Water resources: Defusing conflict, promoting cooperation

Date:
July 23, 2021
Source:
ETH Zurich
Summary:
Researchers have developed a methodology for avoiding conflicts
of use in transboundary rivers. The model-based procedure allows
for participatory planning and cooperative management of water
resources.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Rivers are lifelines for many countries. They create valuable ecosystems, provide drinking water for people and raw water for agriculture and
industry.

In the Global South in particular, there is strong competition for access
to freshwater resources. The increasing use of hydropower has recently intensified this competition further.


==========================================================================
Take Ethiopia, for example: when the country began filling the mega-dam
Gibe III on the Omo River in 2015, downstream users saw a drop in water volumes.

Natural flooding declined, reducing the volume of fertile mud washed
onto the floodplain. The level of Kenya's Lake Turkana, into which the
Omo flows, fell temporarily by two metres, resulting in significant consequences for people and agriculture.

Addressing the nexus The network of interactions between water, energy,
food and ecosystems - - referred to by experts as the "water-energy-food
(WEF) nexus" -- often leads to wide-ranging disputes in the catchment
areas of transboundary rivers. Large- scale infrastructure construction projects such as dams and irrigation schemes have caused political
tensions between neighbouring states at various points in the past.

An international research team led by ETH Zurich has now developed a
strategic toolkit that can help to defuse such conflicts over water use, through an objective analysis of stakeholder's interests. In the EU's
Horizon 2020 project DAFNE, 14 research partners from Europe and Africa
worked together to find approaches to a more equitable management of
water resources.

"We wanted to show how it is possible to sustainably manage the
nexus between water, energy, food and ecosystems, even in large and transboundary river basins with a wide range of users," says Paolo
Burlando, Professor of Hydrology and Water Resources Management at
ETH Zurich.



========================================================================== Integrating and balancing different interests While it is now recognised
that watershed planning should take a holistic approach that respects
the needs of all stakeholders, multidimensional decision-making problems
with significant numbers of stakeholders make it difficult to negotiate generally accepted solutions.

"Conventional planning tools are usually overwhelmed with challenges such
as these," explains Burlando, who has led the DAFNE consortium for the
past four years. This is why the project team developed a novel method
to map and quantify trade-offs in the WEF nexus.

The approach is based on the principles of the participatory and
integrated planning and management of water resources, which focuses on
the role and interests of stakeholders. The DAFNE methodology is designed
to engage stakeholders and find compromises and synergies in a joint
approach. "The key is to find solutions that benefit everyone, take the environment into account and also make economic sense," explains Burlando.

Enabling dialogue through models DAFNE uses state-of-the-art modelling techniques and digital solutions to enable participatory planning. A
strategic decision tool allows the social, economic and environmental consequences of interventions to be assessed in a quantitative approach, enabling users to identify viable development pathways.

Stakeholder selected pathways are simulated in detail using a hydrological model driven by high-resolution climate scenarios, in order to accurately analyse the impact on the respective water resources. Additional
sub-models can be used to model other aspects of the nexus. Finally,
a visualisation tool helps to illustrate interrelationships and assess
problems from various user perspectives.



==========================================================================
"The models aim to facilitate continuous negotiation between stakeholders
- - which is a key element of the DAFNE approach," says Senior Scientist
Scott Sinclair, who co-developed the modelling approach.

Case studies with local stakeholders The DAFNE project focused on two
large river basins in East, and Southern Africa -- the Omo-Turkana
and Zambezi -- where the researchers tested their methodology in two
case studies. In both case studies, real stakeholders were involved
in the development of the DAFNE approaches, working with them to test alternative operating modes for the power plants and irrigation schemes,
to design more sustainable use scenarios for their catchment areas. They exchanged their different perspectives in simulated negotiations to
illustrate the process.

In the Omo-Turkana basin, the scientists also used their methodology in
a retrospective analysis of the controversial two-year filling phase of
the Gibe III mega-dam in Ethiopia. "We observed that the negative impact
on downstream neighbours was exacerbated by a prolonged drought," reports Burlando. The DAFNE consortium partner from Politecnico di Milano were
able to show in a study published in Nature Communications together with Burlando and Sinclair, that such problems can be reduced by combining
DAFNE tools with seasonal drought forecasts and flexibly adapting the
filling regime to hydroclimatic conditions.

Dams on the advance worldwide The results of the study are highly topical: Ethiopia is currently building another mega-dam in the Omo-Turkana
catchment area, and filling the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on
the Blue Nile. Worldwide, around 500 dam projects are being planned in
regions affected by climate feedbacks through teleconnections. Growing populations and increasing prosperity will continue to boost demand for
energy, food and water. The researchers hope that the DAFNE methodology
will one day become a reference.

"We designed the modelling tools to be transferable to other regions with competing water needs," says Burlando. Follow-up projects are already
under way to apply and further develop the technology in several river
basins worldwide.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by ETH_Zurich. Original written by
Michael Keller. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Marta Zaniolo, Matteo Giuliani, Scott Sinclair, Paolo Burlando,
Andrea
Castelletti. When timing matters--misdesigned dam filling impacts
hydropower sustainability. Nature Communications, 2021; 12 (1)
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23323-5 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/07/210723105233.htm

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