What is the NEGOWAT project?

In Chennai (India), Cochabamba(Bolivia) and Sao Paulo(Brasil), the Negotiating peri-urban water conflicts (NEGOWAT) project (2003-2006) is focused on developing tools to better understand water-related competition and conflicts and to help facilitate negotiations between stakeholders in these areas. These include the application of visioning, scenario development and modelling tools in integrated water resources management (IWRM) such as Bayesian networks, role game playing, and multi-agent systems.

Pressures on peri-urban water resources include the expanding footprints of cities desperate to secure new industrial and domestic water supplies for growing populations, and that are increasingly in conflict with farming communities determined to protect their water rights and livelihoods. Aquifers and rivers are often threatened by pollution from industry and residential areas with poor sanitation. These pressures, and the institutional vacuum or policy ‘mis-fit’ that is often associated with the management of natural resources in peri-urban areas, leads to competition, contestation and conflicts over water in these zones.

The research is supported by the UK Department of International Development (DFID) and the European Commission (EC) but neither DFID nor the EC are responsible for the findings. (Projects ICA-2002-10061 and R8324).