Benefit Sharing in International River Basins

Abstract

"In today’s discourse on transboundary waters, the concept of 'benefit sharing' is gaining increased attention. While benefit sharing is often referred to, it is generally hard to pin down what it means in reality. Some analytical work has been done, but clearly much remains to be done to develop, conceptualise and implement the approach. Since in certain international river basins it seems hard to reach an agreement on water rights and subsequent water allocations for each riparian, the proponents of the benefit sharing concept see the need to move beyond the discussions on the actual sharing of water to the sharing of the benefits that may be derived from the use of the water."