Interactive management of international river basins; Experiences in Northern America and Western Europe

This paper deals with the experiences of international water commissions with a more interactive way in dealing with society and water system. The first experiences with co-operation in international institutions between water managers already started many centuries ago. For the river Rhine it formally began in 1885 with agreements on navigation and fishery, for the border waters of the United States and Mexico with a border treaty in 1889 and for the boundary waters of the United States and Canada the first international agreement was signed in 1909. In recent years, an intensivation of co-operation can be observed, which brings new challenges for water managers. The ecosystem approach from the International Joint Commission and the integrated starting point as well as the participation of stakeholders in the work of the International Commission on the Protection of the Rhine, can be seen as promising examples of the modernisation of international water management. They are part of a development to "international interactive water management". (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.