Cooperation in Transboundary Water Sharing Under Climate Change

ZEF Discussion Papers on Development Policy No. 132, June 2009

51 Pages Posted: 18 Jun 2009

See all articles by Utpal Manna

Utpal Manna

Indian Institute of Science Education and Research - School of Mathematics

Edward B. Barbier

Colorado State University, Fort Collins - Department of Economics

Jens Liebe

University of Bonn - Center for Development Research (ZEF)

Anik Bhaduri

University of Bonn - Center for Development Research (ZEF)

Date Written: June 8, 2009

Abstract

As multiple countries share a river, the likelihood of a water resource conflict from climate change could be higher between countries. In this paper, we demonstrate how countries can cooperate in transboundary water sharing in a sustainable way, given the impacts of climate change. We illustrate the case of water sharing of the Volta River between the upstream and downstream country, Burkina Faso and Ghana respectively, where the latter country faces a tradeoff of water use between agriculture in the north and production of hydro energy in the south. In the framework of a stochastic Stackelberg differential game, we have shown how the issue of water sharing could be linked to hydropower export that can make water sharing between the countries sustaining in the event of climate change. Our results indicate that during cooperation, Ghana will have an opportunity to increase its water abstraction for agriculture, which has remained largely restricted. We also find that the equilibrium strategies in the long run steady state distribution are stable even with increasing variances of water flow.

Keywords: climate change, transboundary water sharing

Suggested Citation

Manna, Utpal and Barbier, Edward B. and Liebe, Jens and Bhaduri, Anik, Cooperation in Transboundary Water Sharing Under Climate Change (June 8, 2009). ZEF Discussion Papers on Development Policy No. 132, June 2009, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1420651 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1420651

Utpal Manna

Indian Institute of Science Education and Research - School of Mathematics ( email )

Thriuvananthapuram
India

Edward B. Barbier

Colorado State University, Fort Collins - Department of Economics ( email )

Fort Collins, CO 80523-1771
United States

Jens Liebe

University of Bonn - Center for Development Research (ZEF) ( email )

Walter-Flex-Str. 3
Bonn, NRW 53113
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.glowa-volta.de

Anik Bhaduri (Contact Author)

University of Bonn - Center for Development Research (ZEF) ( email )

Walter-Flex-Str. 3
Bonn, NRW 53113
Germany

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