About PCCP
Mission Statement
‘From Potential Conflict to Cooperation Potential’ (PCCP) facilitates multi-level and interdisciplinary dialogues in order to foster peace, co-operation and development related to the management of shared water resources.
Housed within IHP, and a contribution to WWAP, PCCP addresses situations where water users need support to manage their shared water resources in a peaceful and equitable manner. It capitalizes on the desire of the concerned parties to successfully manage their shared water resources in order to create a foundation upon which peace and cooperation are consolidated.
Through Research and Capacity building/enhancement activities, the programme brings players engaged in transboundary water management together and helps increase the opportunities for actual co-operation and development. PCCP’s ultimate objective is to use Track II initiatives to support and maintain peace-building processes.
Given its place within the UN system, and more specifically in a neutral organization like UNESCO, the programme offers its resources to coordinate similar efforts and disseminate best practices of water conflict resolution and cooperation building. It offers a “one-stop-shop” for activities in transboundary waters and builds legitimacy for the field of cooperative water management by advertising other institutions’ projects.
As a result PCCP establishes links with related initiatives within UNESCO and the UN more broadly. It also looks at what other non-UN institutions around the world are doing in this domain.
Objectives
The goal of PCCP, in accordance with the mandate of WWAP, is to render services to UNESCO's Member States and to foster co-operation between nations. It is also guided by the Organization's paramount mandate: to nurture the idea of peace in human minds.
PCCP aims to foster co-operation between stakeholders in the management of shared water resources, while helping to ensure that potential conflicts do not turn into real ones. The project focuses on the development of tools for the anticipation, prevention and resolution of water conflicts.
Target Groups
PCCP's priority target groups are institutions and individuals that manage shared water resources. These include:
- Decision-makers and diplomats who have the obligation to respect, protect and fulfill their citizens' right to water. They also have the power, through multi-track diplomacy, to mobilize public support, and the responsibility to include civil society in their decision-making.
- Leading water professionals who possess the capabilities to bridge the gap between governments and the public and can generate discourse on the benefits of cooperation around water resources.
- Civil society networks that play a crucial role in the decision-making processes. These groups operate at the local level, where conflicts related to water resources tend to be most intense. Therefore, their influence in water management is gradually increasing.
- Educators at different levels who are at the centre of training the next generation of transboundary water managers. The transfer of knowledge and experience, particularly from an interdisciplinary perspective, is essential in order to enhance future management skills.
- Post-graduate students of water studies are also a principal target group for the PCCP project, as today's students will become the managers, educators and decision-makers of water resources in the future.
Scope
One critical aim of water management is to continually reconcile the opposing interests of all water users - be they individuals, enterprises, corporations, interest groups, administrative or sovereign entities. The management of water conflicts, confrontations, competitions and co-operation are thus a part of water resources management in its broadest sense. Negative interactions (such as competition and confrontations) over scarce water resources can lead to tension and - in extreme situations - even conflict, should they remain unattended.
PCCP was conceived with the idea that, although shared water resources can be a source of conflict, their joint management should be strengthened and facilitated as a means of co-operation between various water users. Thus PCCP aims to demonstrate that a situation with undeniable potential for conflict can be transformed into a situation where co-operation potential can emerge. PCCP's thematic focus is on this very transition - from PC to CP.
PCCP gives priority to water conflicts which are international in nature and may cause tension or even open conflict between sovereign states. Water disputes at the local or regional (provincial) levels are addressed only if they can have an impact on international relations or when sovereign states specifically request the technical assistance of PCCP's network of experts.
Third Phase of PCCP (2007 - 2009)
During its third phase of activities, PCCP continues to use Track II initiatives in order to support cooperation processes related to the peaceful management of water resources. The following gives an idea of the current and future activities of the programme. It is not an exhaustive list of all its efforts.
PCCP’s current activities include the development of training courses for young water professionals in the Middle East, as well as the organization of new courses in South East Europe, Latin America and Africa.
Course material focussing on effective transboundary water resources management will be published and used to train high level professionals and diplomats involved in the water related negotiation processes.
PCCP will also create a Master Programme in Water Management (specialization Water Conflict Management) that will be jointly implemented by UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education and the IHP-HELP Centre for Water, Policy and Science operating under the auspices of UNESCO.
Case studies reflecting the status of cooperation in the Mono River and the Ostua-Metapan aquifer will be produced. Each will be co-authored by experts representing their respective riparian countries. The process leading to the writing of the case studies will involve major players in the selected basins. It will not only be a research exercise but will also offer those players, a forum for dialogue and communication. It will also constitute an opportunity for the development of long term visions for the joint use of the resources in question.
Other research activities will be undertaken and used as a platform to promote dialogue and cooperation between major stakeholders involved in the management of shared water resources. Similarly other capacity building/enhancement tools will be developed and tested. These will be announced on the website as they develop.
Second Phase of PCCP (2003- 2006)
During the PCCP’s second phase the educational material that was developed for and implemented in the South African Development Community has been further developed and adapted to the Latin American and South East European contexts respectively (see Capacity building/enhancement tools). A case study on the Lake Titicaca Basin involving the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of both riparians Peru and Bolivia has been conducted in order to further build confidence between players in this basin at all levels. Furthermore and among other efforts PCCP designed and produced a Conflict Resolution Support System software (see Capacity building/enhancement tools). In 2004 PCCP hosted the innovative role-play conference ‘Water: A Catalyst for Peace’ on Alternative Dispute Resolution Techniques (see Conferences and outcomes).
First Phase of PCCP (2001-2003)
A major outcome of PCCP's first phase is the publication of a series of 31 printed volumes focusing of transboundary water issues. A number of experts from around the world were invited to investigate the water conflicts and cooperation field. They developed a series of disciplinary studies which analyzed historical experiences, and reviewed existing legal, diplomatic and systems analysis tools, particularly with regard to their utility in resolving water-related conflicts. Case studies of successful co-operation were developed in addition to educational material for a course on Conflict Prevention and Co-operation in International Water Resources in the South African Developing Community (see Capacity building/enhancement tools). In 2002 PCCP organised in collaboration with Green Cross International organised the international conference ‘From Conflict to Cooperation in International Water Resources Management: Challenges and Opportunities’ (see Conferences and Outcomes).
The government of Italy (Ministry of Environment) generously funds the activities of PCCP.
The government of Japan (Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transportation) generously funds the activities of PCCP
