Conference Presentation
Reference
Data in transboundary water governance: what is at stake?
EZBAKHE, Fatine
Abstract
In 2017, the Global High-Level Panel on Water and Peace called for strengthening knowledge-based and data-driven decision making and cooperation for water, security and peace. The rationale is that having better data leads to better water management, not only because it allows for a better diagnosis of the problems and development of solutions, but also a common understanding of these data builds trust and constructive dialogues between the involved actors. This is especially true in transboundary waters, where data and information exchange become an important mechanism to develop a mutual understanding about the basin amongst the parties. Yet, the interplay between data, knowledge, and power should not be neglected. Issues regarding data ownership - and the models transforming data into knowledge - merit attention to understand the political dimension of data.
EZBAKHE, Fatine. Data in transboundary water governance: what is at stake? In: Data
Colonialism and a Path Towards Data Sovereignty and Digital Sustainability, Online, 26 May, 2021
Available at:
http://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:151991
Dr. Fatine Ezbakhe
DATA IN TRANSBOUNDARY WATER GOVERNANCE: WHAT IS AT STAKE?
Data Colonialism and a Path Towards Data Sovereignty and Digital Sustainability
Online conference, 26 May 2021
Today’s outline
1. Transboundary waters, an introduction 2. Water data, why and what?
3. Political dimension of water data
4. From water data to knowledge, how?
5. Some final reflections
Water basins, an introduction
© INTACH, 2020
© HADES, 2019
© FOEN, 2019
Water basins, the case of Switzerland
© ICPDR, 2020
Water knowns no boundaries
310 transboundary river basins
© OSU, 2018
+590 transboundary aquifers
© IGRAC, 2015
Global High Level Panel on Water &
Peace (GHLPWP)
“Effective [water] management is
predicated upon effective monitoring and data sharing: what we cannot
monitor and measure, we cannot manage”.
“You cannot manage what you don’t measure”
Water data: different types of data
© USGS, 2010
© Ely, 2014
“The hydrologic cycle as it occurs today. Water
flows to money!”
Water data: different types of data
Water data in a fragmented water domain
© OECD, 2019
Water data in a fragmented water domain
© GWH, 2015
Fragmentation leads to heterogeneity of…
• Data sources
• Data formats
• Data quality
• Data ownership
Water data in a fragmented water domain
Exchanging water data has the potential to lead to a…
• Common understanding of the basin
• More trust among the Parties
• Broader transboundary cooperation
Water data exchange, why?
Water data exchange, not the norm
Mukuyu et al. (2020) The devil’s in the details: data exchange in transboundary waters. Water International.
40%
24%
12%
24%
River flow data
28%
8%
0%
64%
Dam storage data
0%
16%
16%
68%
Groundwater levels data
40%
24%
12%
24%
River flow data
Real time - daily Monthly - annually Ad hoc
No reported exchange
Data are not enough, knowledge is needed
Data are not enough, knowledge is needed
Digital transformation in transboundary waters
Digital transformation can help integrate the water sector’s:
• Leverage the interconnectedness of water across sectors, levels, and borders
• Strengthen transparency
• Transform water governance,
financing and diplomacy
What about the software?
Project on Improving groundwater knowledge in selected transboundary aquifers.
“The other challenge is that some of the data were captured using proprietary computer software which requires annual license fees renewals […]. This proprietary software comes with externally funded national groundwater projects, and once such projects come to an end, Member States are no longer able to maintain such databases or transfer data from such
programmes to easily accessible programmes such as Microsoft Excel”
© ORASECOM, 2018
