The document discusses water conflicts and cooperation in transboundary river basins. It provides examples of both conflict and cooperation around the Jordan River Basin and Senegal River Basin. It then discusses various cooperative initiatives across northeast Africa, including the Niger Basin Authority, Lake Chad Basin Commission, Nubian Aquifer System Project, Nile Basin Initiative, and Lake Victoria Basin Commission. It considers whether investing in the Lake Victoria or Nile Basin initiatives, and suggests the benefits approach to cooperation may be more effective than the water-sharing approach. Cooperation is recognized as a complex political process with many stakeholders.

1. Ana Elisa Cascão Presentation to TWM Lake Victoria Kigali, Rwanda – 26 October 2009 Hydropolitics: Water, Power and Cooperation (II) Lake Tiberias Jordan  Syria   Israel  West Bank

4. Deadlock COOPERATION Water Cooperation: Overcoming the deadlock ? Riparian A Riparian B

6. Water cooperation: How to get there?

9. Water-Sharing vs. Benefit-Sharing?

10. Benefit-Sharing Paradigm Benefits to the river Benefits from the river Benefits because of the river Benefits beyond the river BENEFITS OF COOPERATION Environmental Social Economic Political Sadoff and Grey 2002, 2005 “ A focus on sharing the benefits derived from the use of water, rather than the allocation of water itself, provides far greater scope for identifying mutually beneficial cooperative actions”

13. Benefit-Sharing or Water-Sharing? Benefit-sharing is the best approach Benefit-sharing is an intermediary solution Benefit-sharing is not a panacea for all basins Benefit-sharing is a smokescreen for status quo

14. Cooperation is as political as water BASIN Multiple stakeholders, positions, decision-making layers, approaches, strategies, complexities, ... Multilateral Donor Bilateral Donor Civil Society Riparian C Riparian B Riparian A

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