The Ingenieur Vol 57 January-March 2014 The Ingenieur Vol 57 January-March 2014 | Page 41

Despite the complexity of
the problems, records show that
water disputes can be handled
diplomatically. The last 50
years have seen only 37 acute
disputes involving violence,
compared to 150 treaties that
have been signed. Nations value
these agreements because they
make international relations
over water more stable and
predictable. In fact, the history
of international water treaties
dates as far back as 2500 BC,
when the two Sumerian citystates of Lagash and Umma
crafted an agreement ending a
water dispute along the Tigris
River - often said to be the first
treaty of any kind. Since then, a
large body of water treaties has
emerged. According to the Food
and Agricultural Organization,
more than 3,600 treaties related
to international water resources
have been drawn up since 805
AD. The majority of these deal
with navigation and boundary
demarcation. The focus of
negotiation and treaty-making in
the last century has shifted away
from navigation towards the use,
development, protection and
conservation of water resources.
Conclusion
Aaron T. Wolf summed up in
his paper on ‘conflict and cooperation along international
waterways’ that regardless of
the institutional framework, it is
clear that no single discipline –
neither law, nor economics nor
engineering – will provide all of
the answers for resolving water
disputes. Rather, policymakers
and their institutions will have to
foster an active dialog between
all approaches to these critical
resources.

International
River Basin for
Asia region

Number of
Agreements per
International
River Basin

Currently, The UN Convention on the Law of the NonNavigational Uses of International Watercourses and
the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (the
Water Convention) form useful frameworks where
general principles and prescriptive obligations are
set out. The adoption of these conventions facilitates
dispute resolution as it provides a common ground
and focus from which mediation can occur. One of
the objectives of water diplomacy will be to highlight
the importance of these conventions in enhancing
co-operation and to encourage states to ratify the
conventions.

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