Dependencies in Transboundary Water Management in Greece in the Face of Climate Change

Transboundary water management is crucial for 40% of the total population in the world. Different economic, social and political drivers hinder the understanding of the changing conditions in response to changing stresses, such as increasing uncertainty due to climate change impacts, as well as tensions and conflicts over constantly decreasing water resources. One of the fundamental challenges is allocating shared water resources and their accompanying benefits between upstream and downstream countries. In Greece, 25% of national water resources belongs to 5 transboundary river basins which are situated in the Northern part of the country. In 4 out of 5 cases Greece is on the unfavourable downstream part of the river basins.

In this paper, each one of the river basins is examined by considering the specific characteristics and status at basin scale. In all case studies, the major conflicts between the countries are identified, and the structural and non-structural measures induced by the EU WFD implementation process are evaluated. Moreover, dependencies in relation to climate change are discussed. The present work contributes to a better understanding of upstream–downstream dynamics in reviewing the various problems on water allocation, pollution and floods. The results demonstrated that, in specific cases, the proposed by the EU WFD measures have significantly improved water quality and quantity issues. However, there are also further dependencies, such as the absence of common river basin management plans, which could jeopardize the sustainable transboundary water management.