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The Australian Development Gateway (ADG) strives to support members of the development community in their efforts to reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development in the Asia Pacific region. The site has been created with participation from members of government, private, academia and non-government organisations. User feedback mechanisms have been incorporated to guide future directions of the site. The site is optimised for low bandwidth access to enable the widest participation throughout the Asia Pacific region.

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Practical approaches to transboundary water benefit sharing (pdf 210kb)

This paper considers practical mechanisms for moving towards an operationalisation of benefit sharing in transboundary water management.

The focus is on steps for putting the concept into practice using lessons learned from existing cooperative efforts. In addition to case studies, the paper draws on literature from a wide array of disciplines, including economics, international relations, and political science.

Mechanisms discussed include quantifying the benefits and costs of optimal water management, taking care to address equity concerns, and recognising the link between volumetric water allocations and benefit sharing. Examples show that a process-oriented approach is the most feasible, that dividing the river basin into subunits is useful in arriving at initial agreement, and that the role of third parties has been instrumental in promoting sharing arrangements.

Regional integration arrangements can play an important role in fostering cooperative efforts, and a number of regional organisations have placed transboundary water management centrally within their agendas.

 

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