Identification of joint management structures for shared aquifers. A cooperative Palestinian-Israeli effort

In this study, the authors provide an approach for building joint management institutions over time for groundwater, and present some of the lessons that may be gleaned from their collaborative experience. Although the paper's focus is limited to the Israeli-Palestinian situation, the conclusions reached in this study can be applicable to other settings. The paper begins by describing the process by which the joint management institutions were identified. This process is described at two levels: one, the course that the team went through; and two, the analytical approach by which these structures were identified. The authors then describe the outcome of the first phase of the team's work, namely, a flexible-sequential capacity building structure. In the second phase of the team's work this structure was further scrutinized, given the geopolitical changes in the region, and its accumulated experience. In addition, issues that did not receive sufficient or any attention in the first phase were discussed in the second phase. As a result, a number of issues and problems that may adversely affect the implementation of joint management structures were identified. These are described in the fourth section. A brief discussion of the process and outcomes is presented in the fifth section of the paper. Particular attention is given to the possible role and limitations of international organizations in this process, as seen from the local (i.e. Israeli and Palestinian) perspective. While the discussion focuses on the Israeli-Palestinian case, the process and results are likely to be applicable in a much wider array of cases, including at the sub-national level.