How Water Quality in Transboundary River Systems Affects Water, Sanitation, and Foreign Policy

David Tipping, 2001

By David C. Tipping

Edited by Yeareen Yun

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any agency of the Australian government. Assumptions made within the analysis are not reflective of the position of any Australian government entity, or other organization or professional association.

1. INTRODUCTION

Access to adequate water supply and sanitation is the core premise of local level water security. Effective management of transboundary river basin systems and water quality risks is therefore fundamental to social progress and quality of life. Improved water quality management benefits many individual lives in riparian nations, and, as demonstrated by the annual new year blessing of the fish migrations, society at large throughout the Mekong River Basin.

In 2001, the author investigated the use of sustainable development indicators to improve the institutional effectiveness of international environmental management regimes. A new framework was designed to evaluate beneficial uses of water. In addition, a case study was developed on the Lower Mekong River Basin system, which integrated measures of water and environmental quality and socio-economic development. The research objectives were: (1) improving the understanding of water quality issues; (2) benchmarking water resources management performance at local, national and regional levels; and (3) enhancing technical and administrative capabilities of transboundary river basin management regimes through capacity development focused on the achievement of sustainable development objectives, and obligations and duties under international law.

This paper introduces the Mekong River Drinking Water Supply Index (DWSI) that was developed as a tool to evaluate the effectiveness of international treaty regime water quality management. It discusses new research that investigated whether the DWSI model could be optimized using fewer variables, while maintaining sensitivity to changing environmental and social conditions in an ecological system.

The findings suggest there is potential to reduce the number of variables in the DWSI, though the author considers that the model would lose its sensitivity to detecting spatial and temporal trends in water quality. Moreover, this loss of sensitivity would limit a capability to evaluate the performance of institutions and policies. This would curtail the ability of policymakers to inform governments and stakeholders on how best to achieve sustainable development outcomes and objectives, while meeting their obligations and duties to the international community of states.

1.1 Water Quality Modeling

Over the last 20 years, water quality modeling for international or transboundary river basin systems has become an increasingly important area of planning and management for sustainable development, as well as a basis for the evaluation of international treaty regimes or multi-state commissions that are established to implement sustainability agreements in accordance with international public law.^[1] The impact of water quality goes beyond just water and sanitation issues. It affects foreign policy as water and sanitation are basic human rights that states and nations have obligations to respect, protect and fulfill.

Water is undoubtedly the most universal necessity for humans.^[2] To ensure the adequate supply of water, effective governance of water is crucial. The development and implementation of policies, establishment of institutions and public engagement and consultations represent a starting point. Governance becomes more complex when there is a further requirement to manage water resources systems in a transboundary context.

Water governance issues are extremely important to the civil society ideal.^[3] The provision of wholesome and clean water for human consumption and hygiene, as well as for irrigated agriculture, is the foundation of global poverty reduction and sustainable development, and, a precondition for human development. The intrinsic value of water underscores the need for effective systems of water governance, particularly when water crosses borders, for human civilization to continue to thrive.

Effective water governance has become one of the major challenges for human societies in the twenty-first century.^[4] Whether it relates to the sharing of water resources for irrigation in food production (as in the internally displaced person camps of Darfur, Sudan),^[5] for meeting essential drinking water supply and sanitation needs (as in the favela settlements of Porto Alegre, Brazil),^[6] or for productive fishery habitat maintenance (as in the flooded forest of Lake Tonle Sap, Cambodia),^[7] complex water issues are assuming critical proportions. New tools and methods of understanding sustainable development are needed in order to predict and prevent the perpetuation of such market failures that can undermine the value of water.

1.2 Cooperation in Transboundary Systems

Water governance and management are crucial for socio-economic development. In unmanaged transboundary river basins, water can become more finite when human and natural factors and constraints are summed up. Unchecked development and use of water can promote over-extraction and degradation of water quality, to the point that alternative beneficial uses of water are limited, or no longer possible or acceptable. Similarly, environmental changes and/or natural disasters can heighten water supply risk and create more uncertainty for communities.

Sustainable socio-economic development becomes a question of cooperation between different political entities at multiple levels of governance. Such cooperation can take on many forms in differing regional and international contexts. When dealing with basic health, environmental and livelihood issues, efficient and effective collaboration and cooperation to meet sustainability goals needs to be based on sound scientific information.^[8] Haas writes, “Regimes built with usable knowledge appear to be more effective at inducing states to achieve their intended goals of improving environmental quality… institutionalized knowledge has contributed to more effective multilateral environmental management.”

One major challenge is how best to manage the quality of a finite supply of freshwater, while maintaining both the environmental quality and natural resource base of the human system.^[9] Individuals and business entrepreneurs place different values on wholesome and clean water. In contrast, nations and states are governed by public international law,^[10] while promoting the common good for diverse populations.

Water issues arise through rapid and continued population growth and socio-economic development, which place increasing demands on the resource base. Technology and modern lifestyle expectations can further heighten these demands for water. In unmanaged transboundary river basins, ecological systems can reach a breaking point, tending towards tensions and conflicts between stakeholders, or nations or states having land in the basin. Such conflicts, in turn, harm people’s ability to use water for their needs, which can further exacerbate such tension and conflict.

Treaties allow for more flexible allocations of water supply, including groundwater in aquifers. Treaties create more efficient management practices to mitigate environmental externalities and reduce the potential for conflict,^[11] and yet treaties sometimes fail to address all externalities. Many externalities that fall on third parties are not foreseen or considered by those whose actions create them.^[12]

The approach taken to managing transboundary environmental resources has been to establish international regimes or multi-state commissions with specific mandates.^[13] The Mekong River Commission (MRC) is the intergovernmental and international organization that oversees the 1995 Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin between Lao PDR, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Under this agreement, the four nations agreed to “cooperate in all fields of sustainable development, utilization, management, and conservation of the water and related resources of the Mekong River Basin, such as navigation, flood control, fisheries, agriculture, hydropower and environmental protection”.^[14]

1.3 Measuring Sustainable Development

The benefits derived from unmanaged transboundary river basin systems are not usually shared equally among all stakeholders, international persons having land in the basin. The sharing of these resources has given rise to more than 400 international treaties on water issues. In 2001, in order to support member states of the Mekong River Commission and to enlighten policymakers and stakeholders on the risks and implications of political choices on water, the author investigated the use of sustainable development indicators to improve the institutional effectiveness of international environmental management treaty regimes. This research was conducted in the context of the Brundtland Commission (1987) definition, with the initiative drawing further light from the 1992 Rio Earth Summit and the Dublin Principles (1992).^{[15], [16]}

The interdependency of socio-economic development and the conservation of natural endowments, which includes the natural capital stock of environmental and natural resource assets, means that environmental characterization is vital for ensuring wise investment in and management of natural resources. Sustainable development becomes a balance of environmental concerns with social and economic activities. If balance of interests is the key, is it a positive and practical idea?

The author designed an advanced, multi-level framework to evaluate beneficial use of water. To engage governments and the multiple of institutional and non-state stakeholder groups in support of negotiating cross-cultural considerations and established international legal rules and practices, the framework involved measures of both water and environmental quality and social and economic development. The author then applied the framework to a case study on the Lower Mekong River Basin.

Development has been defined mathematically as “a vector of desirable social objectives” that a society should naturally seek to achieve and value.^[17] Elements of this vector include: access to resources, improved nutrition and health status, increased per capita real income, increased educational attainment by level, a more fair distribution of income, or just “increases in basic freedoms.”^[18] When used in conjunction with the term sustainable, one might simply infer that the development vector should not decrease over a finite time horizon. This development vector might be constant over time, which is also defined as sustainable.

The author’s working definition of sustainable development for the research is that the minimum set of conditions in the development vector–the natural capital stock within the transboundary river basin system–should not decrease over time. The stock of environmental and natural resource assets includes the quality of the soils, the forests, and surface water and groundwater, including their capacity to serve as environmental sinks. For example, with respect to a beneficial use of water, water quality should not be in decline. Such a scenario might be defined as an externality, however there is an interdependence here: the ultimate steady-state of a river basin system needs to prove acceptable for the full range of its intended or potential beneficial water uses.

The author then resolved development of the Mekong River system for the provision of wholesome and clean water as a priority. Beneficial use of water is of vital importance to the social and economic development of nations and regions. However, the notion of sustainable development at the heart of the author’s research required that the ecological viewpoint would take precedence over other priorities. While other water uses compete, policymakers and stakeholders should consider two overarching priorities at the local, national and international levels when designing a system of transboundary river basin governance: the provision of wholesome and clean drinking water for communities, and, maintenance of the integrity of the natural system that feeds the people.

2. THE MEKONG DRINKING WATER SUPPLY INDEX

In 2001, the author developed the Drinking Water Supply Index (DWSI) to express the quality of water used for domestic applications, human consumption and hygiene.^[19] It comprised ten water quality variables, including temperature, pH, total suspended solids, chloride, dissolved sulfate, nitrate and nitrite-nitrogen as N (nitrates), ammonia-nitrogen as N, total phosphorus, dissolved oxygen, and chemical oxygen demand. Using established water quality criteria, the author used linear functions to transform the measurements of water quality variables into index scores (vectors), ranging from 10 (Very Poor) to 100 (Excellent). As presented in Table 1, the trigger points are related to values at which the water quality measurement and the mean between water quality class transition from one designation to the next (i.e. excellent to good, fair to poor), and/or represent an extreme value of the measurement.

Table 1 – DWSI Water Quality Classification^[20]

The author then aggregated subindices scores using the unweighted harmonic mean equation to create the DWSI.^[21] The choice of aggregation equation relates to the level of impact one wants a single variable to exert on an index. In this research, the author considered it more valuable to have an index whereby small changes in water quality at the bottom of the subindices would translate into larger incremental gains in the main index score, as this might provide an incentive for treaty regimes to invest in small improvements in water quality. Small improvements over time add up to larger improvements, with increasing potential to benefit many individual lives in riparian nations, and society at large across a transboundary river basin system, allowing all stakeholders and persons to take ownership of sustainable development outcomes and objectives.

Fluctuations in water quality can adversely affect drinking water supplies and population health.^[22] While the cost and complexity of treating water may increase disproportionately with any decline in water quality, the use of untreated or inadequately treated water may have a more perverse effect on those who need to consume surface water and groundwater.^[23] Poor water quality places human health and safety as well as the environment at serious risk of harm,^[24] thus in the end, threatening social development and economic growth. For example, the incidence of Schistosomiasis and other water-related diseases are known to be increasing in urban areas of the global south.^[25] Even in today’s developed nations, the full human health and environmental effects of pathogens and modern contaminants such as pharmaceuticals, endocrine disrupting compounds and personal care products are still being established. Water quality can also exacerbate malnutrition, as demonstrated by cases in Syria, Southern Sudan and other nations.^{[26], [27]}

The traditional lifestyle of all the people of the Mekong region revolves around the river and its hydrological cycle.^[28] All along the river people can be seen bathing, cleaning, and collecting water in a variety of containers for drinking and cooking. Any degradation of water quality or an altered flow regime could have drastic effects on the survival of each Mekong-reliant subculture. To achieve sustainable development, policymakers and stakeholders need to be able to evaluate choices carefully and achieve balance, in order to reduce the risks and threats of a disaster scenario.^{[29], [30]}

Using the DWSI, the author facilitated spatial and temporal analysis of trends to improve understanding of water quality status, identify issues and risks, and clarify the need for policy and management intervention(s). As presented in Figure 1, in the 1999 dry season the index indicated ‘Fair’ to ‘Good’ water quality, whereas it was found to be ‘Poor’ in the wet season. A Seasonal Kendall trend analysis indicated very slight changes in water quality through the catchment over the time period 1995 – 1999. In contrast, using the author’s prototype general (ecosystem) water quality index, the analysis indicated water quality was ‘Very Poor’ in the wet season and ‘Poor’ in the dry season. These two indices are distinguished by the need for greater variability in certain water quality parameters required to support biological diversity. This suggests the results may be significant, because the ecological model identified pronounced degradation of water quality in the river system.

Figure 1 – Longitudinal Boxplots of DWSI Scores in 1999 Dry Season^[31]

Overall, following spatial trend analysis using a monotonic trend test, the author established that water quality degraded longitudinally through the system, though then with a drawdown of natural resilience, it improved again towards the end of the river. Further, while consistent access to wholesome and clean water would be an ideal, temporal trend analysis indicated that sites in the catchment had both improving and degrading water quality. Using the general index with dry season data, the author found overall water quality degradation as measured by the DWSI was strongly correlated with fluctuating water temperature. In the wet season, it was established that impairment was correlated with the loading of total suspended solids in the river, and to a lesser extent the input of nitrogen and phosphorus nutrients.^[32] The impact of this form of degradation is well established in the literature.^{[33], [34]}

These results implied that one or more upstream states or nations were not making good decisions for downstream users.^[35] Had choice resulted in water less than wholesome or clean being provided to local communities?^[36] Was the natural system, that communities relied on to feed the people, being adequately maintained?

New Analysis

Indicators are an ideal way to assess the performance of transboundary river basin management treaty regimes. This could be with respect to the achievement of political mandates, or as regards obligations and imperatives of water security for local constituents and stakeholders. They serve to collapse large and very complex data sets into concise graphical and summary data, used to identify and communicate water resources systems issues and risks, and elucidate the value of historical and current intervention strategies and plans. At the regime level, indicators have the potential to provide direction for the design and implementation of future environmental protection and socio-economic development programs and projects.

Given the author’s renewed interest in developing tools and models for water governance and water resources systems planning, management and optimization, the author understood it to be important to first reassess earlier research on the Lower Mekong River Basin system and investigate whether any water quality information had been lost in the aggregation of raw data into DWSI results. Additional techniques were applied to determine if just one or two indicators had dictated the overall index scores obtained. The author designed a novel statistical approach to test the evaluation tool and its ability to select sustainability measures needed for implementation. This aim was to elucidate sustainable development for policymakers and for managers of transboundary river systems, and the desirability of quantifying sustainability with metrics. In the long-term, the author considered that if the research aims were met, future research might promote new ideas on how best to predict and prevent the perpetuation of tensions and conflicts in order “to defuse popular emotion before it becomes entrenched,”^[37] and to better achieve water security through negotiations on cooperation in shared river basin systems.

The author sought to facilitate understanding of whether it was possible to replicate the drinking water quality index from fewer subindices by establishing how the water quality parameters and scores mapped to the DWSI. The author applied linear regression using forward and backward analysis to model the value of the DWSI as the dependent scale variable, based on its linear relationship to all of the independent water quality variables or predictors.

The author first carried out forward selection on both variables and subindices, using SPSS to conduct the analysis. This involved starting the process with no variable in the model, testing the addition of variables using a selected model comparison criterion, and adding back the variable that improved the model the most. The author then repeated this process until no additional variable could be added to improve the model.

As an example, the regression model for MRC monitoring station 11201 (Luang Prabang) was developed using forward analysis with the field data. The author’s analysis indicated that only five water quality parameters were required to develop the model, with the coefficient of determination (R2) for the model found to be 0.696. The author established the most important variable was total suspended solids (TSS), which explained 0.494 of the variance by itself. However, further testing using analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated that all five variables significantly contributed to the model.

The author then carried out model selection using backward elimination. This involved starting the analysis with all subindices in the model, testing the deletion of each variable using a selected model comparison criterion, and subsequently deleting the variable that least contributed to the model until no further removal of variables was warranted.

For regression model comparative purposes, the backwards analysis for monitoring station 11201 also indicated that five water quality parameters were required to develop the model at this site. The author found the coefficient of determination (R2) for this model was 0.701. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) also indicated that all five parameters significantly contributed to the model.

As presented in Table 2, through this new analysis, the author established that as few as five and as many as nine independent variables or subindices were required to generate the DWSI model at each of the five MRC monitoring stations in the study. It was found that the parameters and subindices that predicted the four models across each of the monitoring stations in the study changed in order of priority or were excluded by the tolerance criterion. Insofar as a key objective of this research was to determine if the DWSI could be generated from fewer parameters, these findings suggest that there would be some potential to do so. On reflection, however, the author concluded this would cause the model to lose its sensitivity to detect pre-existing, new and emerging trends in water quality, and thus inhibit an international treaty regime’s ability to evaluate policies and institutional performance in achieving sustainable development outcomes and objectives over time. This capability is important, as it provides a strong technical, scientific and environmental foundation for protecting the value of shared waters, which supports the concept of collaboration and cooperation implied in international public law,^{[38], [39]} with added potential to mitigate risks and threats of tension and conflict.

Table 2 – Forward and Backwards model selection results

Parallel Plots as a Technique of Decision Support

The author designed the DWSI to allow the most impaired variable to impart the greatest influence on the index score. The use of the unweighted harmonic mean as an aggregator is an issue of the magnitude of effect that a single variable or subindice could impart on the index. The use of the DWSI therefore removes the statistical bias that might result if the variables were instead weighted, and thus all variables may exert an influence on the index at different times and locations. The author considers this to be ideal for communicating a more enlightened understanding of significant water system issues, risks and uncertainties in a complex policy environment, though to properly aid water resources planning and management, the model should be used in combination with other tools and techniques of decision support.

As an example of a technique for decision support, Figures 2 and 3 present parallel plots of the water quality parameters and subindices at monitoring station 11201 (Luang Prabang) to promote visual interpretation of the DWSI. The main DWSI score is represented in the box adjacent to the right axis, with independent parameter and subindice scores indicated across the plot. The DWSI score for a monthly monitoring event assigns a coded color to a line that then passes through each associated parameter and subindice score. This visual approach aids in communication of those instances when various parameter and subindice scores could be impairing or enhancing overall water quality, and either increasing or limiting the main DWSI over space and time.

Figure 2 – Parallel Coordinate Plots with DWSI score-assigned colored lines that link associated water quality parameter measurements

The author established that several water quality parameters exhibit extremely wide variance, and that the transboundary river basin management regime should consider promoting new water, sanitation and foreign policies and enhance water resources management for sustainability (Figure 2). This is required to appropriately regulate drinking water and environmental quality. The aim should be to reduce the spread of disease and promote good health of human communities and ecosystems throughout the river system. To achieve this objective and better meet human needs and aspirations, interventions could range from limiting water withdrawals, implementation of drinking water treatment technologies, and adoption of local stormwater standards to control pathogen, contaminant and human induced sediment inputs upstream of the Mekong River Delta sub-system.

Figure 3 – Parallel Coordinate Plots with DWSI score-assigned colored lines that link associated water quality variable subindice scores

As observed in Figure 3, the author established that when water quality is assessed for being fit for human consumption, the transboundary river basin management regime needs to do much more to protect human health in communities along the river. It is clearly seen that upstream developments and uses of water can cause water quality to degrade longitudinally along the river, with unaware populations consuming inadequate water at various times. For example, water released from upstream water storages is likely to be colder and/or may contain high concentrations of contaminants and diseases, all flowing downstream and impairing the water quality of lower riparian regions, nations and local communities. Adverse exposures reflect unknown risk factors that could be causing ill health, disabilities and/or limiting temporal life expectancy of individuals. This is contrary to the intent of the human right to water and sanitation and internationally accepted principles such as social equity, the precautionary principle, intergenerational equity, as well as those other principles of governance that should naturally form the foundation of policy and plans, including transparency, accountability, and the participation of people in processes that affect their health and well-being.

3. POLICY IMPLICATIONS

In light of growing concerns that economic and social developments were placing the global environment at risk, in 1983 the United Nations established the World Commission on Environment and Development (the ‘Brundtland Commission’).^[40] Its mission was to unite Member States to work together in pursuit of sustainable development. The Brundtland Commission called its final report Our Common Future. This report affirmed that the objective of development was the satisfaction of human needs and aspirations, and it established that poverty and inequity had become endemic. Forewarning a world prone to ecological crisis, the Brundtland Commission reasoned that a more sustainable form of development was required; meaning that the international community should meet the basic needs of all persons and help individuals achieve their aspirations of a better life.^[41]

The Brundtland Commission defined sustainable development as a form of “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”^[42] The report clarified that sustainable development was “not a fixed state of harmony, but rather a process of change.”^[43] To achieve contentment, tranquility and peace among all peoples in all nations, the “exploitation of resources, direction of investments, orientation of technological development, and institutional change” all needed to be made consistent with the future as well as present needs of humans.^[44] Such remains the challenge of water governance and water resources systems planning and management today,^[45] as a working definition of sustainable development for transboundary river basin systems may be required for professionals and policymakers to identify specific objectives and inform the structuring of incentives to develop more enlightened water, sanitation and foreign policy that is in the interest of all persons.

Water is distributed geographically in nature by the water cycle, and can generally be considered a renewable resource. This implies the environment provides this regeneration service to nature for free over time, though it also introduces the human concepts of economic scarcity and competition. The withdrawal of water for domestic applications and social and economic activities across the human system is placing increasing demands on the natural capital stock of environmental and natural resource assets. In turn, all of the human competition for water is placing increasing pressure on the natural system.

As a key input in domestic applications and productive endeavors–from its use in irrigated agriculture, manufacturing and tourism, to its essential nature in human consumption and hygiene for good health–today’s competition is highly complex and can be seen to be promoting unnecessary water scarcity and degraded water and environmental quality across nations. The United Nations state that the “geography of water scarcity coincides with that of desertification, land degradation and drought”.^[46]

Every time water is cycled through the natural system it is replenished with life-giving properties. This overall concept of water stress and other consequences of poor water management therefore clearly represents slow-onset natural and human-made disaster. The Arab civilization has a proverb that all sunshine creates desert.^[47] It seems that such may be the case if water is taken too liberally from nature, or if degraded water quality is allowed to limit human health and ecosystem function, as water is a gift to be shared.

When patterns of human system development become unsustainable, they place significant pressure on the natural system. Depleted water resources and degraded environmental and social conditions can undermine the ability of nature to adequately service and regenerate water. This creates a heightened risk of disaster and increased potential for tensions and conflicts in the human system.^[48]

Wholesome and clean water is the foundation of human development, and by extension, local level water security. Water resources management, as a means to achieving sustainability, requires a balance and protection of ecological systems. There ought to be a healthier prioritization of water for humans, to ensure the basic needs that all people share in common are adequately met. As demonstrated in this paper, sustainable development in transboundary river basin systems becomes a question of managing the quality of a finite supply of freshwater, while maintaining both environmental quality and the natural resource base of the human system.^[49] As a consequence, there is a need for human creativity to advance new technological innovations in water resources systems planning and management, and to better inform decision making on beneficial uses of water and capital investments in new and enhanced infrastructure assets. These decisions can either promote or frustrate sustainable water management.

Effective treaty regime management of transboundary river basins and water quality risks is fundamental to social progress and quality of life at the local, national and regional levels. Improved water quality management is always a popular proposal, as it benefits many individual lives in riparian nations. This is further demonstrated by the annual new year blessing of fish migration in the Mekong region,^[50] where society at large benefits from natural food security throughout the Mekong River Basin system. This connection between water and health and food security is clear.

Transboundary river basin systems need to be managed in a principled way. Decisions represent political choices, each having implications with both foreign and domestic bases. Satisfying the essential local level need for good quality water cannot be disconnected from national and regional considerations, particularly as water flows across international boundaries and into the world’s oceans and seas. States and nations have duties and obligations to all local communities, as well as to other persons in the international community. The provision of wholesome and clean water is primary to this, including in the context of lasting peace and security.

In support of the political imperative to promote and maintain world peace, it is critical that policymakers and stakeholders respect, protect and fulfill the right to water and sanitation. Water quality in transboundary river systems affects water and sanitation and foreign policy and has broader consequence for the international community of states.

From a more economic perspective, to manage the quality of a finite quantity of water best, policymakers and stakeholders should evaluate choices on the basis of desirability of investments for all persons, using tools and methods that can quantify the value of water in both human and economic terms. As expertise in the water sector is currently challenged in identifying and negotiating often highly uncertain sustainable development risks and trade-offs between agriculture, energy production, urban and ecosystem uses of water, there should be adequate checks and balances on power. As a safeguard–to prevent self-interested and subjective terms from overriding nature’s fine balance and the benefits of engineering science and legal principle–systems of governance should ensure international treaty regime direction and choices brought forward for the consideration of negotiators and decision makers are ethical and equitable.^[51] For if the international community of states values the peace and security that fair sharing of water can provide, the social system will need capable experts to develop coherent policies that local communities, nations and regions are happy to implement to achieve sustainable development objectives and satisfy human needs and aspirations.

It is also plausible that the political implications of this research should inform United Nations General Assembly and Security Council deliberations and action to reform the peacebuilding architecture.^[52] The DWSI is a tool that is generalizable and transferable in multi-level and cross-cultural arenas, thus applicable to all river basin systems. If the downstream effects of upstream water developments and uses on local level water security could be similarly modelled in impacted reaches of all transboundary rivers, it would seem reasonable to suggest that all persons could better promote their obligations and duties under public international law through effective water, sanitation and foreign policy that supported the essential needs of communities under their care. This could mitigate the realized risks and threats of tensions and conflicts in accordance with the object of world peace and security.

4. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This article discusses research that the author conducted to investigate the robustness and utility of a drinking water quality index for the Lower Mekong River Basin, a transboundary river system in Southeast Asia. The Mekong River is one of the world’s great rivers, supporting around sixty five million people as it flows longitudinally through Southeast Asia. To the many people who live along, on and nearby, this river is known simply as Mother; a living mother, providing for the environment, health, livelihoods and mobility of successful farmers, dancers, fisher folk and artisans in some of the world’s most enduring and fascinating cultures, and promoting the simple philosophy of the region, freedom; “freedom from want”, “freedom from fear”, and “freedom to live in human dignity.”^{[53], [54], [55]}

The Mekong Drinking Water Supply index (DWSI) is a powerful tool in the form of an ecological model designed to evaluate sustainable development and promote collaboration and cooperation in transboundary river basin systems. When an intervention or management plan is successfully designed and implemented to improve water quality, the model self-adjusts so that it is influenced by other issues of concern. Water professionals and sustainable development practitioners can work together to identify pre-existing, new and emerging risks and threats to local communities, nations and regions. In line with this notion, the author substantiated the need to maintain all water quality variables in the model, and to include additional indicators as and when they become available. This would make the DWSI more robust in terms of providing sound policy and management guidance for future environmental protection and socio-economic development projects, programs and interventions.

When coupled with an ecological systems model for sustainable development, water systems can be valued and optimized for sustainability. For example, a balance may require minimizing the social cost of treating drinking water, maximizing the value of a productive fishery, and achieving other specific objectives that can deliver real improvements in quality of life and social progress for all people. In this way, international environmental management regimes might focus action on informed human preferences for sustainable development, quantifying action with metrics, and in turn, promoting creativity and innovation in operationalizing sustainability.

Water governance needs to be effective. The design of structures for cooperation between governments and stakeholders and the development of water, sanitation and foreign policy both require a solid basis for sustainable development decision making, one that is both scientifically valid and politically feasible. It is clear that sustainable development cannot occur when water quality, and the natural capital stock of environmental and natural resource assets in a transboundary river basin system, are being degraded and/or depleted.

The scale and complexity of today’s global water challenge is becoming increasingly important to address if humanity wants to achieve a water secure world. New generation tools that garner decisive political commitment to action are needed. The alternative is a slower shift to forms of sustainable development that can ensure no one is left behind.

It is recommended:

1. The DWSI was designed to allow complex data sets and other information to be appraised with respect to the achievement of river basin management goals and objectives. It retains the potential to identify specific water issues that may need closer scrutiny or evaluation, so it is necessary to be very clear about what is being measured, how it is going to be measured, and whether the results have meaning.

As there is increasing demand for quantifiable metrics of sustainability, technical planning and management solutions developed using this tool should be assessed in combination with other models and simulations for water availability, water thresholds, and water security more generally. It seems important to gauge how well this tool can provide decision-making support to policymakers and stakeholders seeking to provide clean water and sanitation to local communities, can prioritize water quality management interventions to address other transboundary river system challenges, and/or can assess the impact of proposed infrastructure projects on ecological systems.

2. Good water governance is crucial for a water-secure future. This tool can be used to identify and communicate challenges and successes in watershed management to achieve multi-level and cross-cultural water security objectives. The model should therefore be coupled with a communication and consultation strategy to promote greater transparency, accountability and participation in river basin management, from advertising of draft basin development plans to open engagement with stakeholders and partners. All local communities, as well as stakeholders and international persons, need to understand simple facts, risks and threats, and the implications of political choices on water security when being asked to voice their preferences for projects and initiatives intended to improve social progress and quality of life.

3. During the course of the literature review for this research, it was discovered the Mekong River Commission Secretariat (MRCS) had developed a water quality index and completed a study of water quality for the period 2000 to 2006 in order to assess the protection of aquatic life. Using a classification system, the quality of water for the whole river was found to be ‘Excellent’. The MRCS water quality index findings were compared to the general (ecosystem) water quality index results generated by this research project in 2001.

The contrast between the two water quality indexes was remarkable. If the MRCS index for aquatic life assesses ‘Poor’ and ‘Very Poor’ water quality as being ‘Excellent,’ and if it is not so sensitive to fluctuations in water quality, then professionals and practitioners cannot properly identify and negotiate sustainable development issues, risks and uncertainties across the river basin system. Human and economic impacts on the river basin system will continue to have a higher potential to cause harm to the health of people, and damage to property, infrastructure and ecosystems.

This matter should be urgently assessed, as the decision-support analytics that underpin irreversible decisions on the future development of the Lower Mekong River Basin system may be flawed. For example, the general population may not be adequately prepared for the introduction of new water-related diseases to the region.

4. The President of the United Nations General Assembly should request the Peacebuilding Commission to trial this tool for the purpose of reporting on issues related to the prevention of conflict and the allocation of funding to local level water security initiatives, as a complement to other measures and progress on United Nations Member State achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

5. Finally, the United Nations Secretary General ought to consider appointing a Panel of Experts to enlighten the Security Council on the geography of water scarcity at this intersection with United Nations Member State obligations and duties to protect all communities under their care. The conflicts of Syria and Southern Sudan would seem to be a good starting point.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author would like to acknowledge Professor Patrick Reed of Cornell University who suggested this project should further develop the 2001 water quality model developed for the Lower Mekong River Basin system. In addition, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the original research advisors, Professors John Tobiason, Sharon C. Long and James K. Boyce, as well as staff at the Mekong River Commission Secretariat who supported my visit and helped with data collection, interviews, and assistance with the project more broadly. I am especially grateful to Dr. Erika Mudrak of the Cornell Statistical Consulting Unit, Mr. Curtis Cude and Professors Sharon C. Long and Daniel P. Loucks who reviewed the early draft of this paper. Mr. Cude reviewed the pre-publication draft. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the editors and reviewers at the Cornell Policy Review, including Ms. Yeareen Yun, Ms. Pichaya Damrongpiwat, Ms. Elizabeth Sweitzer, Mr. Arpit Chaturvedi and Ms. Jess Hannah.

1. For those interested in this original research, see David Tipping, Sustainable Development Indicators for Transboundary River Basin Systems, Engineering Report (Amherst, Massachusetts: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Massachusetts, 2001). ↑
2. Johan Rockström and colleagues, “A safe operating space for humanity,” Nature 461, no. 24 (September 2009): 472-475. These authors identified global freshwater use as a planetary boundary: they write, “[i]dentifying and quantifying planetary boundaries that must not be transgressed could help prevent human activities from causing unacceptable environmental change… the planet’s environment has been unusually stable for the past 10,000 years. This period of stability–known to geologists as the Holocene–has seen human civilizations arise, develop, and thrive… Humanity may soon be approaching the boundary for global freshwater use.” ↑
3. For a notion of water governance, see United Nations, Water Governance for Development and Sustainability, Report, prepared by Miguel Solanes and Andrei Jouravlev (Santiago, Chile: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, United Nations publications, June 2006), 8. The United Nations write that “[t]he notion includes ‘the ability to design public policies (and mobilize social resources in support of them) which are socially accepted, which have as their goal the sustainable development and use of water resources, and to make their implementation effective by the different actors/stakeholders involved in the process’ (Rogers, 2002). In order to be effective, governance must be transparent, open, accountable, participatory, communicative, incentive-based, sustainable, equitable, coherent, efficient, integrative and ethical.” ↑
4. Ibid. 8-9. For more clarity on one concept of governance, it includes: “ ‘the capability of a social system to mobilize energies, in a coherent manner, for the sustainable development of water resources’… Governance implies the capacity to both generate and implement appropriate policies. These capacities are the result of having established consensus, having devised coherent management systems (regimes based on institutions, laws, cultural factors, knowledge and practices), as well as adequate administration of the system (based on social participation and acceptance, and capacity building).” ↑
5. Agricultural policies can promote competition for water between large farms with irrigation schemes and traditional rural farms, leading to conflicts and famines. See G.M. Hamid, “Droughts, Famines, and Population Displacement,” in Population Displacement in the Sudan: Patterns, Responses, Coping Strategies, The Center for Migration Studies special issues, vol. 13, no. 3 (July 2012), 35–54. ↑
6. Water and sanitation policies can challenge public health authorities, with rapid urban growth leading to inequality, poor quality of life, and lowered life expectancy of citizens. See Steven Johnson, Future Perfect: The Case for Progress in a Networked Age, Riverhead Books, 2012, “The city of Porto Alegre lies at the edge of an immense freshwater lagoon… (It) quietly grew into the fourth largest metropolitan area in Brazil, with more than 4 million residents… (It) nearly quadrupled in size between 1950 and 1980… By the late 1980s, Porto Alegre’s growth left it with vast favelas (or shantytowns) where close to a million people lived in improvised shacks, almost all lacking clean drinking water…” ↑
7. Upstream nation economic policies can limit and divert water flows that are essential for protecting lives, livelihoods and the integrity of the environment that supports human settlements in downstream nations, leading to tensions and migrations. See United Nations, National Fishery Sector Overview Cambodia, (Rome, Italy: Food and Agriculture Organization, United Nations, March 2011). “Habitat destruction along the Mekong River and Great Lake is a major threat to the freshwater fisheries resources in Cambodia. The building of dams on the upper Mekong River and its tributaries affect fish migration and water levels and is likely to have negative effects on Cambodia’s freshwater fisheries…Flooded forest areas have been greatly reduced from 795,400 ha in 1985. It is estimated that only 19,517 hectares of inundated forest now remain. Much of the forested areas has been converted into agricultural land and has increased the siltation rate in the Great Lake.” ↑
8. Peter Haas, Epistemic Communities, Constructivism, And International Environmental Politics, 343, 359. (UK/USA: Routledge, 2016). ↑
9. See note 1. above. ↑
10. United Nations, “Charter of the United Nations and Statute of the International Court of Justice 26 June 1945,” signed at the conclusion of the United Nations Conference on International Organization. “WE the peoples of the United Nations determined… to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom… AND for these ends… to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours… HAVE resolved to combine our efforts to accomplish these aims…” ↑
11. Kenneth Frederick, “Water as a Source of International Conflict,” Resources for the Future (Spring 1996), 9-12. USA. ↑
12. Douglas McTaggert, Christopher Findlay and Michael Parkin, Economics, 2nd Edn. (Melbourne, Australia: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1996). ↑
13. Peter Rogers, “Economic and Institutional Issues: International River Basins,” in Country Experiences with Water Resources Management, World Bank Technical Paper, no. 175, ed. Guy Le Moigne, Shawki Barghouti, Gershon Feder, Lisa Garbus and Mei Xie (Washington, DC: World Bank Publications, 1993), 63-70. ↑
14. Mekong River Commission, “Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin 5 April 1995,” signed by the Governments of the Kingdom of Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Kingdom of Thailand, and Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. “RECOGNIZING that the Mekong River Basin and the related natural resources and environment are natural assets of immense value to all the riparian countries for the economic and social well-being and living standards of their peoples.” ↑
15. The “Convention on Biological Diversity” opened for signature on 5 June 1992 and received 168 signatures. The objectives of the Convention are “the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources. ” ↑
16. International Conference on Water and the Environment, “The Dublin Statement on Water and Sustainable Development,” Adopted January 31, 1992 in Dublin, Ireland. The statement set out recommendations for action based on four guiding principles for the sustainable management of water resources: “1) Fresh water is a finite and vulnerable resource, essential to sustain life, development and the environment, 2) Water development and management should be based on a participatory approach, involving users, planners and policy-makers at all levels, 3) Women play a central part in the provision, management and safeguarding of water, and 4) Water has an economic value in all its competing uses and should be recognized as an economic good.” ↑
17. David Pearce, Edward Barbier and Anil Markandya. Sustainable Development: Economics and Environment in the Third World (UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 1990). ↑
18. Ibid. ↑
19. See note 1. above. This research investigated water security in the Lower Mekong River Basin, in consultation with the Mekong River Commission Secretariat (MRCS), which included interviews with staff members at various levels. The water quality data set comprised field data (41,721 data points) for 17 monitoring stations along the Mekong River, collected on a monthly basis since June 1985, as well as pesticide data for fish and water. Flow adjustment to reduce variance and make hypothesis testing more sensitive was not undertaken. The data also did not provide any measure of pathogen contamination. Lao PDR was the only member state collecting information on total coliforms, although this data was not consistent with the monitoring stations selected for evaluation or the time horizon of this component of the research. ↑
20. Ibid. ↑
21. Cude found the unweighted harmonic mean formula was the most sensitive to changes in single variables while integrating the effects of all other variables. See Curtis Cude, “Oregon Water Quality Index: A Tool for Evaluating Water Quality Management Effectiveness,” Journal of the American Water Resources Association 37, no. 1 (February, 2001): 125-137. ↑
22. As had been found by a Royal Commission in London in 1846, a human-made public health crisis also evolved in Flint, Michigan in 2014. Water authorities seeking to save money changed the town’s water source to the polluted Flint river. See John Donovan, “Flint’s Water Crisis and the ‘Troublemaker’ Scientist,” 16 August, 2016. Donovan reports, the failure to properly treat the drinking water supplied to the local community resulted in: increases of E. coli, coliform bacteria and trihalomethanes (a class of carcinogen); lead poisoning of children and adults; and it “probably contributed to an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease.” ↑
23. As one simple example, see United States Environmental Protection Agency, “Nutrient Pollution, The Problem,” Office of Water: Washington DC, USA: USEPA. “Too much nitrogen and phosphorus in the water causes algae to grow faster than ecosystems can handle. Significant increases in algae harm water quality, food resources and habitats, and decrease the oxygen that fish and other aquatic life need to survive. Large growths of algae are called algal blooms and they can severely reduce or eliminate oxygen in the water, leading to illnesses in fish and the death of large numbers of fish. Some algal blooms are harmful to humans because they produce elevated toxins and bacterial growth that can make people sick if they come into contact with polluted water, consume tainted fish or shellfish, or drink contaminated water. Nutrient pollution in ground water–which millions of people in the United States use as their drinking water source–can be harmful, even at low levels. Infants are vulnerable to a nitrogen-based compound called nitrates in drinking water.” ↑
24. The Mono Lake Basin system in Northern California comprises 14 diverse ecological zones. The watershed supports over 1,000 plant species and around 400 vertebrate species. Whereas it is one of the world’s richest natural areas, water authorities divert large volumes of water to Southern California. See the Mono Lake Committee website. “Mono Lake dropped 45 vertical feet (around 15 meters in height), lost half of its volume, and doubled in salinity… Unable to adapt to these changing conditions within such a short period of time, the ecosystem began to collapse… The Mono Lake Committee, founded in 1978, led the fight to save the lake with cooperative solutions.” ↑
25. As an example, see Elainne Gomes, Onocio Leal-Neto, Jones Albuquerque, Hernande Pereira da Silva and Constança Barbosa, “Schistosomiasis transmission and environmental change: a spatio-temporal analysis in Porto de Galinhas, Pernambuco – Brazil,” International Journal of Health Geographics 11, no. 51 (November, 2012). “Over recent decades, there has been increasing incidence of cases in urban and coastal areas. One of the factors noted in this process of expansion of Schistosomiasis is the migratory flow of the infected rural population, which, attracted by employment opportunities in urban and coastal localities, has ended up becoming established in peripheral agglomerations where the lack of sanitation and basic infrastructure result in faecal contamination of aquatic environments, with consequent infection of intermediate host and emergence of new foci of Schistosomiasis transmission.” ↑
26. There appears to be a cycle that can pull fragile states and emerging economies back to square one. See Francesca de Châtel, “The Role of Drought and Climate Change in the Syrian Uprising: Untangling the Triggers of the Revolution,” in Middle Eastern Studies 50, no. 4 (2014), 521-535. “Malnutrition, which was already widespread in the impoverished north-east, rapidly increased, with up to 80 per cent of those severely affected surviving on a diet of bread and sugared tea.” ↑
27. As an example, see UNICEF, “Fighting deadly diseases in Darfur”, media release, 13 August 2004, “perilous conditions put the children of Darfur at high risk for catching dysentery, cholera and hepatitis – all deadly killers. ‘Although the rainy season has started, access to safe water is still a problem’.” ↑
28. See note 1. above. “The inhabitants of the region live from the water and on the water. Gajaseni et al (2000) state that ‘farming and fishing are the ordinary local livelihood activities, which are closely related to the forest and river ecosystems and sustain their daily life’. The river provides the irrigation of rice paddies and an abundance of fish, most vital to the regional diet.” ↑
29. Ibid. “The production of the Mekong fishery, together with the rice crop, provides the food security of the peoples in the lower Mekong basin. Jensen (2000) estimated around 83 % of the total fish catch came from the inland fishery. He noted the average annual consumption of fish through the basin was more than 20 kg per capita, and fish consumption was higher again for people living in the Tonle Sap flood plain (~71 kg per capita per annum)… An important fraction of the fish caught are also the smaller species (10 – 14 kg per capita per annum) that can be dried, salted or minced into traditional fermented products. This portion goes unreported, masking the true value of the inland fisheries resource.” ↑
30. See United Nations, National Fishery Country Profile Cambodia, (Rome, Italy: Food and Agriculture Organization, United Nations, April 1999). “It should be noted that official fisheries statistics do not include subsistence fisheries. Different sources (MRC.DoR / Danida).” ↑
31. See note 1. above. ↑
32. Mekong River Commission, Key Messages from The Study on Sustainable Management and Development of the Mekong River including Impacts of Mainstream Hydropower Projects – the Council Study, For Public Stakeholders and Technical Experts, 2 December 2017. “The concentrations of total nitrogen in most cities along the Mekong mainstream and tributaries range from 7.41 to 13.33 mg/l… These concentrations also exceed the 5 mg/l required by the MRC Water Quality Guidelines to protect human health.” ↑
33. Nitrate contamination in groundwater and drinking water primarily comes from fertilizers that are used in the agricultural production. Ingestion of nitrate leads to the formation of potent animal carcinogens (N-nitroso compounds) that are associated with brain, esophagus, stomach, pancreatic, kidney, colon, bladder, rectum and ovarian cancer in humans. Aarhus University in Denmark recently published the results of a large epidemiological study of 2.7 million Danes exposed to Nitrate. See Schullehner, Jörg, Hansen, Birgitte, Thygesen, Malene, Pedersen, Carsten & Sigsgaard, Torben. (2018), “Nitrate in drinking water and colorectal cancer risk: A nationwide population-based cohort study: Nitrate in drinking water and CRC”, International Journal of Cancer, 10.1002/ijc.31306. “We found statistically significant increased risks at drinking water levels above 3.87 mg/L, well below the current drinking water standard of 50 mg/L.” ↑
34. The cost of all the economic development in the Murray Darling river basin system was immense. In a world still moving in slow motion, tens-of-thousands of acres of swamp and floodplain were reclaimed, and diverse ecosystems collapsed. These costs are being borne by today’s generation. See Ernestine Hill, Water into Gold, Robertson and Mullens, Melbourne, 1946. “what had been one of the most wonderful natural sanctuaries of wild fowl and wild life in the world was turned to the yoke of civilisation”. ↑
35. See note 8. above. 27-28. Haas states, “[t]he flows of a number of goods (such as resources, commodities, money and people) and bads (such as pollutants) across national borders have become increasingly important for shaping relations among nations… governments lose exclusive control over policy making within their territories as they lose control over discrete issues. In general, then, decision makers become more uncertain about what policies should be adopted to promote their interests within individual issue-areas, as they are unable to master the issues themselves, as well as complementary ones.” ↑
36. Ibid. 44, 46-47. Haas notes, “(governments) are more vulnerable to decisions made abroad, as well as to unanticipated shocks or crises whose origins are outside their borders.” ↑
37. See note 13. above. ↑
38. See note 10. above. ↑
39. United Nations, “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” A/RES/70/1, Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 25 September 2015. ↑
40. United Nations General Assembly, “Development and International Economic Cooperation: Environment”, Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future, A/42/427 Annex, August 1987. ↑
41. Tipping, D. C. (2015). “Evaluation of the UN-HABITAT Water and Sanitation Trust Fund”, Report, PADM 5450, Cornell University. ↑
42. See note 40. above. ↑
43. Ibid. ↑
44. Ibid. ↑
45. For an understanding of how present day human use of oceans and transboundary water resources is impacting future generations, see Global Environmental Facility, It’s All About Water – Transboundary Water, 8th GEF Biennial International Waters Conference (IWC-8), Media Release, 15 May 2016. “Yet, today, oceans are rapidly being degraded. Almost 60% of fish stocks are estimated to be fully exploited, while coral reefs—home to 25% of all marine species—are particularly threatened. And, our planet’s freshwater sources are being rapidly degraded by a range of global pressures such as population growth, pollution, food shortages and a changing climate”. ↑
46. United Nations, Challenges and Initiatives for the Implementation of the Water-related SDGs in Water-scarce Countries: Learning from Mediterranean and Latin American Countries, Side Event at the 70th General Assembly Second Committee Meetings, 6 November 2015. ↑
47. This can be translated as “All sunshine makes a desert”. See “Arabic Proverb Quotes,” Proverb Quotes website, STANDS4 LLC, 2018. ↑
48. There are many definitions ‘out there’, including a notion that human-made (manufactured) capital might substitute for natural capital. See note 1. above. “Human society’s activities rely on natural capital. The school of ecological economics’ belief is that natural and human-made capital are complements and only marginally substitutable.” As the human system
    needs natural capital to create human-made capital, the natural resource base
    should be kept intact. ↑
49. To meet the challenges presented by this notion of sustainability, policymakers and stakeholders need to integrate engineering, science and management using multi-disciplinary approaches. New tools and methods of understanding are required. See note 1. above. ↑
50. The biological life cycle of the Mekong fishery moves with the hydraulic regime of the river, and a distinctive relationship between the fishery and the floodplain has evolved over thousands of years. The annual migration of fish coincides with Buddhist New Year celebrations; Myanmar – Thingyan Festival, Thailand – Songkran Festival, Laos – Boun Pi Mai Festival, Cambodia – Chaul Chnam Thmey Festival. See Mekong River Commission (2002). Fish migrations of the Lower Mekong River Basin: implications for development, planning and environmental management, MRC Technical Paper, No. 8. ↑
51. In 2012, while speaking at the High Level Meeting on Happiness and Well-Being: Defining a New Economic Paradigm, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon stated “the world needs a new economic paradigm that recognizes the parity between the three pillars of sustainable development. Social, economic and environmental well-being are indivisible. Together they define gross global happiness.” See United Nations, “International Day of Happiness,” A/RES/66/281, Resolution adopted by a consensus of all 193 United Nations Member States of the General Assembly on June 28 2012. ↑
52. See United Nations, “Review of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture,” A/RES/70/262, Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 27 April 2016, and United Nations, “Post-conflict peacebuilding,” S/RES/2282, Resolution unanimously adopted by the 15-member Council on 27 April 2016. The United Nations General Assembly and Security Council concurrently stressed the importance of the Peacebuilding Commission in fulfilling key functions, including: “a) To bring sustained international attention to sustaining peace, and to provide political accompaniment and advocacy to countries affected by conflict, with their consent; b) To promote an integrated, strategic and coherent approach to peacebuilding, noting that security, development and human rights are closely interlinked and mutually reinforcing; c) To serve a bridging role among the principal organs and relevant entities of the United Nations by sharing advice on peacebuilding needs and priorities…; and, d) To serve as a platform to convene all relevant actors within and outside the United Nations… to provide recommendations and information to improve their coordination, to develop and share good practices in peacebuilding, including on institution-building, and to ensure predictable financing to peacebuilding”. ↑
53. In 2005, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan reported “the cause of larger freedom could only be advanced if nations worked together”. See United Nations, “In larger freedom: towards development, security and human rights for all,” A/59/2005, Report of the United Nations Secretary General, presented to the General Assembly on 21 March 2005. ↑
54. United Nations, “2005 World Summit Outcome,” A/RES/60/1, Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 16 September 2005. “We recognize that all individuals, in particular vulnerable people, are entitled to freedom from fear and freedom from want, with an equal opportunity to enjoy all their rights and fully develop their human potential. To this end, we commit ourselves to discussing and defining the notion of human security in the General Assembly.” ↑
55. A notion of human security should promote the safety, security and stability of all persons, which can be upheld by three great pillars: sustainable development, public protection of health, and integrated water resources management. See note 41, above. “If human dignity, equality and equity are to be given new meaning in the 21st Century, then water and health is a major if not the strategic global development challenge for the international community… the (water sharing) issues will continue to assume critical proportions and their peaceful resolution within a global framework is becoming increasingly imperative”. ↑

David C. Tipping

David C. Tipping is a senior policy, planning and programme management specialist with over 20 years of international leadership experience. As a subject matter expert in Water, Environment and Sustainable Development, he advises governments, businesses, and organisations on vision, strategic planning, and multistakeholder partnerships, and directs and guides complex and sophisticated projects and initiatives. He has worked on a range of complex water issues, from the local level to river basin systems. This includes the design and construction of water systems, as well as United Nations appointments as a human settlements specialist and advisor, and a volunteer Red Cross leadership role in emergency services.

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