Scarperation an empirical inquiry into the role of scarcity in fostering cooperation between international river riparians

The environment and security literature has argued that freshwater scarcity often leads to inter-state conflict, and possibly acute violence. The contention, however, ignores the long history of hydro-political cooperation exemplified by hundreds of documented agreements. Building on a theory that c...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Kurukulasuriya, Pradeep
Other Authors: Dinar, Ariel, Dinar, Shlomi
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Washington, D.C The World Bank 2007
Subjects:
Online Access:
Collection: World Bank E-Library Archive - Collection details see MPG.ReNa
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100 1 |a Kurukulasuriya, Pradeep 
245 0 0 |a Scarperation  |h Elektronische Ressource  |b an empirical inquiry into the role of scarcity in fostering cooperation between international river riparians  |c Kurukulasuriya, Pradeep 
260 |a Washington, D.C  |b The World Bank  |c 2007 
300 |a 48 p. 
653 |a River basins 
653 |a Water and Industry 
653 |a Pipelines 
653 |a Environment 
653 |a Riparian states 
653 |a Climate change 
653 |a Industry 
653 |a Water Supply and Sanitation 
653 |a Water Resources 
653 |a Crop production 
653 |a Pollution 
653 |a Environmental Economics and Policies 
653 |a Production process 
653 |a Treaties 
653 |a Town Water Supply and Sanitation 
653 |a Governance and Institutions 
653 |a Rivers 
653 |a Pollution control 
653 |a Water Conservation 
700 1 |a Dinar, Ariel 
700 1 |a Kurukulasuriya, Pradeep 
700 1 |a Dinar, Shlomi 
041 0 7 |a eng  |2 ISO 639-2 
989 |b WOBA  |a World Bank E-Library Archive 
856 4 0 |u http://elibrary.worldbank.org/content/workingpaper/10.1596/1813-9450-4294  |x Verlag  |3 Volltext 
082 0 |a 330 
520 |a The environment and security literature has argued that freshwater scarcity often leads to inter-state conflict, and possibly acute violence. The contention, however, ignores the long history of hydro-political cooperation exemplified by hundreds of documented agreements. Building on a theory that considers the relationship between scarcity and hydro-political cooperation, this paper empirically investigates why treaties are negotiated for some rivers and between some riparians, and not others. The paper suggests that long-term water scarcity has a significant influence on levels of cooperation. Additional variables considered include trade, level of governance among the riparian states, and the geography of the river. Findings confirm that cooperation and scarcity embody a concave (inverted U curve) relationship. Governance has a positive impact on cooperation. In addition, riparians may either arrange the use of their scarce water resources via a treaty or trade (and indirectly exchange [virtual] water). Scarcity, governance, and trade were found to be most salient in explaining levels of cooperation while geography is significant in some of the estimates