Resource information
Cooperative management, and development
of Africa's international rivers holds real promise for
greater sustainability, and productivity of the
continent's increasingly scarce water resources, and
fragile environment. Moreover, the potential benefits of
cooperative water resources management, can serve as
catalysts for broader regional cooperation, economic
integration, and development - and even conflict prevention.
But riparians will pursue joint action only when they expect
to receive greater benefits through cooperation than through
unilateral action. Economic analysis can be used to make the
case for cooperation on international rivers, using tools
that will help identify, and measure the potential
incremental benefits of cooperation, determine the
distribution of benefits among riparians, and assess the
feasibility, and fairness of alternative management, and
investment scenarios. Where such schemes yield benefit
distributions, not perceived as equitable among riparians,
economic tools could also be used to calculate, design, and
implement arrangements for redistribution. In all of these
ways, economics can play an important role in enabling the
management of international rivers, helping to motivate,
design, and implement cooperative water resources management.
