UNESCO Chair INWEB, University Campus, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR54124, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Department of Civil Engineering, University Campus, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR54124, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2019 May;26(15):14835-14848. doi: 10.1007/s11356-019-04122-4. Epub 2019 Jan 7.
Data availability and the existence of exchange mechanisms are considered crucial issues for the management of water bodies shared among riparian countries. Moreover, common legislative and technical frameworks are assets that foster the management of transboundary waters in an integrated and sustainable manner. The River Basin Management Plans of the European Union's Water Framework Directive implementation process not only incorporate a cooperative framework, but also include open access internet-based databases that can enhance cooperation and shed light on water-related conflicts among countries that share transboundary waters. The proposed methodological approach in this research is applied in four transboundary river basins, where Greece is the downstream country, and the upstream countries are not all member states of the European Union. The areas of dispute were found in the 2nd Water Convention Report. For each particular case study, data and information from the respective River Basin Management Plans were used to investigate the actual situation. The results demonstrated that significant conflict situations in the past, which involved both water quality and water quantity issues, could be resolved using continuous and reliable datasets included in the management plans. The use of freely available data sources renders the findings of this work useful for the sustainable management of shared waters.
数据的可获得性以及交换机制的存在被认为是管理跨国界水域的关键问题。此外，共同的立法和技术框架是促进以综合和可持续方式管理跨界水域的资产。欧盟水框架指令实施过程中的流域管理计划不仅纳入了一个合作框架，而且还包括基于互联网的开放获取数据库，这可以加强合作，并揭示分享跨界水域的国家之间与水有关的冲突。本研究提出的方法学方法应用于四个跨界河流流域，其中希腊是下游国家，而上游国家并非都是欧盟成员国。争端领域在第二次水公约报告中有所发现。对于每个特定的案例研究，使用各自的流域管理计划中的数据和信息来调查实际情况。结果表明，过去涉及水质和水量问题的重大冲突情况可以通过管理计划中包含的连续和可靠数据集来解决。使用免费提供的数据来源使这项工作的研究结果对于共享水域的可持续管理具有实际意义。
