Abstract
The system of transboundary water governance within the European Union displays a number of important vulnerabilities, such as the almost complete lack of water quantity management and allocation considerations, limited tools for the management of hydrological variability and restricted access to adequate dispute resolution mechanisms. The likelihood of conflict would, however, be significantly reduced or even eliminated, if the existing governance regime could be flexibly adjusted to emerging hydrological and political pressures. The adaptive capacity of EU transboundary water governance is assessed through a number of established resilience indicators such as coordination among the different levels and actors, transfer of information and feedback, and the authority and flexibility in decision-making and problem-solving. Such analysis shows that existing hydropolitical vulnerabilities are likely to persist as the rigid EU legal framework, coupled with a number of political and cultural obstacles, does not allow the dynamic adaptation of EU water policy objectives and measures to changes in basin hydrology and co-riparian politics.
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Notes
- 1.
Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and Lakes, Helsinki, 17 March 1992.
- 2.
The relevant meeting documents available at: https://www.unece.org/environmental-policy/conventions/water/envwatermeetings.html#/ (accessed 12 February 2019).
- 3.
https://www.unece.org/env/water/npd.html (accessed 12 February 2019).
- 4.
http://www.unece.org/index.php?id=45241 (accessed 12 February 2019).
- 5.
http://www.unece.org/env/water/workshop_joint_bodies_2013.html, http://www.unece.org/env/water/joint_bodies_workshop_2014.html (accessed 12 February 2019).
- 6.
https://www.icpdr.org/main/activities-projects/dablas (accessed 12 February 2019).
- 7.
https://www.icpdr.org/main/activities-projects/icpdr-eu-strategy-danube-region (accessed 12 February 2019).
- 8.
Protocol on Water and Health to the 1992 Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, London, 17 June 1999.
- 9.
https://www.unece.org/env/water/protocol_third_reporting_cycle.html (accessed 12 February 2019).
- 10.
https://water.europa.eu/freshwater (accessed 12 February 2019).
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Treaties
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Rome, 25 March 1957
Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and Lakes, Helsinki, 17 March 1992
Protocol on Water and Health to the 1992 Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, London, 17 June 1999
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Baranyai, G. (2020). Adaptive Capacity of EU Transboundary Water Governance: The Dynamic Dimension of Resilience. In: European Water Law and Hydropolitics. Water Governance - Concepts, Methods, and Practice. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22541-4_11
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