6 - Lessons learned: Patterns and issues

Summary

Once I got the sign for water, I got the whole world.

– Hellen Keller, My Life

This chapter examines some of the lessons learned through attempts at resolving and managing past water conflicts with the hope that these will help decision makers deal with future water conflicts and enhance their ability to manage them. The chapter is not meant to provide a definitive topology for a generic watershed conflict or a checklist for a hypothetical mediator. Rather, it presents the observations of the authors about a relatively recent approach to the resolution of particularly vital resource conflicts. The chapter is divided into lessons learned in the four general stages of water conflict management: (i) assess the current setting, (ii) take the borders off the map, (iii) enhance the benefits, and (iv) return the borders for institutional capacity building and the equitable distribution of benefits. The focus is on themes and issues that recur throughout our survey of national and international water conflicts. Specific lessons implied by the discussion are presented throughout the chapter.

FOUR STAGES IN WATER CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION

As the global experience with shared waters becomes more nuanced and sophisticated, a process is beginning to emerge that brings some order to the vast amount of information and disciplinary expertise necessary to move from conflict to cooperation. Imagine a hypothetical basin. Imagine it goes through four stages in its evolution from unilateral development and conflicting interests to coordinated development and shared interests.