The purpose of this thesis is to explore the relationship between the impacts of climate change and transboundary water management (TWM) mechanisms. The thesis does so through a case study of the transboundary water agreements between Israel, Palestine and Jordan – states that share the transboundary waters in the Jordan River Basin (JRB), a basin that lies in a region of high political tensions and decreasing precipitation. By using empirical climate data on precipitation, temperature and general climate change projections for the basin, the author seeks to understand how these environmental changes will challenge TWM in the JRB. By using qualitative methods to examine the water agreements through the method of process tracing, the thesis seeks to understand how the water agreements are constructed to handle changes in waterflow due to climate change. The results show that the transboundary mechanisms, the water agreements and Joint Water Committees (JWC), managing the transboundary waters in the JRB, possess weak mechanisms to manage changes in waterflow. As a consequence, the whole basin might experience increasing political pressures in the future over the fulfilment of water allocation provisions. The thesis further suggests that the TWM structures in the case lack awareness and mechanisms to handle climate change impacts. On the other hand, the JWCs have an institutional capacity, expertise, and mandate in managing these potential risks in the future. However, incidents in the past, manifest that decreased waterflow leads to increasing political tensions and conflicts between the states in the basin due to the lack of conflict resolution mechanisms in the TWM structures. In order to establish a sustainable TWM in the JRB, the suggested recommendation is that climate change impacts ought to be embedded into the water agreements by incorporating flexible mechanisms for water allocation. In addition, the conflict resolution mechanisms should be strengthened.

Transboundary water basins are becoming increasingly vulnerable due to climate change, which is putting pressure on riparian states and water agreements. Transboundary water agreements should be able to respond to changing circumstances, adapt to changes, and deal with uncertainty. For the purpose of this thesis, a multi-faceted qualitative case study of the Euphrates Tigris basin was conducted to investigate the impact of water allocation and institutional mechanisms on cooperation in the basin. For this a document analysis of the water agreement texts (specifically the 1987 Turkey -Syria agreement and the 1989 Syria-Iraq agreement as well as various Memoranda of Understanding between the riparian states) related to the inclusion of adaptability, specificity, and institutional mechanisms was performed. In addition, water-related event data from the Factiva and the Basins at Risk databases was collected and analysed to identify trends between the two time periods. The findings show that the 1987 Turkey -Syria agreement has high legal specificity but lacks in adaptability. The 1989 Syria-Iraq agreement has both high adaptability and specificity. However, both agreements lack institutional mechanisms. As a consequence, the compliance to agreements has remained low. The average BAR scale declined from -0.2540 for the period 1990-2000 to -0.7308 for the period 2013-2023. In both time periods, almost all events are classified in the three least conflictive and least cooperative event categories with almost no extreme events recorded. The number of water-related events declined in the time period 2013-2023. Additionally, the percentage of conflictive events increased in the same period. However, the variety and percentage of issue areas increased to include issues besides water quantity in the second period. Due to the inflexible allocation mechanism, the absence of institutionalisation and the strong presence of issue linkages, non-compliance for the 1987 agreement have arisen.

From the Proceedings of the 1974 Meetings of the Arizona Section - American Water Resources Assn. and the Hydrology Section - Arizona Academy of Science - April 19-20, 1974, Flagstaff, Arizona / A summary is given of interrelated, technical and institutional events concerning the Colorado River which took place between the United States and Mexico from 1849 to 1974 with emphasis on the 1961-1974 period. Until the treaty of 1944, Mexico had had no guarantee of a specific annual quantity of water, but in the years after 1945, when a guarantee of 1.5 million acre-feet per year was established, more than that amount was available for use. Salinity problems arose, and in 1965 an agreement for a 5-year plan for alleviating the technical and political difficulties surrounding the salinity question was made. In 1973 it was agreed that the United States would build, within approximately 5 years, a facility for desalting the saline drainage water entering Mexico. Fulfillment of the technical provisions for this agreement requires, in any event, the timely provision of federal funds to construct and operate the physical works. The several states should receive assurance that their rights and those of their respective water users will not be impaired within the legal operation of the agreement.