Africa's International Rivers: An Economic Perspective

Cooperative management, and development of Africa ' s international rivers holds real promise for greater sustainability, and productivity of the continent ' s increasingly scarce water resources, and fragile environment. Moreover, the potential benefits of cooperative water resources management, can serve as catalysts for broader regional cooperation, economic integration, and development - and even conflict prevention. But riparians will pursue joint action only when they expect to receive greater benefits through cooperation than through unilateral action. Economic analysis can be used to make the case for cooperation on international rivers, using tools that will help identify, and measure the potential incremental benefits of cooperation, determine the distribution of benefits among riparians, and assess the feasibility, and fairness of alternative management, and investment scenarios. Where such schemes yield benefit distributions, nor perceived as equitable among riparians, economic tools could also be used to calculate, design, and implement arrangements for redistribution. In all of these ways, economics can play an important role in enabling the management of international rivers, helping to motivate, design, and implement cooperative water resources management.

The authors (two from the World Bank and the other from the U. of North Carolina) examine two ways of looking at the economic value of Africa's international rivers: the "user value," which represents the value of individual use by people, companies, and states, and the "system value," which represents the total value of the river as it traverses the length of its basin. They argue that when system values exceed user values it encourages international cooperation. The further argue that an ideal system would promote the sharing of physical or economic benefits of system values. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

More than 60 international rivers traverse the continent of Africa. As populations and economies grow, these rivers need to be developed and managed in order to meet the needs of the African people. The fundamental challenge in developing these shared waters will be to do so equitably and in an environmentally, socially, and economically sustained manner.Part I of this book provides a broad overview of the numerous shared rivers in Africa and offers some insights into riparian dynamics and the feasibility of cooperative management. Part II assesses the economics of international rivers and explores the links between water resources management and economic growth and poverty. It also focuses on the concept of water as an economic good and the implications this has for management. Part III explores the challenges of cooperative, transboundary management.