Paul Hensel's Freshwater and River Issues Page

Paul R. Hensel
University of North Texas

Page Index

• Fresh Water: General Resources
• Conflict and Cooperation over Water

Related Pages

• Maps and Interactive Geography Tools
• Demographic Topics
• Environmental Topics
• Borders and Territory
• Fresh Water Issues
• Maritime Issues
• Geography Magazines and Journals
• Syllabus for my course PSCI 4820: "Geography, History, and International Relations"
• Syllabus for my course PSCI 5820: "Contexts and International Relations"

This Web Site

• Home Page
• Curriculum Vitae
• Research and ICOW
• Teaching
• Political Science
• Data
• News
• Reference

Fresh Water: General Resources

• AAAS Atlas of Population and the Environment: Fresh Water
• AquaStat (extensive information and data about water scarcity for dozens of countries, from the UN FAO)
• Green Cross International's Water Programs ("Preventing And Resolving Conflicts Over Natural Resources")
  • See also WaterTreaty.org, their campaign for global access to safe drinking water
• Global Water Partnership
• HydroSHEDS (a global hydrological database from the WWF's Conservation Science Program; see also the USGS download page for this database.)
• International Arid Lands Consortium
• International Glossary of Hydrology
• International Water Law Project (IWLP)
• International Waters Learning Exchange and Research Network (IW:LEARN)
• National Drought Mitigation Center
• Pacific Institute (WorldWater.org)
  • Data from The World's Water Volumes
• Program in Water Conflict Management and Transformation (PWCMT) at Oregon State University
• Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI)
• UN-Water
• UN System-wide Earthwatch: Freshwater
  • Comprehensive Assessment of the Freshwater Resources of the World
• UNEP: Freshwater
  • Vital Water Graphics: An Overview of the State of the World's Fresh and Marine Waters
• UNESCO: Water Portal
  • International Hydrological Program (IHP)
  • World Water Assessment Program (WWAP) and World Water Development Report series
• UNICEF: Water, Environment, and Sanitation
• WaterWiki
• WHO: Water, Sanitation, and Health
• WMO: Water
  • Hydrology and Water Resources Program
• World Bank: Water Supply and Sanitation
• World Resources Institute (WRI): Earthtrends - Water Resources and Freshwater Ecosystems
  • Data tables
• World Water Council

Regional Resources

• African Water Issues Research Unit
• African Water Page
• Arab Water Council
• Inter-American Water Resources Network (IWRN)
• Water Resources of the United States (from the USGS)

Conflict and Cooperation over Water

The Issue Correlates of War (ICOW) research project is in the process of collecting data on every river claim since 1900. The following resources might also be useful for others interested in this topic:

• International Court of Justice (the ICJ has decided several cases related to disputed islands or maritime zones, with more currently underway)
• International Boundary Studies (a series of monographs produced by the Geographer of the U.S. Department of State between the 1960s-1980s, published online by the Florida State University Law Library)
• The Trade and Environment Database (TED) and Inventory of Conflict and Environment (ICE) projects include a number of cases related to territory; they also provide a list of water-related cases from these two projects called Water on the Web

Research on Conflict/Cooperation over Water

While there is much speculation about "water wars," there has been relatively little systematic study of the topic. These resources address some aspect of conflict and/or cooperation over international rivers, lakes, aquifers, or other freshwater sources.

• Atlas of International Freshwater Agreements
• Basins at Risk project (from Oregon State University)
• Case Studies of Transboundary River Dispute Resolution (separate studies of 19 cross-border river/freshwater issues)
• International Freshwater Treaties Database (from Oregon State University; more than 400 treaties over rivers, dating back to 1820)
• International River Basin Registry (from Oregon State University; data on every current international river basin)
• International River Basin Organizations Data (from Oregon State University; data on every current international organization covering an international river basin)
• International Water Event Database (from Oregon State University; thousands of events since 1950, categorized by river, participants, and type of event)
• Pacific Institute's Water Conflict Chronology
• Transboundary Freshwater Spatial Database (from Oregon State University)
• U.S. Interstate Freshwater Compacts Database (data on 39 compacts over rivers between U.S. states)

Examples of Cooperation over Rivers

• International Boundary Water Commission (U.S./Mexico)
• International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River
• International Joint Commission (U.S./Canada)
• Interstate Commission for Water Coordination of Central Asia
• Mekong River Commission

Examples of Conflict over Rivers

• ICE Project case studies:
  • Colorado River
  • Gabcivoko-Nagymaros Dam
  • Jordan River
  • Nile River
  • Shatt al-Arab
  • Tigris/Euphrates River System and Ataturk Dam
• Jad Isaac and Leonardo Hosh, "Roots of the Water Conflict in the Middle East"
• Stephan Libiszewski, "Water Disputes in the Jordan Basin Region and their Role in the Resolution of the Arab-Israeli Conflict"
• Miriam Lowi, "Political and Institutional Responses to Transboundary Water Disputes in the Middle East"

http://www.paulhensel.org/water.html
Last updated: 4 January 2009
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