ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief history of major conflicts in the South Caucasus and highlights the peacebuilding potential of cooperation on management of shared water resources. The chapter discusses two regional water programs run by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in the South Caucasus and identifies the initiatives’ successes and failures in implementing transboundary water resource management in the region. USAID’s efforts demonstrate how donor support of technical cooperation can promote peacebuilding despite ethnic tension and political stalemate. Although relatively little progress was made by the countries at the political level, USAID’s attempts to foster collaboration at the technical level on water resource management yielded several notable achievements. The chapter concludes by considering the next steps to facilitate continued cooperation on water resource management in the South Caucasus and the broader lessons learned about donor assistance in integrated water resource management in regions emerging from conflict.
