Hydropolitics and Transboundary Water Governance: an analysis of the role of the Intergovernmental Coordinating Committee of the La Plata Basin countries (CIC)

Author(s)

Isabela Battistello Espindola

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD)
• Defense date: 2021-10-01

Examining board members

Wagner Costa Ribeiro; Fábio Albergaria de Queiroz; Fernanda Mello Sant'Anna; Matilde de Souza

• Advisor: Wagner Costa Ribeiro

Abstract

Issues around water occupy a prominent position on the agenda of countries, especially those that share these natural resources with other nations. Transboundary water resources, underground or superficial, need an exclusive treatment, as they are located in two or more countries, with consequences for all those who share them. This is the case of the La Plata Basin, one of the main transboundary hydrographic basins in South America, shared by Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Within this context, the La Plata Basin and the Intergovernmental Coordinating Committee of the La Plata Basin Countries (CIC), one of its main river basin organizations, are the objects of study of this work that seeks to understand if CIC\'s organizational and institutional structure can deal with contemporary socio-environmental challenges from a transboundary and cooperative perspective, aiming to ensure the well-being of the population of the respective international basin. Following a methodological pluralism, the work focused on two theoretical concepts to support the discussion: hydropolitics and transboundary water governance. While the hydropolitical literature helped to understand transboundary water interactions and to identify the dynamics between the main actors in the La Plata Basin, the concept of governance was used to analyze the institutional and organizational architecture of the basin, with a focus on the role played by the CIC concerning the coordination of cooperation and development projects, among others. By critically examining the CIC, as well as the historical, economic, and political situation that led the five countries to cooperate for the governance of the La Plata Basin, it was demonstrated, firstly, that the transboundary water interactions were marked by power issues, hegemony, sovereignty, mistrust, lack of popular participation, access to information and lack of common interest. Many of these issues remain in the La Plata Basin and continue to impact dynamics around the governance of transboundary water resources. Secondly, the diversity of existing international organizations within the La Plata Basin, even though it demonstrates an intensification of water cooperation, highlights a fragmentation of the role of the CIC as a hydrographic basin organization. Third, despite a practically null scenario in terms of conflicts linked to the sharing of transboundary water resources, instabilities in the Basin region, primarily political and economic, are obstacles to promoting effective transboundary water governance. Given the interruptions in CIC operations, difficulties in carrying out projects, sporadic social participation, and dependence on international funding, it became clear that the governance of transboundary water resources in the La Plata Basin is institutionally fragile thus corroborating the hypothesis of this work. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 17/17997-9 - Management of transboundary water resources in South America: the contribution of the coordinating intergovernmental committee of the countries of the Plata Basin
• Grantee: Isabela Battistello Espíndola
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate