Primary Functions
- Find assessments on whether shared water resources in five selected river basins are managed in a sustainable, equitable, and collaborative way.
- Understand challenges and opportunities for improving transboundary water cooperation and management of shared water resources.
Detailed Description
What is the Blue Peace Index?
The Blue Peace Index examines the extent to which countries and basins are managing their shared water resources in a sustainable, equitable and collaborative manner. The index is a tool for understanding challenges and opportunities for improving transboundary water cooperation and management of shared water resources.
The first edition of the index examines 24 countries, across five selected transboundary river basins, on 74 qualitative and quantitative indicators. Some indicators are assessed at a national level and others are assessed at a basin level. All indicators are designed to capture some degree of “agency” that countries can exercise. Purely hydrological and geographical indicators are therefore excluded as countries cannot influence them. The indicators are split across five domains: Policy and legal frameworks, Institutions and participation, Water management instruments, Infrastructure and financing, and Cooperation context.
The index’s overarching objectives are to:
- Incentivise stakeholders to improve their performance by tracking, and publishing, their progress in this space
- Highlight the optimal policy and management solutions available to respond to transboundary water opportunities and challenges
- Increase awareness of the concept of Blue Peace in the broader water management and peacebuilding communities
- Spur a public debate on the desirable goals and best practices for sustainable water management
- Provide a tool for a holistic assessment of drivers and conditions for sustainable collaboration over shared water resources
The basins for the pilot edition of the index represent important cases from different geographical regions and different quality of transboundary water management and cooperation. The Blue Peace Index will be expanded in the next editions to provide a more comprehensive global coverage and a tool to measure developments over time.
