title: Governance of International Rivers: Threats, Gaps and Challenges

authors: Raman, Durgeshree Devi

subjects: water security

abstract: In light of the growing water shortages world-wide and concerns over freshwater disputes arising from essentially a growing world population, an increase in per-capita consumption and the limited supplies of freshwater resources, this thesis looks at issues of governance of international rivers in terms of threats to them, gaps in their governance regimes and challenges associated with closing those gaps. 
International river basins globally are currently threatened with over-extraction, pollution, damming and infrastructural development as well as the impact of climate change. If left unaddressed, the pressure on the international river basins, as riparian States compete for its limited supplies, is only going to exacerbate any chances of freshwater disputes between them. 
The United Nations Convention on the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses offers a guidance framework to enable riparian States of international rivers to achieve ‘equitable utilization’ of water resources as well as management of the basin in order to avoid freshwater disputes. This thesis analyses the adequacy of the Convention to address the four main threats. The analysis is supplemented by the Berlin Rules, international cases and arbitral awards.  
The thesis has also undertaken a study of the European regional framework as an example of best regional practice, given that it not only has a similar Convention to the UN Watercourses Convention being the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe’s Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, but it also has other pieces of legislative and policy documents to guide the European Union States to achieve the paramount objective of the EU water policy, which is ‘good ecological status’ for all its water bodies by 2015. This is to ensure sustainable water supply for its current and future populations.   
In order to test the viability of the UN Watercourses Convention against individual basin’s legal regimes, the thesis has taken the Jordan, the Nile and the Indus River Basins as case studies as they are already considered to be ‘hot spots’ for freshwater disputes and the four main threats to them, which if not adequately addressed, will only aggravate the already existing tension. The analysis of the case studies’ legal regimes involve an examination of the extent of the specific threats in each river basin and the strengths and weaknesses of each governance regime in order to ascertain where it is lacking. 
In order to enable an international legal framework that is apt to guide riparian States to deal with any of the four main threats to any international river basin, this thesis proposes recommendations for changes to the UN Convention based on other sources of international law and policy, the EU framework as well as the strengths of the governance regimes of the case studies. In order to minimize any chances of freshwater disputes and increase water security in the case studies, the thesis also makes recommendations for improvement to each legal governance regime based on international law and policy, the EU framework as well as the strengths of the governance regime of the other case studies.
In doing so, this thesis provides a comprehensive overview of the current international law, policy, case law and arbitral awards relating to each major threat that has been identified. It also highlights the progress being made in addressing these threats in the European region through the practical application of the relevant treaties, directives and policy documents. Finally, it puts together the legal responses that are required to effectively address the four main threats in the Jordan, the Nile and the Indus River Basins.

text: Governance of International Rivers: Threats, Gaps and Challenges In light of the growing water shortages world-wide and concerns over freshwater disputes arising from essentially a growing world population, an increase in per-capita consumption and the limited supplies of freshwater resources, this thesis looks at issues of governance of international rivers in terms of threats to them, gaps in their governance regimes and challenges associated with closing those gaps. 
International river basins globally are currently threatened with over-extraction, pollution, damming and infrastructural development as well as the impact of climate change. If left unaddressed, the pressure on the international river basins, as riparian States compete for its limited supplies, is only going to exacerbate any chances of freshwater disputes between them. 
The United Nations Convention on the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses offers a guidance framework to enable riparian States of international rivers to achieve ‘equitable utilization’ of water resources as well as management of the basin in order to avoid freshwater disputes. This thesis analyses the adequacy of the Convention to address the four main threats. The analysis is supplemented by the Berlin Rules, international cases and arbitral awards.  
The thesis has also undertaken a study of the European regional framework as an example of best regional practice, given that it not only has a similar Convention to the UN Watercourses Convention being the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe’s Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, but it also has other pieces of legislative and policy documents to guide the European Union States to achieve the paramount objective of the EU water policy, which is ‘good ecological status’ for all its water bodies by 2015. This is to ensure sustainable water supply for its current and future populations.   
In order to test the viability of the UN Watercourses Convention against individual basin’s legal regimes, the thesis has taken the Jordan, the Nile and the Indus River Basins as case studies as they are already considered to be ‘hot spots’ for freshwater disputes and the four main threats to them, which if not adequately addressed, will only aggravate the already existing tension. The analysis of the case studies’ legal regimes involve an examination of the extent of the specific threats in each river basin and the strengths and weaknesses of each governance regime in order to ascertain where it is lacking. 
In order to enable an international legal framework that is apt to guide riparian States to deal with any of the four main threats to any international river basin, this thesis proposes recommendations for changes to the UN Convention based on other sources of international law and policy, the EU framework as well as the strengths of the governance regimes of the case studies. In order to minimize any chances of freshwater disputes and increase water security in the case studies, the thesis also makes recommendations for improvement to each legal governance regime based on international law and policy, the EU framework as well as the strengths of the governance regime of the other case studies.
In doing so, this thesis provides a comprehensive overview of the current international law, policy, case law and arbitral awards relating to each major threat that has been identified. It also highlights the progress being made in addressing these threats in the European region through the practical application of the relevant treaties, directives and policy documents. Finally, it puts together the legal responses that are required to effectively address the four main threats in the Jordan, the Nile and the Indus River Basins.

year: 2015

title: Invigorating the Church for Mission.  Action Research with Local Parishes

authors: Prebble, Edward Howard

subjects: Action Research

abstract: By drawing together the insights of Action Researchers and a personal theological/spiritual conviction of the total and limitless Love of God I present a bridge between the discourse of faith, worship and spirituality on the one hand, and the discourse of management/organisation studies on the other.  This bridge is akin to the steering platform on a metaphoric double-hulled canoe. I have brought the collective wisdom of each hull to the setting of the direction of my thesis and my guidance to its destination.

An open, inclusive, and questioning epistemological approach implied by the integration of those diverse ontological assumptions was applied to a research project with members of five Anglican parishes who wanted to explore how they could bring about change among themselves and how they could connect more effectively with their neighbouring communities.  I crafted a participatory action process described as ethnographic pastoral inquiry. Key characteristics of this process include a deliberate inclusion of spiritual considerations, a high degree of mutual trust, an unhurried pace, a willingness to change on the part of the facilitator and the target group, and an openness to the unexpected.  The working groups in the five parishes were facilitated to identify several new initiatives of community-facing work.  

Reflections on the research project led to advocating for Missional Viability as the recommended organising principle for local parishes.  If a parish is missionally viable its members can commit to reflect more adequately the Christian principles from which the Church as a whole takes its direction.  Three components of missional viability were identified:
a.	An functional relationship with an observable community of people outside of its worshipping members
b.	A well-developed (or rediscovered) sense of the congregation’s mission, 
c.	A commitment to a deepening of spirituality among its members and others with whom they have contact.
By emphasising spirituality as a dimension of the research process itself rather than simply an insight emerging from but still incidental to the central point of a research project, I make a contribution to the elaboration of the field of intentional action research genres. I argue that an overt acknowledgement of spirituality should be an integral aspect of the holistic approach typically advocated by Action Research theorists.  At the same time, the project reported here gives strong support to the view that in the study of churches and other religious organisations the methods associated with Action Research are particularly compatible with theological foundations of religious orientations to ‘being in the world’.  The project draws on the emancipatory or salvific power of research as organisations are regarded as partners in the inquiry. The findings become material for their members to use in discerning their own sense of vision and direction, thereby assisting them in finding strength to take the necessary risks involved in bringing about change.

text: Invigorating the Church for Mission.  Action Research with Local Parishes By drawing together the insights of Action Researchers and a personal theological/spiritual conviction of the total and limitless Love of God I present a bridge between the discourse of faith, worship and spirituality on the one hand, and the discourse of management/organisation studies on the other.  This bridge is akin to the steering platform on a metaphoric double-hulled canoe. I have brought the collective wisdom of each hull to the setting of the direction of my thesis and my guidance to its destination.

An open, inclusive, and questioning epistemological approach implied by the integration of those diverse ontological assumptions was applied to a research project with members of five Anglican parishes who wanted to explore how they could bring about change among themselves and how they could connect more effectively with their neighbouring communities.  I crafted a participatory action process described as ethnographic pastoral inquiry. Key characteristics of this process include a deliberate inclusion of spiritual considerations, a high degree of mutual trust, an unhurried pace, a willingness to change on the part of the facilitator and the target group, and an openness to the unexpected.  The working groups in the five parishes were facilitated to identify several new initiatives of community-facing work.  

Reflections on the research project led to advocating for Missional Viability as the recommended organising principle for local parishes.  If a parish is missionally viable its members can commit to reflect more adequately the Christian principles from which the Church as a whole takes its direction.  Three components of missional viability were identified:
a.	An functional relationship with an observable community of people outside of its worshipping members
b.	A well-developed (or rediscovered) sense of the congregation’s mission, 
c.	A commitment to a deepening of spirituality among its members and others with whom they have contact.
By emphasising spirituality as a dimension of the research process itself rather than simply an insight emerging from but still incidental to the central point of a research project, I make a contribution to the elaboration of the field of intentional action research genres. I argue that an overt acknowledgement of spirituality should be an integral aspect of the holistic approach typically advocated by Action Research theorists.  At the same time, the project reported here gives strong support to the view that in the study of churches and other religious organisations the methods associated with Action Research are particularly compatible with theological foundations of religious orientations to ‘being in the world’.  The project draws on the emancipatory or salvific power of research as organisations are regarded as partners in the inquiry. The findings become material for their members to use in discerning their own sense of vision and direction, thereby assisting them in finding strength to take the necessary risks involved in bringing about change.

year: 2012

title: Ngā Wai E Rere Nei: The Physical and Symbolic Representations of Embodied Waters of Birth and Mourning

authors: Dixon, Ngahuia Mereana

subjects: Women water procreation tears

abstract: Recently, there has been considerable public debate and much consternation, especially amongst Māori, about the future New Zealand’s waterways. Māori have strongly held views, tikanga and cultural knowledge, about waterways and their deep connection to iwi (tribal/community) identity, history and sense of well-being. The waterways in public discussion are lakes, rivers, harbours and the ocean.  
This thesis examines deeper aspects of tikanga that relate to Māori concepts of waterways and oceans, but more specifically to the waterways of the human body which I refer to as embodied waters.  Māori cultural concepts of water and tikanga that is applied to water, is interconnected to the wider body of knowledge or mātauranga, in which water, is fundamental to concepts of human and environmental life and death. The thesis examines the tikanga, meaning knowledge, values and practices, regarding the embodied waters, related to human procreation and death. 
The research examines the rich Māori knowledge base, relating to concepts such as te whare tangata, waiū, te ūkaipō, roimata and hupe which still have symbolic and material significance in Māori beliefs, values and practices. The research drew upon kaupapa Māori research approaches, as a way to examine tikanga, from a contemporary Māori perspective. My research examined recorded oral traditions and literatures, including whakatauākī, whakapapa, waiata mōteatea, haka and pūrākau, alongside other research literature in the field. The research approach also included an auto-ethnographic component that has enabled me to connect my own observations and practices, with this literature, to demonstrate how tikanga in relation to this knowledge is applied. The research focuses on two main iwi contexts, Tauranga where I was born and raised, and Waikato, where I have lived since I married into the iwi.   
The thesis reveals the interconnected philosophies, cultural concepts, values and practices that are embedded in language, rituals, traditions, stories and symbols. I argue that these tikanga, give coherence and guidance, to contemporary practise especially in the context of cultural revitalization, where communities are seeking to restore certain tikanga. The thesis also finds that the tikanga relating to embodied waters, for human life and death, still give meaning to the people and communities, who continue to adhere to tikanga, those traditions providing a cultural framework for understanding their identity.

text: Ngā Wai E Rere Nei: The Physical and Symbolic Representations of Embodied Waters of Birth and Mourning Recently, there has been considerable public debate and much consternation, especially amongst Māori, about the future New Zealand’s waterways. Māori have strongly held views, tikanga and cultural knowledge, about waterways and their deep connection to iwi (tribal/community) identity, history and sense of well-being. The waterways in public discussion are lakes, rivers, harbours and the ocean.  
This thesis examines deeper aspects of tikanga that relate to Māori concepts of waterways and oceans, but more specifically to the waterways of the human body which I refer to as embodied waters.  Māori cultural concepts of water and tikanga that is applied to water, is interconnected to the wider body of knowledge or mātauranga, in which water, is fundamental to concepts of human and environmental life and death. The thesis examines the tikanga, meaning knowledge, values and practices, regarding the embodied waters, related to human procreation and death. 
The research examines the rich Māori knowledge base, relating to concepts such as te whare tangata, waiū, te ūkaipō, roimata and hupe which still have symbolic and material significance in Māori beliefs, values and practices. The research drew upon kaupapa Māori research approaches, as a way to examine tikanga, from a contemporary Māori perspective. My research examined recorded oral traditions and literatures, including whakatauākī, whakapapa, waiata mōteatea, haka and pūrākau, alongside other research literature in the field. The research approach also included an auto-ethnographic component that has enabled me to connect my own observations and practices, with this literature, to demonstrate how tikanga in relation to this knowledge is applied. The research focuses on two main iwi contexts, Tauranga where I was born and raised, and Waikato, where I have lived since I married into the iwi.   
The thesis reveals the interconnected philosophies, cultural concepts, values and practices that are embedded in language, rituals, traditions, stories and symbols. I argue that these tikanga, give coherence and guidance, to contemporary practise especially in the context of cultural revitalization, where communities are seeking to restore certain tikanga. The thesis also finds that the tikanga relating to embodied waters, for human life and death, still give meaning to the people and communities, who continue to adhere to tikanga, those traditions providing a cultural framework for understanding their identity.

year: 2013