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abstract 487

COST SHARING OF AN INTERNATIONAL WATERCOURSE WITH RESPECT TO STATE SOVEREIGNTY

Author(s): Fady Hamade

Keyword(s): Economie, Eau trans-frontalier, Partage des eaux, Conflit et coopération, Partage de coût, Cours d'eau Internationaux, Proche-Orient, Israel, Palestine, Jourdain

Article:

Poster:

Session: OS5d Transboundary water issues

AbstractRésumé
La rareté des ressources en eau est un des problèmes majeurs auquel les pays de l'Est de la

Méditerranée doivent faire face. Nous pensons au bassin versant du Jourdain. La pression croissante sur la

demande, tant domestique, qu'industrielle et agricole, l'épuisement des ressources existantes ainsi que la dégradation

de la qualité en raison de la surexploitation des gisements, peuvent exacerber le potentiel conflictuel régional entre les

différentes parties revendiquant des droits de propriété sur un cours d'eau international. La reconnaissance générale

de ce fait est révélée par l'apparition des termes tels que "géopolitique de l'eau", "hydropolitique" [Anderson 1994,

Wolf 1996], et par la qualification de la ressource de stratégique.
Les principales solutions proposées à ce jour

pour la gestion des ressources en eau Proche-Orient reposent sur l'idée d'un marché de droits [Dinar et Wolf,

1994]. Toutefois, ce schéma d'allocation à l'échelle nationale est difficilement reproductible à une échelle

internationale.
Nous proposons une alternative aux marchés de droits. La production et la gestion de la ressource

à l'échelle du bassin versant constituent un Bien Public International partiellement excludable. Le partage du

financement de ce bien selon le mécanisme sériel [Moulin 1994] de partage de coût satisfait la souveraineté des Etats

dans la gestion nationale des ressources domestiques, principal obstacle à la coopération autour des cours d'eau

internationaux.

Abstract
Water scarcity is one of the major problems that the Eastern countries of the

Mediterranean Sea absolutely have to face. We think about countries of the Jordan watershed. The increasing

pressure on the demand, so domestic, industrial as agricultural, the depletion of existing resources as well as the

degradation of the quality because of the overexploitation of the aquifer, aggravated the regional conflicting potential

between the various parties claiming property rights [Frey 1993, Vlachos 1994, Priscoli 1994, Anderson 1994].

The general recognition of this fact is revealed by the appearance of the terms such as "geopolitics of the water"

[Zeitouni et al. 1994], "hydropolitics" [Anderson 1994], and the qualification of the resource of "strategic".

Consequently, in the regional context, the motivations as for the management of water resources are essentially

strategic.

In responding to this problem, academic economics literature has focused on markets for water rights

[Dinar and Wolf, 1994] as the appropriate mechanism for resolving resource allocation and depletion problems.

However, while some real experiments with markets for water rights exist, it has not been possible to duplicate them

on an international ground.

Instead this paper argues that management of international watershed could be

financed as an International Public Good. Its supply, while an international enforcement institution does not exist,

should be voluntary. To achieve equity between all parties and to resolve conflicts, we present a model of "serial cost

sharing" [Moulin 1994] as a solution that can facilitate the removal of the political conflicts by transforming them into

ones of economic bargaining. This solution respects the State's Sovereignty, one of the major obstacles of

cooperation.

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COST SHARING OF AN INTERNATIONAL WATERCOURSE WITH RESPECT TO STATE SOVEREIGNTY