Water cooperation on Jordan River Basin between Jordan, Israel scores 56.67

AMMAN — Trans-boundary water cooperation on the Jordan River Basin between Jordan and Israel scored 56.67 under the Water Cooperation Quotient (WCQ) 2017 that quantifies the quality of cooperation within trans-boundary river basins on a global basis.

All riparian relations that have WCQ 50 and higher have a relatively peaceful and stable relationship with each other, according to the WCQ 2017, which indicated that riparian nations may have diplomatic issues or minor disagreements but absolutely zero risk of war.

The WCQ 2017 also measured the level of cooperation on the Yarmouk River Basin between Jordan and Israel, where cooperation scored 20.

The WCQ 2017 indicated that when a country has a WCQ score less than 23.33, it could be at a risk of war, and that it is when there is only technical cooperation between countries.

But in the case of the Yarmouk River Basin, the WCQ 2017 explained that since 2011, Syria has been unable to attend to its trans-boundary water relations due to the protracted armed conflict, indicating that any two countries not engaged in active water cooperation “do not necessarily go to war”.

The WCQ 2017, prepared and released by the Strategic Foresight Group (SFG), said that when a country has a WCQ of 23.33 or higher and less than 50, it shows signs of peace building because it is transcending the realm of technical cooperation.

“It is the first barometer in the world to measure trans-boundary water cooperation between countries that share rivers and other water resources. The WCQ applied 10 parameters to compute the WCQ of a riparian nation,” Anumita Raj, senior programme manager at (SFG), told The Jordan Times.

The 10 parameters have been applied to measure the performance of 286 shared river basins published by the Global Environment Facility, she said, noting that 231 of which are analysed in detail.

“The WCQ shows that any two countries engaged in an active water cooperation do not go to war for any reason at all,” Raj said.

SFG, a think tank based in India that advises governments and institutions around the world on managing future challenges, released its first WCQ edition in 2015 in Senegal. The first edition quantified the degree of cooperation between neighbouring countries using 10 parameters ranging from the presence of an agreement and commission, frequency of ministerial meetings, and technical and scientific projects to the actual functioning of the trans-boundary mechanism.

SFG’s “Water Cooperation for a Secure World, Focus on the Middle East” report said that neighbours aiming to achieve water cooperation should strive for a quotient of 50 per cent or more, indicating that Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Turkey and the Palestinian Territories all have cooperation quotients of less than 11 per cent with almost all their neighbours.