IWRA Proceedings

AbstractMexico is well known as a transboundary river basins actor concerning the water disputes with United States. The situation of transboundary river basins in the Southern border of Mexico and the relationships between Mexico, Guatemala and Belize related to water are emerging themes as well as for researchers as for governments. For an example, the number and definition of existing river basins is doubtful and data obtained from different sources may consider five, six or seven transboundary river basins. Our research tries to expose recent information about transboundary river basins between Mexico, Guatemala and Belize: we define six river basins as areas drained by a river and its tributaries, four of which are binational and two trinational. On this basis, we analyse the dynamics of the six transboundary river basins regarding their main water issues. There is no apparent water dispute, neither water agreements between Mexico, Guatemala and Belize. Nevertheless the study indicates the existence of constraints in order to develop bilateral and trilateral cooperation about shared water resources and suggests opportunities for future transboundary water management.