4.2 International Water Law Today
39
have dominated bilateral water relations since the outset. The first agreement on the
subject was adopted as early as in 1906, setting the precise amount of water the
US must deliver to Mexico. This was replaced in 1944 by a more comprehensive
agreement covering both the Rio Grande and the Colorado rivers.
20
Despite various efforts to create comprehensive Inter-American water cooperation mechanisms since the 1930s the institutionalisation of transboundary water
governance in Latin America is still at an early phase of development. Exceptions
include the La Plata, Amazon or the Titicaca basins (Newton 2007). In the La Plata
watershed formalised basin-wide cooperation goes back to the signing of the La Plata
Basin Treaty
21 in 1969 which, to a large extent, was triggered by the development
of hydro-electric power in the region. The treaty provides a framework for the joint
development of the catchment area, calls for open transport along the river and its
tributaries, requires joint management of non-water resources (soil, forest, flora, and
fauna), etc. (Delli Priscoli and Wolf 2009). As regards the Titicaca basin the first formal cooperation agreement—the Preliminary Convention for the Study of the Use of
the Waters of the Lake Titicaca
22 —was adopted as early as in 1955 (it however only
entered into force in 1986 when Bolivia finally ratified it). The Convention is based
on the “indivisible and exclusive joint ownership by both countries of the waters of
the lake” whose control is carried out by a joint management body (the Autonomous
Binational Authority of Lake Titicaca). The purpose of the Convention is to promote
development within the basin of Lake Titicaca in a manner that would not disrupt the
flow and volume of water, an objective that has been only partly fulfilled (Newton
2007).
South and Southeast Asia is home to about 2 billion people and covers four
major international river systems: the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna, the Indus, the
Mekong and the Salween basins. While all of these basins have some kind of treaty
based-cooperation (except for the Salween river), the relevant treaties largely fail to
deal with the emerging new problems and pressures with a comprehensive, basinwide approach (Kanwar et al. 2009). As regards the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna
river system disputes between India and Bangladesh have been prevalent since the
partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947. The most notable such event was the
damming of the Ganges by India in 1975 so as to divert the majority of water into
other rivers running into the Bay of Bengal. The differences between India and downstream Bangladesh were reconciled only in 1996 by the adoption of the Ganges Water
Sharing Treaty.
23 A similarly notorious water allocation issue in the subcontinent
concerns the Indus river system. Here, India’s unilateral manipulation of discharges
into Pakistan after the partition in 1947 and the ensuing political crisis led to the
20 Treaty between the United States of America and Mexico relating to the utilization of the Waters
of the Colorado and Tijuana Rivers and of the Rio Grande, Washington, 2 March 1944.
21 Treaty on the Rio de la Plata Basin, Brasilia, 23 April 1969.
22 Preliminary Convention for the Study of the Use of the Waters of the Lake Titicaca, Lima, 30
July 1955.
23 Treaty between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of the People’s
Republic of Bangladesh on sharing of the Ganga/Ganges waters at Farakka, New Delhi, 21 December 1996.
39
have dominated bilateral water relations since the outset. The first agreement on the
subject was adopted as early as in 1906, setting the precise amount of water the
US must deliver to Mexico. This was replaced in 1944 by a more comprehensive
agreement covering both the Rio Grande and the Colorado rivers.
20
Despite various efforts to create comprehensive Inter-American water cooperation mechanisms since the 1930s the institutionalisation of transboundary water
governance in Latin America is still at an early phase of development. Exceptions
include the La Plata, Amazon or the Titicaca basins (Newton 2007). In the La Plata
watershed formalised basin-wide cooperation goes back to the signing of the La Plata
Basin Treaty
21 in 1969 which, to a large extent, was triggered by the development
of hydro-electric power in the region. The treaty provides a framework for the joint
development of the catchment area, calls for open transport along the river and its
tributaries, requires joint management of non-water resources (soil, forest, flora, and
fauna), etc. (Delli Priscoli and Wolf 2009). As regards the Titicaca basin the first formal cooperation agreement—the Preliminary Convention for the Study of the Use of
the Waters of the Lake Titicaca
22 —was adopted as early as in 1955 (it however only
entered into force in 1986 when Bolivia finally ratified it). The Convention is based
on the “indivisible and exclusive joint ownership by both countries of the waters of
the lake” whose control is carried out by a joint management body (the Autonomous
Binational Authority of Lake Titicaca). The purpose of the Convention is to promote
development within the basin of Lake Titicaca in a manner that would not disrupt the
flow and volume of water, an objective that has been only partly fulfilled (Newton
2007).
South and Southeast Asia is home to about 2 billion people and covers four
major international river systems: the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna, the Indus, the
Mekong and the Salween basins. While all of these basins have some kind of treaty
based-cooperation (except for the Salween river), the relevant treaties largely fail to
deal with the emerging new problems and pressures with a comprehensive, basinwide approach (Kanwar et al. 2009). As regards the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna
river system disputes between India and Bangladesh have been prevalent since the
partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947. The most notable such event was the
damming of the Ganges by India in 1975 so as to divert the majority of water into
other rivers running into the Bay of Bengal. The differences between India and downstream Bangladesh were reconciled only in 1996 by the adoption of the Ganges Water
Sharing Treaty.
23 A similarly notorious water allocation issue in the subcontinent
concerns the Indus river system. Here, India’s unilateral manipulation of discharges
into Pakistan after the partition in 1947 and the ensuing political crisis led to the
20 Treaty between the United States of America and Mexico relating to the utilization of the Waters
of the Colorado and Tijuana Rivers and of the Rio Grande, Washington, 2 March 1944.
21 Treaty on the Rio de la Plata Basin, Brasilia, 23 April 1969.
22 Preliminary Convention for the Study of the Use of the Waters of the Lake Titicaca, Lima, 30
July 1955.
23 Treaty between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of the People’s
Republic of Bangladesh on sharing of the Ganga/Ganges waters at Farakka, New Delhi, 21 December 1996.