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Between 1992 and 2005, Chihuahua's Río Conchos outflows were at less than 10 percent of their historical average, prompting a highly public dispute with the U.S. over water quantity under terms of the 1944 U.S.-Mexico Water Treaty. Still, Mexico made a number of water "payments" and achieved an eventual resolution of the dispute. The resolution focused on a number of steps, including investing over $140 million in irrigation district water conservation projects in the Río Conchos, which has historically provided two-thirds of the Río Grande's water below Fort Quitman. Utilizing a case study approach rooted in political and cultural ecology, the research examines the factors -- from drought to land use change-- purported by different interest groups as contributing to the transboundary Texas-Mexico water dispute and finds at least three major "narratives" emerged in the period to explain the low flows, including drought, dam management and agricultural expansion and land use changes. The dissertation shows, however, that the reduced outflows and reductions in "dam" water to farmers was just one factor in a changing agricultural context in which new land tenure rules, decentralization of water management and the enactment of a more open economic framework precipitated resource use changes within the agricultural areas. In addition, the dissertation examines water and land resource use, including conservation projects, in three specific agricultural areas, and finds significant transformations in markets, policies and climate. Farmers were not just passive victims of reduced water use, the curtailment of government programs, and "privatization" of land and water resources, but adopted alternative water source strategies, began to examine more "conservationist-minded" agricultural practices and shifted cultivation to higher yield crops. Still, many farmers chose to abandon agriculture altogether, as there was some consolidation of resources among wealthier farmers. The "transnationalization" of the Río Conchos which has resulted from the new focus on its water users may influence local decision-making, but the research contends that resource management decisions in the Río Conchos Watershed are influenced and determined by local practices and environments as well as by economic and legal changes brought about by Mexico's inclusion into a globalized economy. / text

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2007. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 115-133). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D. - Political Science)--University of Arizona, 1982. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 342-362).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (PhD(Practical Theology))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 301-310).

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Augsburg, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [281]-312) and index.

Thesis--New York University. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record.

Equitable utilization is the fundamental rule of international water law. It is the doctrine responsible for the fair allocation of international waters as between different water uses and users. Equitable utilization is a process whereby the interests of each watercourse state are taken into consideration on a case-by-case basis over time and as circumstances change. The process occurs through political negotiations, with an equitable outcome as the goal. However, the debilitated state of many transbouhdary watercourses today indicates that equitable utilization - despite its admirable goals - is failing to resolve the tragedy of the global freshwater commons. With growing demands on water resources due to increasing world population, economic industrialization and increasing awareness of the need for environmental conservation, water management is an issue that will only become more pressing. Watercourses that flow between two or more states face additional challenges in that the water resources must be shared between them. The central question of this thesis is whether greater use of economics would help the equitable utilization paradigm lead to higher standards of water management between upstream and downstream states. The benefits of the economic approach include optimal efficiency of water use, political feasibility in water negotiations, and flexibility across time and regions. Although there are technical, distributive, and moral limitations to the use of economic principles, they can be sufficiently addressed such that the economic approach ought to be a central part of the solution to the problem of global water scarcity. Greater use of economic incentives needs to be made within equitable utilization regimes. Sensible ' pricing of water is imperative. Markets for water, however, are not yet a feasible option because they require well-defined, secure, and enforceable property rights in water, all of which are difficult to achieve at the international level. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate