ABSTRACT
The Sava River Basin is a major drainage basin of South-Eastern Europe. In former Yugoslavia, the Sava River used to be the largest national river, and its water resources were managed on the basin level. However, the geopolitical changes and conflict in the region in the early 1990s not only had a significant impact on its economic conditions and political stability, but the country’s disintegration also converted the Sava into an international river and caused fragmentation of water management in its basin. It is exactly the countries’ interest in water cooperation that triggered their negotiations in such circumstances. The negotiation process resulted in the Framework Agreement on the Sava River Basin – the first development-oriented multilateral agreement concluded in the region in the post-conflict period. Despite numerous challenges to its development and implementation, this agreement and the International Sava River Basin Commission as its implementing body have shown to be an appropriate framework for water cooperation, management, and diplomacy in the transboundary Sava basin, supporting its sustainable development and political stability. This chapter introduces the framework and presents how it is used to address water problems crossing political and sectoral boundaries in the basin and why it is considered an example of good practice on a broad geographical scale.
