters end at a straight line across their respective mouths between points on the
low-water line of their banks”. Article 1.2, Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary
Watercourses and Lakes, Helsinki, 17 March 1992.
4 “River basin means the area of land from which all surface run-off flows through a sequence of
streams, rivers and, possibly, lakes into the sea at a single river mouth, estuary or delta.” Article 2.13,
Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a framework for
Community action in the field of water policy.