Transboundary Groundwater Cooperation among Countries of the Arabian Peninsula

Abstract

Population growth, socioeonomic development, and climate change will add pressures on limited water resources, especially in the arid Arabian Peninsula countries, where overutilization of renewable and nonrenewable aquifers takes place. Meeting future challenges requires institutions to be proactive and adapt to regional environmental transformations, political arrangements, and international norms and legal practices. Currently, in the Arabian Peninsula, there are no established groundwater-sharing agreements groundwater-sharing agreements for the transboundary aquifers. This could potentially spur tensions among competing water users. The existing unsustainable practices are caused by lack of coordination among the sharing states, as well as by lack of national regulation. The present work analyzes the regional transboundary aquifer development status and the probable consequences of the present trajectory. It reviews the structure of existing institutional arrangements for transboundary aquifers and proposes a regional cooperation mechanism that takes into account region’s environmental, political, social, and economic dimensions. A road map toward comanagement of the region’s shared groundwater is described that would promote equitable and responsible groundwater sharing. The suggested cooperation framework emphasizes hydrodiplomacy, transparency, joint development and management, sharing of information, exchange of experience, funded projects, and training programs.