Transboundary Water Management in Latin America: Personal Reflections

Management of transboundary water bodies has been a difficult process all over the world, especially in rivers where water allocation between the co-basin countries is an important issue. Discussion on the management of such water bodies in Latin America is significantly less confrontational and accusatory when compared to most similar Asian and African bodies. Information and data sharing in Latin America is also less of a problem compared to other parts of the developing world. Whereas considerable progress has been made in managing transboundary rivers, commensurate progress on aquifers is lacking. Methodology on how to reliably forecast the impacts of interventions on such water bodies has yet to be developed, especially because of national interests, multiplicity of institutions involved, and the capacities and modus operandi.