This book provides the first comprehensive assessment of the various issues faced by countries in the European Union, where progressing climate change and urbanization pose significant cooperative challenges in a large number of river basins. Conducting a thorough analysis of the intricate web of EU water governance, it reveals that the hydropolitical stability of the European Union is already at risk. Further, given the structural nature of the shortcomings in EU water policy-e.g. the rigidity of the EU's founding treaties or the institutional complacency of the European Commission-the book argues that these risks are likely to turn into sources of prolonged conflict, unless EU decision-making bodies take steps to address the new hydrological realities early on.

Contenu

INTRODUCTION.- PART I GENERAL QUESTIONS OF TRANSBOUNDARY WATER GOVERNANCE.- Chapter 1 Geography of transboundary water governance.- Chapter 2 Theories of transboundary water governance.- Chapter 3 Laws of transboundary water governance.- Chapter 4 Institutions of transboundary water governance.- Chapter 5 Emerging challenges to transboundary water governance.- PART II TRANSBOUNDARY WATER GOVERNANCE IN THE EUROPEAN UNION: AN OVERVIEW.- Chapter 1 Transboundary river basins in the European Union and the impacts of the Anthropocene.- Chapter 2 Transboundary water governance in the European Union.- PART III THE RESILIENCE OF TRANSBOUNDARY WATER GOVERNANCE IN THE EUROPEAN UNION: A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT.- Chapter 1 Why, what, how? - The assessment framework.- Chapter 2 The resilience of transboundary water governance within the European Union: a legal and institutional analysis.- Chapter 3 Adaptive capacity of EU transboundary water Governance: the dynamic dimension of resilience.- PART IV CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.