Free Flow

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] 183

egal

ramework

the

ational

nternational

evel

tion to this climate crisis. As the drought duration and

intensity increased, communities in Texas put enor-

mous pressure on state and federal governments in the

US. The same thing happened within Mexico between

downstream and upstream states. In accordance with

its functions, IBWC provided a valuable negotiating

framework in which both governments, taking into

consideration the demands of the states and communi-

ties, converged and produced a set of minutes to deal

with the crisis. BECC, through its public participation

mechanisms, led a process involving irrigation users

in both countries in supporting a special programme

for the efficient use of water, created specifically to

deal with drought. In particular, investments in irriga-

tion systems in Mexico improved efficiency in water

use which led to adjustments in water rights. The

recovered water was delivered to tributary rivers, and

eventually reached the international reservoirs where

water is shared by US and Mexico. Reducing the water

rights of irrigation users was not an easy task, but the

actions of both governments in the context of BECC

made it possible. NADBANK, meanwhile, at the direc-

tion of the US and Mexican governments, established

a special programme for financing these investments

for efficient use of water at irrigation systems along the

border. In this manner, in complex rounds of negotia-

tions between the two governments that lasted nearly

two years, the binational institutions were allowed to

participate in the process associated with water conser-

treaty as waters that arrive at the international sections of the Rio

Grande and Colorado River. Under the 1944 Treaty, both countries

make commitments to share water from both river basins. Mexico

agrees to grant to the US an annual volume of 432.72 million cubic

metres on average in a five-year cycle from the Rio Grande basin,

and the US is committed to deliver to Mexico 1.85 billion cubic

metres per year from the Colorado River.

The treaty also provides

for dispute settlement mechanisms, particularly empowering the

commission to issue minutes, which in turn form part of the treaty

without modifying its terms, so as to manage water under specific

conditions such as drought or floods. So far there have been 184

minutes, more than one per year on average, which have covered

topics as diverse as construction and operation of dams on interna-

tional river sections, construction and joint operation of sanitation

infrastructure at the border, and the consequences of extreme

hydrometeorological events.

BECC and NADBANK, meanwhile, were created jointly in 1993

by a special agreement signed in the context of the negotiations of

the Free Trade Agreement between the two countries. They are sister

institutions whose mission is to improve the environment and living

conditions of the inhabitants of the Mexico-US border. Although

they are independent institutions, they share objectives and have a

single governing board. At the head of both organizations there is a

national of each country, on a rotating basis.

This institutional arrangement was severely tested during the

drought of 2000-2006, which caused Mexico to accumulate a deficit

of deliveries to the US from the Rio Grande near the volume of a full

five-year cycle. The binational institutions, under the supervision

of both governments, acted together to achieve a cooperative solu-

Social validation is an essential component of the support and international funding model for the border region

Image: BECC