This paper examines the transboundary water resources conflict resolution mechanisms. Various academic fields have provided conflict resolution mechanisms that could be used to analyse transboundary water conflicts. These mechanisms include social planner, water market, game theory, static and dynamic systems engineering models, and negotiation analyses. These mechanisms share some common characteristic features. This similarity has led to a general belief that these mechanisms are competitive substitutes. However, closer examination by this research reveals that these mechanisms have more complementarity than similarity. This complementarity permits researchers and practitioners to combine any two or more of them to develop more comprehensive mechanisms with stronger analytical capacity to analyse the different elements of the process of transboundary water conflict resolution.

The objective of this study is to trace the historical evolution of the present Nile Basin regulatory framework and examine its influence on the current interactions among Nile riparian states. This research adopts a case-study design, with in-depth qualitative analysis of the Nile Basin as an example of the complex transboundary relations over shared waters. It uses an analytical framework derived from the New Institutional Economics (NIE) to analyse the evolution of the institutional framework that has governed the Nile basin and how it affected the annual water share allocated to each riparian country. The study argues that the historical beliefs and social norms of the riparian societies have been among the major factors that influenced the cooperation attempts during the past century and determined their outcomes. Therefore, a prerequisite to develop sustainable cooperation is levelling the playing field by addressing the beliefs and norms that have prevented cooperation while identifying the beliefs that can support cooperation.

Since the 1970s, many economies increasingly rely on ‘importing’ water embedded in food imports, a process referred to here as virtual-water ‘imports’. In water-scarce countries, virtual-water ‘imports’ are used to protect the economy’s own water which would otherwise be consumed in food production to meet the growing population and economy food needs, or to support the population’s food needs beyond that sustainable by internal water resources. This process is referred to here as virtual-water decoupling. This paper examines the role of virtual-water decoupling to achieve a version of food–water security for water-scarce societies, with a particular focus on Egyptian virtual-water decoupling policy during the period 1962–2013.

This research aims to deliver a better understanding of the key features of resilient transboundary water management institutions. It unbundles the concept of institutional resilience into three inter-related components: stability, robustness and resilience. Stability refers to the ability of transboundary water management institutions to maintain stable performance under normal conditions. The term robustness is used to describe the capacity of institutional arrangements to maintain its desired level of performance against temporary external shocks. Finally, resilience describes the ability of institutional framework to withstand irreversible negative disruption by moving from one stable equilibrium state to another stable state equilibrium to absorb disturbances. The study demonstrates that resilient transboundary water management institutions must have the capacity to be stable under normal condition, robust against reversible negative shocks, and resilient to irreversible negative shifts.

Since the 1970s, many economies increasingly rely on ‘importing’ water embedded in food imports, a process referred to here as virtual-water ‘imports’. In water-scarce countries, virtual-water ‘imports’ are used to protect the economy’s own water which would otherwise be consumed in food production to meet the growing population and economy food needs, or to support the population’s food needs beyond that sustainable by internal water resources. This process is referred to here as virtual-water decoupling. This paper examines the role of virtual-water decoupling to achieve a version of food–water security for water-scarce societies, with a particular focus on Egyptian virtual-water decoupling policy during the period 1962–2013. <!----> <!----> <!----> <!---->