Supporting Effective Transboundary Governance: A Multilevel Approach

In a publication launched during the 2024 World Water Week, IUCN has compiled the achievements and lessons learned during 15 years of implementation of its Building River Dialogue and Governance (BRIDGE) transboundary water governance programme. BRIDGE was conceived in 2011 to help secure sustainable management of water resources for poverty reduction, nature conservation, economic growth and international cooperation by means of effective forms of transboundary cooperation. Since that time, the programme has expanded both in its scope and in its geographical reach, starting with a focus on nine transboundary river basins in three regions – the Mesoamerica region, the Andean Region and the Mekong – and growing to a programme currently encompassing twenty transboundary river basins in six regions of the world – including West and Central Africa, East Africa and Southern Africa

As a practitioners’ approach which is nevertheless strongly rooted in science and a thorough understanding of international water law, BRIDGE has honed a flexible, modular and demand-driven approach to water diplomacy which it refers to as ‘multiscalar’. A point of departure for the multiscalar approach is the idea that water governance capacity is built most effectively through the participation of stakeholders at different institutional levels, in a process that is coordinated from local to national and transboundary levels.

The multiscalar approach can be contrasted with a restricted interpretation of water diplomacy, i.e. one which involves a narrow focus on high level dialogue between governments – such as at Ministerial level or between Departments of Foreign Affairs - with the objective of putting a formal agreement (treaty) in place. The BRIDGE approach is different and complementary to this: although water diplomacy always takes place under the authority of sovereign governments, the underlying vision is that if agreements are to work on the ground, they also need the agreement of water users themselves.

To achieve this, the programme is demand driven and participatory and ‘joins the dots’ between different institutional levels from the global through the transnational level to the national and local levels. In addition, it strives both for formal agreements and rules of procedure at different levels and facilitates a multitude of more informal processes. The latter serve to build the required knowledge base, build the capacity of actors in the water management process, empower ‘champions’ of change, and generally build trust between stakeholders and thereby strengthen the institutions on which transboundary cooperation depends.

Because transboundary water governance is highly context specific, different challenges may present themselves at different times. In response, BRIDGE deploys a variety of building blocks – demonstration, dialogue, advice and support, leadership and learning - in response to the demands of the moment.

As a first step, the BRIDGE programme has assigned a prominent role to demonstrating how cooperation can be made operational. By initiating pilot activities at relatively limited scale, it is possible to test how cooperation can be made operational in a basin. This can serve as the  basis for confidence and trust building, shared learning and joint action on concrete steps in building national and transboundary water governance capacity.

A second key ingredient of the strategy is learning: by facilitating training and capacity building for multiple stakeholders - including municipal and civil society actors as well as high‐level national officials - in water governance and law, international negotiations and benefit sharing, a deeper understanding of water governance can be cultivated in a basin.

Thirdly, BRIDGE facilitates all manner of informal and formal dialogues in the interest of consensus building: demonstration activities and learning events are used catalyse new dialogues on technical, economic and social development, as well as on policy matters where needed.

Fourth, BRIDGE invests in a Champions Network, supporting leadership development and empowering a network of key individuals to engage in and help drive the process of transboundary water cooperation and the solidification of governance mechanisms.

Lastly, BRIDGE provides technical assistance to governments and other stakeholders on water governance arrangements, including effective institutional and legal frameworks, benefit sharing and sustainable financial management in transboundary hot spots regionally and globally.

Over a period of fifteen years, a multitude of basin agreements have been signed, institutions have been formally established, rules of procedure have been agreed on and put in place, implementation capacity has been developed, all resting on a process of trust building and dialogue for consensus. The system is flexible and moves forward in an incremental manner, gradually working around any obstacles that emerge thanks to a long-term institutional presence. It also builds on pre-existing initiatives, institutions and frameworks, seeking synergies with other organisations and existing government initiatives. At times, further research is required to generate data and information, which can be used to initiative a further round of dialogue. 

Over time, the result is a diversity of different outputs and outcomes stemming from the variety of different tools that have been deployed. But each of these supports the process of incremental change towards ever more effective forms of transboundary water governance.