Needs for and Use of Decision Support Models in International Water Negotiations

Abstract This chapter presents the challenges faced in managing international and transboundary river basins and reaching sustainable outcomes in the negotiations over the shared water and their allocation. The chapter detects cooperative and conflictive trends over time among riparian states to international water and decreases in the number of treaties signed and in the number of treaties modified over time. Using examples from recent negotiations such as the Blue Nile, the Euphrates–Tigris, and the Indus, the chapter identifies possible directions by which better data analysis and assessment of what-if scenarios, using decision support models (DSMs), could lead to a more attractive outcome for all parties involved. The chapter also provides examples of how states adapt to changes in conditions that their treaty could not address. These observations indicate the value of DSMs and their potential in sustaining international treaties.