Speakers
Susanne Schmeier
Associate Professor/Head of Department
IHE Delft
Susanne Schmeier is an Associate Professor of Water Law and Diplomacy and the Head of the Water Governance Department at IHE Delft - Institute of Water Education. Her research focuses on the legal and institutional dimensions of conflicts and cooperation over shared water resources (both fresh and marine) and the environment more generally. Prior to joining IHE Delft in 2018, she worked for the German Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammemarbeit (GIZ), the Mekong River Commission and the the World Bank, focusing on water resources and environmental law and governance.
Description
The webinar will focus on water conflict, cooperation and diplomacy. It will provide an introduction to the state of water conflict and cooperation in the world's more than 310 transboundary river and lake basins and more than 500 aquifers and illustrate how countries employ basin treaties and basin organizations to prevent or mitigate conflicts arising from their diverging interests in the use of the water resources of these basins. The webinar will also highlight upcoming challenges that shared water resources and riparian populations and countries face and how this can potentially increase the risk of conflict in the near future.
Learning Objectives
- Understand the current state of conflict and cooperation over shared water resources.
- Understand legal and institutional mechanisms for governing shared water resources.
- Be aware of upcoming challenges for transboundary water resources and related governance mechanisms.