Lecture: Management Of Karst In The Transboundary Context

15th International Karstological School – Management of transboundary karst aquifers June 18th – 22nd Postojna, Slovenia

Managing transboundary karst aquifers: “some myth and more magic, than logic?”

Shammy Puri

Senior Consultant UNESCO Division of Water Science IHP & ISARM

Postojna June 2007

What its about ● ‘…some myth and more magic, than logic…??’ ● Perceptions of Karst: the scientist vs the ‘man on the street’ ● Why science to policy for transboundary aquifers? ● The ISARM process, and some outcomes so far ● Global environmental gains & aquifers ● Aquifers’ link to sustainable land use ● Case study approach: DiKTAS ● Complex non homogenous aquifers & sustainable environmental management ● Looking ahead to the 16th School – some reflections Postojna June 2007

Many pathways to solve the karst labyrinth puzzle… ?

99% of global freshwater lies hidden in aquifers … out of sight and out of mind UN WWDR

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Perceptions: karst of the scientist, karst of the people

Proteus anguinus

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Karst landform, protection ● IUCN’s suggested reasons for protection of national karst regions include: – As habitat for endangered species of flora and fauna. – As sites containing rare minerals or unique land forms. – As important sites for the study of geology, geomorphology, palaeontology and other# disciplines. – As culturally important sites, both historic and prehistoric. – As spiritual or religious features. – For specialised agriculture and industries. – As "windows" into understanding regional hydrology. – As sources of economically important materials. – For tourism and its associated economic benefits.

● Similar principles accordingly adjusted could also apply to transboundary karst regions Postojna June 2007

Defining the systems Methodology that addresses in-homogeneity in typical karstic systems – see application in the Tara National Park, Western Serbia (Zinanovic, et al)

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Karst research & its scope

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Science to policy in the IHP

Transition of IHP’s phases: continuity with change 1990-1995 IHP IV Hydrology and Water Resources Sustainable Development in a Changing Environment 1996-2001 IHP-V Hydrology and Water Resources Development in a Vulnerable Environment 2002-2007 IHP-VI Water Interactions: Systems at Risk and Social Challenges 2008-2013 IHP-VII (proposed) Water Dependencies: Systems under Stress and Societal Responses

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Water Dependencies: systems under stress & societal responses (IHP-VII) THEME 1: Adapting to the Impacts of Global Changes in River Basins & Aquifer Systems

Shared water resources: ISARM & PccP

Key Theme: I

THEME II: Strengthening Water Governance for Sustainability

THEME III: Ecohydrology for Sustainability

THEME IV: Water and Life Support Systems

Hydrological Research

THEME V: Water Education for Sustainable Development

Education & Capacity Building Postojna June 2007

New Initiatives: II, III, IV, V Water Resources Management

Transboundary Aquifer: no guidance for countries

3D bulk flow

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Global freshwater: in ice caps, rivers & aquifers UN 1997 Water Convention applies essentially to these !

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Global Aquifer distribution…

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The ISARM Programme (2000 – 2007): Multi disciplinary integrated approach Inventory process well advanced, 70 in Americas, >30 in Africa, 90 in Europe, ?? In Asia

Current focus, till the culmination of the Programme Postojna June 2007

Under preparation: UN ‘Convention’ on the Use of Transboundary Aquifers

Sharing countries will work together… to ensure the continued, sound functioning of aquifer systems and will reduce the risks to the integrity of an aquifer system

Transboundary Aquifer typologies: limited applicability of the UN Convention

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ISARM Inventories – examples Americas & Balkans Extensive regional consultation with expert groups: Africa, Med, Balkans, Asia, MENA…

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Global environmental losses – ascertained from inventories ● Pollution: some water unusable, local disease burden ● Wasteful Water Use, Droughts, Competition for scarce water resources ● Over fishing in freshwater systems: Livelihoods & $ 60 billion of trade in jeopardy ● Millennium Ecosystem Assessment confirms threats ● MDGs might not be met because of water mismanagement/unresolved conflicts ● Peace, stability, security at risk, in varying degrees, in many areas ● Climate variability a new & uncertain factor for aquifer management, especially in transboundary context Postojna June 2007

Global environmental gains – through a new transboundary water law / convention Sovereignty vs integrity – ● International freshwater law remains immature due to the polarisation between the doctrine of absolute territorial sovereignty (Harmon Doctrine) and absolute territorial integrity (permits a country to use all water within its territory as long as it does not harm a coriparian) ● An emerging doctrine of limited territorial sovereignty requires riparians to share water based on equitable utilisation ● The principle of subsidiarity promotes resolution of issues at their most appropriate level, be they at community group level, or in sub hydrographic units ● International freshwater agreements can be traced back 2500 years, when Lagash & Umma (Mesopotamian City States) ended their conflict Postojna June 2007

International law – negotiated conventions ● Customary international law recognises that riparian states have legal rights to international watercourses…limited territorial sovereignty is becoming a customary rule … adopted by the International Court of Justice (in the 1990’s) ● YET – countries remain polarised between the doctrines of absolute territorial sovereignty and absolute territorial integrity – linked also to investment in national infrastructure … drawing on IFI funds, such as development banks ● In the ’50’s the W’Bank would not lend to projects where countries were in dispute over international waterways…by 1985, taking the cue from developments in international law, the policy became more flexible…project finance became available to borrowing Countries. ● To address such issues, closely connected with economic development (irrigation, power generation, navigation), UN institutions began to consider international legislation…. & after 27 years of negotiation produced a Convention on the Non Navigational Use of International Water Courses… ● …. Why 27 years ?? Why ‘non navigational’ and what about shared aquifers… ?? Postojna June 2007

The major stumbling blocks The no-harm rule

● As in the case of neighbouring land owners, States may not take actions on their territory, that would cause damage to neighbours ● “actions” includes a whole range of neighbourly relations, including protection of the environment and the allocation of water among their competing demands

Equitable & Reasonable Utilisation

● This principle governs the prior allocation of the water and gives complete priority to existing activities. ● Low lying fertile lands tend to have been intensely developed from antiquity (Nile, Indus, Ganges); ● Mountainous regions requiring high investment costs (eg dams), tend to be developed only after long economic performance, ● So prior allocation would deprive mountainous (=upstream) countries of their water resources….. slowing down their economies – the notions of ‘shared’ vs ‘transboundary’ Postojna June 2007

1997 UN Convention vis a vis transboundary aquifers – gap analysis Investment for national economic development

● Bank Loan, Algeria (1990), NSAS – the borrower will take all necessary measures to ensure that the use of aquifer resources in the region shall be planned in accordance with ….. asking Tunisia’s no objection ● Bank underwriting of risk to a BoT on the Disi-Amman project (1998) that draws from the Rum Saq transboundary aquifer … no objection requested from Saudi Govt UN Convention and the gaps on application to aquifers: ● Only those groundwater that form a physical part of surface waters ● Part of a unitary whole, ● Normally flows to a terminus that is common to surface flows ● Has parts of the system located in different states

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Territorial sovereignty & transboundary aquifer flows ● States have absolute sovereignty over their ‘soils / rocks’ – but do they have the same sovereignty over the water that is contained, and flows within them ??? ● The UN ILC had decided to defer its work on groundwater, as a topic to be later addressed within the scope of “shared natural resources (confined groundwater) & single geological structures of oil & gas”

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Transboundary rivers, homogenous & hetereogenous aquifers Rivers

Aquifers (h)

Aquifers (in-h)

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Long linear features

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Bulk 3-dimensional systems

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Use of resources generally limited to vicinity of the river channels

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• Resources may be extracted from and used extensively over outcrop & subcrop

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Replenishment always from upstream sources.

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Replenishment may take place from any, or all of 3-dimensions.

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Mis match between discharge & ‘catchment’

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Rapid & time constrained gain from replenishment

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Replenishment could be slow, net gain can be drawn upon over longer periods

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Replenishment could ‘cease’ with geotechnical change

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3-d with ‘random’ flow paths Uncertainty in location of source works

Factors relevant to equitable use Indicative factor for aquifers

Explanation of the factor

The natural characteristics

Addressed in a ‘conceptual model’ approach

Contribution to recharge & replenishment

Integrates rainfall, soil moisture changes & infiltration – sustainable land use

Social and economic needs of States;

Requirements for potable. agricultural & industry, hydropower

Population dependent on resources

Population that draws on the resources

Effects of the utilization in one State on another

The transboundary impacts through repeated observations

Development, protection and conservation & the costs of measures adfopted

The long term joint aquifer management plan withdrawal rates, rates of replenishment, capital investment, O&M & financial recovery

The availability of alternative sources

Cost benefit analysis of alternative resources

Aquifer system in the related ecosystem.

An economic and social assessment of the value of any groundwater dependent ecosystems,

The comparative size of the aquifer in each aquifer State

Proportion of aquifer area found in each aquifer system State

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ILC’s work on shared natural resources: aquifers (2002) ● ‘shared’ vs ‘international’ vs ‘transboundary’ ● ‘Aquifer Systems’ approach – more technically & legally precise, allows consideration of the matrix, the water contained within it & inter related strata ● Scope: regulates the “uses of transboundary aquifer systems and other activities that are likely to have an impact, and to measures of protection, preservation & management

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Aquifer functions that are not covered by Multilateral Conventions How to incorporate integrity into policy?

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Integrity of the aquifer system The ‘integrity’ of the aquifer system refers to ● the aquifer rock matrix, the hydrostatic conditions of the water within the matrix, the hydrochemistry of the water; The integrity of the system is at risk when any of the following have been over stressed: ● the recharge process that ensures adequate replenishment, ● the discharge process that ensures baseflow to streams and coastal areas (including mangroves, lagoons), ● the hydrostatic relationship throughout the rock matrix that determines flow and the hydrochemical process that determines water quality. The integrity of an aquifer can be destroyed, if for example saline intrusion (resulting from significantly disturbed hydrostatics) invades to such an extent, that the aquifer system stops functioning and cannot effectively be rejuvenated. We need to increasingly consider resilience of aquifers & ecosystems..

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Resilience, what is it? ● Going from Conventional to Adaptive freshwater management for human and ecosystem compatibility ● Ecosystem resilience is – capacity of an ecosystem to cope with change and perturbation, such as storms, drought and pollution. – loss of resilience leads to more vulnerable systems, and – to possible ecosystem shifts to undesired states that provide fewer ecosystem goods (like fish and crops) and services (like food control and water purifcation).

● Such loss of resilience can be caused by, for example,

– pollution, climate variability, loss of biodiversity or altered freshwater flows.

● With decreased resilience, clear lakes can suddenly turn into murky, oxygen-depleted pools, grasslands into shrub-deserts, and coral reefs into algae-covered rubble.

● Resilience is the capacity of a system both to withstand pressures and to rebuild and renew itself if degraded. Postojna June 2007

Regional efforts have been underway, but…. ● The Barcelona Convention

– (1974) Slovenia-Italy-Croatia: tidal areas of the Adriatic Sea, influential coastal areas [ratification 1997 – 1992] – (1978) Slovenia-Italy water management of frontier water courses [ratification 1978 – 1992]

● The Danube Convention

– (1954) Slovenia-Austria – the Drava river & the Mura river – hydropower, management & pollution – (1994) Slovenia-Hungary: management, data exchange – (1996) Slovenia-Croatia – Sava, Drava, Mura, Kolpa, & Sotla (Black Sea); North Adriatic Coast & Med karst

● BUT ….. Limited or no reference to shared aquifers… ● …. And no linkage to sustainable land use, which is intrinsive to the underlying aquifer systems

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Where we are at…in 2007 ● Draft Articles presented to the Sixth Committee at the 61st Session of the UN General Assembly (Dec 2006) – quotes from deliberations……….. ● Delegations have welcomed the Articles – though still not clear on whether to place them into a Convention, guidance or rules….. (Austria, China, Hungary, Argentina, New Zealand, Malaysia, Romania,) ● The international regulation of the uses of and impacts on shared natural resources was considered of the highest significance (Netherlands), particularly for those States with transboundary aquifers, such as the Guaraní Aquifer. (Uruguay, Brazil,) ● However, a view was expressed that the draft articles went well beyond current law and practice and that context-specific arrangements might be preferable in light of the wide variety of groundwater resources and the relative scarcity of information regarding them. (United States of America)

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Sustainable land use Land use patterns & changes can have significant / far reaching impacts on replenishment; with climate variability increasing, hydrological cycle accelerating, early land use changes are essential

Source: Bakalowicz, 2004 Postojna June 2007

Connecting Water to EcoSystem services ‘EcoSystem services could not operate without water ! Degradation of ecosystems = degradation of water Using the MA Framework in IWRM, applied to conjuctive use

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EcoSystem goods, values in IWRM Eco sys goods & services in IWRM – flood control, stream base flow, groundwater recharge

Discharge of groundwater to dependent ecosystems in rivers & wetlands

Valuation of these goods & services being introduced as policy tools for IWRM Negative externalities have led to loss of aquifer storage Can we value the sound functioning of aquifers? To ensure integrity & build up resilience to greater climate variability….

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Non homogenous aquifers & environmental sustainability Dinaric Karst Transboundary Aquifer System What driving forces do we need to harness, so that •The karst aquifer system continues to function •The ecosystems dependent on it, are sustainable •The cooperative efforts can be catalysed for measurable benefits

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Case Study - DiKTAS Scientific assessments & hydro-environmental analyses

Component A: Implementation of a Karst Programme of Action based on an agreed TDA and a SAP to reduce impact of stress Component B: Establishment of a DiKTAS Collaborative Mechanism

Innovative solutions providing multiple benefits

Consistent hydro environmental data from stressed zones for joint management

Integration of national policies for regional collaboration

Component C: Demonstration Projects aimed at stress reduction at key locations

Component D: Data sharing and exchange facility for long term joint management and monitoring of the DiKTAS

INTEGRATION OF THE DINARIC KARST TRANSBOUNDARY AQUIFERS INTO SUSTAINABLE ECOSYSTEMS OF THE BALKANS

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Looking ahead..16 School th

● Risks & uncertainties in transboundary karst aquifer management ● Hazard identification & risk reduction ● Climate variability in the context of karst aquifer dependent ecosystems ● Globalisation impacts: on the resilience, vulnerability, and adaptability ● Economic issues in national & transboundary context – sharing a ‘basket’ of benefits

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If we miss opportunities to raise the issues into policy dialogue…

…the waiting could be too long for many people on our planet !!

Thank you for your attention ! Postojna June 2007