247
Pursuing Transboundary Cooperation to Close the Medium-Term Defi cit
Jordan will need to maintain the quantities of transboundary water it receives,
ensure it receives its rightful shares and fi nd ways to increase them. This provides
incentive for improving cooperation with Syria, Israel and Saudi Arabia. Present
uneasy relations prevent cross-border supervision, the minimum required for successful water sharing. Moreover, current allocation accords
24 are fragile – complicated by mutual distrust and vulnerable to climate-change impacts. Regional politics
are in fl ux, so it will be important for Jordan to maximise opportunities for diplomacy and cooperation over shared water – with regard to technology, water data or
wider energy, trade and transit deals which would likely win international support.
It is too early to know Syria’s political future, but its people will need to rebuild
their country, a process from which Jordan could benefi t when it renews relations.
At that stage it will have strong incentive to prioritise water and press for a new
accord that irons out differences over Yarmouk resources and provides for water
sharing and joint cooperation over maintenance of water quality and pollution prevention. Experts suggest Jordan could push for a larger share than originally
agreed – say 100 × 10
6 m
3 /year.
Twenty years after the 1994 Jordan-Israel Peace Treaty commitment to augment
water supplies to Jordan by 50 × 10
6 m
3
/year, a formula has been found. Under the
recent Jordan-Israel-PA accord, Jordan will sell Israel up to 50 × 10
6 m
3 /year from
the proposed Aqaba desalination plant in exchange for Israel’s sale to Jordan of an
additional 50 × 10
6 m
3
/year to be released from Lake Tiberias in the north to supply
Amman. The likelihood of access to international funding will reduce the costs to
Jordan. The arrangement, which will contribute directly or through exchange up to
70 × 10
6 m
3 /year to Jordan’s medium-term defi cit, is an encouraging precedent for
further joint projects.
One such would be a Jordan-Israel-PA application to UNESCO for World
Heritage Site recognition for the Jordan River/Dead Sea – an idea already considered in Amman. An application, if it is to succeed, would need to specify what
responsibilities the participants would assume for joint management of the shared
water course fl owing to the Dead Sea and agreeing plans for the sustainable use of
waters allocated.
25 A successful application could provide unimaginable “win-win”
outcomes for riparians, including mechanisms to cooperate over rather than compete
24 In 1987 Syria agreed to supply Jordan with 208 × 10
6 m
3 /year but Jordan reportedly receives only
50–100 × 10
6 m
3
/year, and in drought years less. Experts say Syria has dug thousands of dams
which deprive Jordan of its rightful share. Under the 1994 Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty, Israel is
obligated to release 100 × 10
6 m
3 /year to Jordan, but actual releases are closer to 50–60 × 10
6 m
3 /
year, reports the MWI Water Budget, 2012.
25 Arab parties would need to consult with members of the Jordan River Initiative for Cooperation,
which is committed to the Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International
Water courses.
15 Jordan’s Shadow State and Water Management: Prospects for Water Security…
Pursuing Transboundary Cooperation to Close the Medium-Term Defi cit
Jordan will need to maintain the quantities of transboundary water it receives,
ensure it receives its rightful shares and fi nd ways to increase them. This provides
incentive for improving cooperation with Syria, Israel and Saudi Arabia. Present
uneasy relations prevent cross-border supervision, the minimum required for successful water sharing. Moreover, current allocation accords
24 are fragile – complicated by mutual distrust and vulnerable to climate-change impacts. Regional politics
are in fl ux, so it will be important for Jordan to maximise opportunities for diplomacy and cooperation over shared water – with regard to technology, water data or
wider energy, trade and transit deals which would likely win international support.
It is too early to know Syria’s political future, but its people will need to rebuild
their country, a process from which Jordan could benefi t when it renews relations.
At that stage it will have strong incentive to prioritise water and press for a new
accord that irons out differences over Yarmouk resources and provides for water
sharing and joint cooperation over maintenance of water quality and pollution prevention. Experts suggest Jordan could push for a larger share than originally
agreed – say 100 × 10
6 m
3 /year.
Twenty years after the 1994 Jordan-Israel Peace Treaty commitment to augment
water supplies to Jordan by 50 × 10
6 m
3
/year, a formula has been found. Under the
recent Jordan-Israel-PA accord, Jordan will sell Israel up to 50 × 10
6 m
3 /year from
the proposed Aqaba desalination plant in exchange for Israel’s sale to Jordan of an
additional 50 × 10
6 m
3
/year to be released from Lake Tiberias in the north to supply
Amman. The likelihood of access to international funding will reduce the costs to
Jordan. The arrangement, which will contribute directly or through exchange up to
70 × 10
6 m
3 /year to Jordan’s medium-term defi cit, is an encouraging precedent for
further joint projects.
One such would be a Jordan-Israel-PA application to UNESCO for World
Heritage Site recognition for the Jordan River/Dead Sea – an idea already considered in Amman. An application, if it is to succeed, would need to specify what
responsibilities the participants would assume for joint management of the shared
water course fl owing to the Dead Sea and agreeing plans for the sustainable use of
waters allocated.
25 A successful application could provide unimaginable “win-win”
outcomes for riparians, including mechanisms to cooperate over rather than compete
24 In 1987 Syria agreed to supply Jordan with 208 × 10
6 m
3 /year but Jordan reportedly receives only
50–100 × 10
6 m
3
/year, and in drought years less. Experts say Syria has dug thousands of dams
which deprive Jordan of its rightful share. Under the 1994 Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty, Israel is
obligated to release 100 × 10
6 m
3 /year to Jordan, but actual releases are closer to 50–60 × 10
6 m
3 /
year, reports the MWI Water Budget, 2012.
25 Arab parties would need to consult with members of the Jordan River Initiative for Cooperation,
which is committed to the Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International
Water courses.
15 Jordan’s Shadow State and Water Management: Prospects for Water Security…