The United Nation’s Cooperation to Transboundary River Basins and Island States in Case of Natural Disaster

The United Nation’s cooperation in case of natural disasters could be stronger and therefore effectiveness if it is organized according to the resilience levels develop by the countries around the world. Moreover governments should include in their development plans actions to become more resilient their territories to those frequently strong natural events [1], trying through international treaties under United Nations support make an integral management of their boundary river basin, including all the actors and their social and economical characteristics [2], in case of riparian countries. While to those island states which are located in specifics parts of one sea or ocean they could work together in order to be protected from common natural disasters.


Introduction
The United Nations has showed concern about the increasing number of casualties caused by natural disasters worldwide. In its different documents has recommended to the governments to include in their national development plans special programs to address how to deal with frequent strong natural phenomena.
Which was highlighted at the World Conference on Disaster Reduction held in Japan in 2006, whose second goal was to: Identify specific activities aimed at ensuring compliance with the relevant provisions of the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development on vulnerability, risk assessment and management of disaster activities. [3] The work of the United Nations in case of natural disasters can be more effective if it identifies vulnerable nations frequently affected with natural phenomena and provides assistance for the development and implementation of effective response plans to increase their resilience to disasters.
This paper is based on the Guidelines for Natural Disaster Prevention, Preparedness and Disaster Mitigation, presented at the World Conference on Disaster Reduction, 1994, specially these recommendations: K. Enhancing the activities of the organizations and programs of the United Nations,…, related to disaster reduction and cooperation between them, (…). [4] M. Give wider support mechanisms for disaster management and reduction of the United Nations system to enhance its capacity to provide advice and practical assistance, as needed, to countries facing natural disasters (…). [4] At the same Conference the "Strategy for 2000 and Beyond" was formulated setting out the need to promote regional cooperation between countries exposed to the same risk through joint activities for disaster reduction, strengthening the capacity of the United Nation system and thus helping to reduce the loss of lives. [4] According to studies by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), approximately 90 % of the disasters caused by natural events, between 1995 and 2004, were related to climate and water. Places such as island nations are frequently affected by natural events, which was one reason why island nations were part of the 1994 Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island States in Development, signed the Declaration of Barbados. [5] The document entitled Mapping WOM and NMHSs' Roles and Mandates on Hyogo Framework for Action 2005 -2015 Key Activities, prepared by WMO in 2006, highlighted the need to strengthen disaster prevention and early warning systems in the island nations and in transboundery river basins. [6] Between 1950 and 2005 more than 6 million people died in natural disasters registered in transboundery river basins and island nations, according to the Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disaster (CRED) database. [7] Based on the WMO's recommendation [6] and because of the reality exhibited by CRED [7], it was considered relevant to identify vulnerable areas to disasters caused by natural events, using as a spatial reference frame transboundery river basins and island nations.
In that way, there could be select measures to reduce the incidence of certain events, through management plans for transboundery river basins, and mitigate the effects if it occurs.
According to the 1994 Yokohama World Conference on Disaster Reduction the United Nations system is called to help developing countries in their special plans for disaster prevention as a part of strategies for the XXI Century through regional promotion cooperation among riparian countries of river basins and island states exposed to the same natural hazards. [4] In order to make those nations more resilient as Yokohama documents said, the author has develop some guidelines which can be follow by United Nations to improve its cooperation where natural disasters have no political borders, through joint countries with regional cooperation to advance disaster prevention and mitigation.
Amount the activities, in a global scale that were done through this investigation have been to identify some guideline to be suggested to the United Nation's to help to make their work easier and could became countries more resilient to natural disaster, through two methodologies.
The first one was development to identify those human characteristics that could become hard to make an international treaty, because the differences among riparian population are many. [8] The other methodology was used to organized the transboundary river basin and island stated by continent according to the frequency of the natural events occurs and number of fatality to determinate the vulnerability of the countries using just number of victims to be easier comparison and not event's magnitude or economical lost. [8] The guideline are based in the follow principles 1. The identification of nations vulnerable to natural events, which could cause disasters, is an essential requirement to facilitate the cooperation of United Nations. [8,9] 2. The management plans for transboundery river basins are necessary to identify measures to mitigate the impact of natural events. [8,9] 3. Popular participation in disaster prevention and mitigations could help achieve greater resilience on human settlements. [8,9] 4. Human beings need to be educated to face the natural event they are exposed to, having real-time information to take those necessary decisions. [8,9] 5. The respect and recognition of cultural differences is the essential rule for effective cooperation. [8,9] 6. The preservation of human beings must overcome differences between people interacting in transboundery river basins. [8,9] 7. It's necessary international cooperation to help make places become more resilient to natural disasters, through the performance of multilateral mechanisms. [8,9] 2. Methodology to Measure the Difficulty of Implementing International Cooperation The degree of difficulty faced through an international treaty supported by United Nation or any other multilateral mechanism that involved people from different countries riparian of the transboundary river basin, could be measured taking into account their political differences, religious belief, rights culture, development index, and other, all of them will be described in the following paragraphs. [8]

Variables
In order to estimate the level of difficulty to provide help, it was taken into consideration the number of countries that share each transboundary river basin and the island territories as coastal areas of the ocean basin were their discharge their water, number of inhabitants, number of majority religious practices, number of languages used by the inhabitants of the basin to communicate, the estimate average political stability of the countries riparian of the bordering river basin using the Marshall and Cole index, the average Human Development Index (HDI) of the costal countries of the basin, and the average related Gender Development Index (GDI). [8] Each transboundary river basin and island state were considered as a unit in a fraction while the denominator were formed for the selected variables that characterize those human groups and could be hard to be part of an international treaty. The selected variables that helped to measure the level of the difficulty are mentioned right after. [8]

Number of Countries Sharing the Basin
The number of riparian countries connected through the basin, according to the base data of Oregon University [9], will influence the ability of the United Nation or other multilateral mechanics achieve and maintain the cooperation needed.

Population Within the Basin
The number of people living in the river basin, according to waterwiki.net [10] or island state was used to determinate the priority degree to develop an international cooperation treaty, according to their vulnerability estimated with the other methodology.

Languages and Dialects
The number of languages and dialects, consulted in the Ullmann Geographic Atlas [11] is presented as another factor of difficulty to provide cooperation needed to select the language used by the majority of the population in the catchment area and the island nation and to facilitate their participation in the implementation of plans. To estimate this parameter was set as the denominator the number of languages and dialects used by the inhabitants of the basin to communicate, the numerator being the unit referred to as in the previous cases the hydrological unit.

Political Stability, Bases on the Index of Global
Report on Conflict, Governance and State Fragility 2008 1 Political stability, based on the results of the Global Report on Conflict of Governance of the year 2008, by Monty G. Marshall and Benjamin R. Cole from the George Mason University [12], let to know which political situations can facilitate the implementation of aid or limit the possibilities of providing cooperation to the nations with internal conflicts or with other nations. This index was employed to estimate the average across the values presented by Marshall and Cole, being that the average used as the denominator to each transboundary river basin, according to the index reach for their riparian countries.

Human Development Index (HDI)
The different levels of development present in every nation could be a difficult for some international treaty which main issue is an integrated management of a transboundary river basin, specially is countries located in the higher place of the basin have plans to develop any structure linked with water use. To know how the differences in the levels of development could became a difficult for the cooperation was calculated the HDI [13] average for each transboundary river basin and at the same time this indicator tells us how much the citizen of each country have their basic needs satisfied.

Gender Related Development Index (GRDI)
The GRDI as an indicator of participation of women [13] in all areas of development have a significant interest, considering the limitation of engagement by cultural and religious reason, among others, in some social groups. However, aware of the influence of women in shaping the behavior of human beings, in the first year of life and participation in society, it was considered appropriated to work with GRDI, using the average of this index among the riparian countries of the transbounday river basin and island states. 1 In these case was used the information state fragility index 2007 from the table 1 state fragility index and matrix 2008 from page 14 to page 17. Available in http://www.systemicpeace.org/Global%20Report%202008.pdf

Religious Practices
The incompatibility of the religions practiced by the inhabitants of the watershed may also hinder the implementation of a management plan aimed at reducing the impacts of natural events, given the low participation of women in some cultures attending religious dogmas and specific dietary requirements, dress requirements, among others. That is why we measured the number of religions [11] practiced by the riparian countries of the transboundary river basin.

Qualification of the Difficulty
The level of difficulty to develop one way of cooperation in case of natural disaster to the riparian countries of the transboundary river basins and island states was determined through results obtained from the variables mentioned [8]. A sample its show in the table 1, to be clear with this methodology, taken to do it the transboundary river Parana basin: In Parana river basin, use as sample to estimate the level of difficult to take cooperation, the result is: 2,582 and according to the table 2, it has a high difficult to apply a successful treaty due to differences amount language, political stability, HDI and GRDI.

Methodology to Identify Vulnerable Areas to Natural Disasters
Most of the country are able to get a register of fatal victims number after and natural strong events, but just a few have economical information, know as much their main infrastructure were affected and other. Moreover, government asks for help to the international community if they are unable to attend the emergence.
According to the reason mentioned, to establish one way to identify transboundery river basin and island estates more vulnerable or less resilience [8], as we want to call, matrices were organized by continent with the transboundery river basin and island states with the number of fatalities registered since 1950 to 2005 classify by natural events. Using the methodology present before a sample is showed in the table 3 with the same transboundary river basin, Paraná.

Natural Events Intensity
The intensity of the natural events that caused disaster was established according to some scale systems as are described in the next paragraphs.

Drought and Flood
A scale was developed to measure the intensity of drought and flood through quantity and qualify, according to the table 4. [8]  The vulnerability to those events was estimates divide the addition the number of time that the events appear during the study period and these results were multiply by the intensity average [8]. The vulnerability qualification was done according to the parameter showing in the table 5.

Vulnerability to the Seismic Movements
The vulnerability to the seismic movements was estimated divide the frequency of seismic with fatalities equal or more than 50 in 55 year and multiply the result by the average of the intensity in the Richter scale [8]. The result was organized according to the table 6.

Vulnerability to the Tsunami, Volcanic Eruption, Mass Movements and Extreme Temperatures
The tsunami vulnerability and the volcanic eruption were estimated depending to the frequency of those events during the study period where at least 50 people die [8]. The level of vulnerability was qualified according to the table 7.

Vulnerability to the Storm
The vulnerability to the storm was calculated quantifying the number of times that these events are registered with at least 50 fatalities. The qualification was made according to the table 8 [8].

Code Suggested
The code comprises capital letters to refer natural event, followed by a lower case letter, which indicates the degree of vulnerability of that event. Using a vulnerability apostrophe separates the degree of difficulty to implement cooperation identified in Roman numerals, followed by an anagram number, which indicates the variables that cause more difficulty to implement cooperation mechanisms. The identification of acronyms used in this code is described below. [8] Natural events are identified with the following capital letters: Geophysical The application of this coding system facilitates the simultaneous identification of the event, which is vulnerable to a particular geographical area, the degree of difficulty in implementing the required cooperation mechanism and to which human variable should have a greater attention. Figure 1 shows the degree of difficulty in the implementation of a mechanism for cooperation within a multilateral and global framework. As well as, priority order to be provided to the United Nation for its cooperation plan in case of natural disaster, as illustrated in figure 2. [8]

Results of the Methodologies
The results from the methodology used to establish an order of priorities for implementing cooperation mechanisms of the United Nations to transboundery river basins and islands are summarized in the following table 9. [8]

Guidelines to Improve the Cooperation of the UN in Case of Natural Disaster
The United Nations, in order to make easier the cooperation in case of natural disaster, seek the development and implementation of plans according to the following guidelines: 1. Technical cooperation by nations of large technological development in the study of natural events, equipment and methods of prevention and early warning systems. 2. Nor refundable grant aid aimed at implementation in regions of high and very high vulnerability to natural events, development of meteorological facilities centers in strategic locations to capture and send information at regional level. 3. Environmental management plans for transboundery river basins and island nations. It should be taken into consideration the development of infrastructure for flood control, as for the storage water resources in those areas regularly affected by flood and drought. 4. Humanitarian aid and emergency must be scheduled in advance for those regions with greater vulnerability. 5. Food aid must meet the traditional diet of the group people affected. 6. The United Nation through the Office of the Humanitarian Affairs Coordinator carrying out the task of coordination between its bodies (regional economic commissions, Food and Agriculture Organization, World Meteorological Organization, United Nations Program for Development, United Nations Environment Program, United Nations Found for Children, World Food Program, World Health Program, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, United Nations University and Environmental Convention Secretariats), trying to bond with aid groups and local civil defense organizations. To meet the objectives of this guideline it is recommended to: 1. Subscribe agreements between the riparian countries of transboundery river basin, led to development of management plans for the reduction of natural disasters. 2. Engage the States Parties of the United Nation to adjust their national development plans according to management plans of transboundery watersheds, aimed at reducing the effects of natural disasters. 3. Ensure the participation of the actors responsible for decision-making and community leaders living in the area. 4. Include in the management plans of transboundery Island States in Case of Natural Disaster watersheds programs aimed at reducing the effects of natural disasters, scientific and technical basis in order to avoid possible difficulties due to political differences of government systems. 5. Ensure the participation of women in the development and implementation management plans. 6. Engage the most vulnerable states to establish their participation in the programs that will provide them with education on disaster prevention and mitigation, with real-time access to information. 7. Plans for prevention of natural disaster must be published in the official language of the riparian countries of the basin river transboundery, and signatory States are obliged to disseminate to their communities in their own language and dialects.

Conclusions
The natural events that could become disasters can be organized according to their origin: hydrometheorological ones which are produced by alteration of the atmosphere and hydrosphere; and the geological ones due to process registered in the geosphere and its interaction with the hydrosphere. However, only the events in which fatal victims are registered are qualified as disasters and when the situation exceeds the capacity of the states to address the problem, they can request international assistance.
The United Nations cooperation can be technical, scientific -technical, financial, humanitarian, debt swap, cultural, internships and training through treaties, that are the legal framework on which the international cooperation in case of natural disaster, under conventions, agreements, protocols and exchanges of letters or notes that govern international law, is based.
The United Nations' system has the direct responsibility to organize the actions to help any country that requests aid, through the Office of the Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs and the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction; and indirect through the Economical Commissions, Food and Agriculture Organization, United Nation Program Development, United Nations Program for the Environment, World Health Organization, World Meteorology Organization, Environments Conventions, and its others instances.
The continents, which are seat of transboundery river basins and island states, have differences in their dimensions, geology, geomorphology and weather, as well as their vulnerability to natural events. In addition, the different forms of organization of human groups in the same region could hinder the implementation of the cooperation mechanisms.
There are distinctive features between the physical characteristics of the continents and the lack of data of the intensity of some natural events that have caused disasters. For these reasons the information was homogenized to determinate the vulnerability level in the transboundary river basin and island states through a methodology to measure the intensity of natural events using as a reference the number of fatalities, giving as result five categories: no vulnerable, low vulnerable, medium vulnerable, high vulnerable and to high vulnerable.
The United Nations has had some difficulty to implement mechanisms of cooperation due to differences among human groups reflected in their political systems, language, religions, level of human development, development index in relation to gender, as well as political stability according to the Marshall and Cole index; giving as result difficulty levels from high, medium and low.
When this investigation began, two events happened that caught the attention of the international community for their significant magnitude: an earthquake in China and a group of storms accompanied by flood in Myanmar. The Office for the Coordinator of Humanitarian Affair (OCHA) of the United Nations attended both countries. But, there was resistance from governmental authorities to allow the representative of the OCHA to work in the affected areas, while they permitted representation from other specialized agencies of the United Nation such as the Food and Agriculture Organization and World Health Organization. These cases are samples about the one of the difficulties that the United Nations face when they try to help people affected by natural disasters.
The qualification given to each transboundary river basin and island states about vulnerability to natural disasters and their intensity as well as the degree of difficulty to implement mechanisms of cooperation, was expressed by alphanumeric code, with it is possible to know immediately the studied areas features.
According to the investigation the United Nations' cooperation in case of natural disasters can be improved taking into consideration the problems for the development of vulnerable nations to those kinds of problems trough a holistic vision having in mind the following facts: 1. The intensity and duration time of each event, let know why the effect of droughts and their long duration that produce more victims, don't cause the same impact in the news than those short duration events that have infrastructure destruction such as earthquakes, tsunamis, storms and hurricanes. That situation must motivate the international community to take the necessary measures to reduce the impact of natural events. 8. The methodology presented to measure vulnerability to natural events and the difficulty in proving cooperation, applied to transboundary river basins and islands nations, can be used for national hydrographic units, in order to have a guide in which those spaces with the greatest need of attention can be identified and establish an order of priorities in the administration of budget. In addition, the proposal can be adjusted if it needs to expand the level of detail and the area of study is smaller, In those cases, natural events would be selected where less than 50 fatal victims are registered. 9. Among 258 transboundary river basins, at work scale 1:10,000,000, eighty-two hydrographic units were identified vulnerable to natural disasters, representing 26,7% of the total. Africa proved to be the continent with the largest number of transboundary river basins and island nations vulnerable to the natural disasters. However, the degree of vulnerability in any of these hydrographic units was very high. The Ganges river basin -Brahmaputra -Meghna, turned out to be of very high vulnerability to hydro-meteorological and climatic events, while the seismic movements are of medium vulnerability. Based on this result and taking into account what is related to climate change, the risk situation in this basin could increase. Consequently, it is a priority area due to its physical condition and the number of population living in this hydrographic unit. 10. The exposed methods to estimate the natural disaster vulnerability and the index to determine the degree of difficulty for the implementation of a multilayered cooperation mechanism can be used to work on a more detailed scale, obtaining more precise results. It would also work with a smaller number of victims if it were desired to expand the scale of work. On the other hand, it is worth mentioning the flexibility of the developed methods, which can be applied in different geographical areas to the transboundary river basins, which was evidenced by the case of island nations. 11. The use of a code to express the results of research using the proposed methodology, allows knowing the natural disasters to which transbondary watersheds and island nations are vulnerable, the degree of vulnerability, the level of difficulty of multilateral organizations to implement some cooperation mechanisms and human variables to be considered in order to implement cooperation. The use of the code facilitated the illustration of the results in cartographic documents and presented the results summarized in tables. 12. By using transboundary river basins and island nations as a spatial reference frame, in the face of imminent climate change, a management plan would facilitate the decision making of building infrastructure made for a better use of water resources, which would guarantee the water supply during periods of drought, try to control floods and identify areas of watersheds, which could help mobilize the population if necessary to safeguard their physical integrity. 13. Riparian nations of the Pacific and Indian Oceans need to develop and implement an early warning system for tsunami, develop evacuation plans for the areas susceptible to be affected by these types of event and carry out practices with the inhabitants of these places in order to facilitate the mobilization of people at the right time. 14. The intensity of events based on the number of fatalities estimate, such as the method used in this investigation; make it easier to identify those nations less resilient to natural disasters. Taking into consideration that events of the same magnitude leave fewer deaths in nations that have developed resilience.