Through an analysis of prominent transboundary natural resource management negotiation cases, Winning Together outlines how government, industry, and NGOs can effectively overcome past grievances, break the status quo, resolve conflicts, and create mutual gains in high-stakes water, energy, and environmental disputes. The book examines two landmark international negotiations between the United States and Mexico, both with agreements signed in 2012 after several decades of deadlock. The first case involves the conflict over the shared hydrocarbon reservoirs in the Gulf of Mexico, containing sig ... More

Through an analysis of prominent transboundary natural resource management negotiation cases, Winning Together outlines how government, industry, and NGOs can effectively overcome past grievances, break the status quo, resolve conflicts, and create mutual gains in high-stakes water, energy, and environmental disputes. The book examines two landmark international negotiations between the United States and Mexico, both with agreements signed in 2012 after several decades of deadlock. The first case involves the conflict over the shared hydrocarbon reservoirs in the Gulf of Mexico, containing significant oil and natural gas resources. The second analyzes the dispute, amidst severe drought and increased climate risks, over the environmental resources and shared waters of the Colorado River, providing irrigation and water supply to more than 40 million people. For the first time, the two countries established a binational framework to co-develop and jointly manage these transboundary natural resources, as partners. Through unprecedented interviews with over 70 negotiators on both sides of the border, the book underscores strategies by which resource management practitioners can effectively increase river basin supply, re-think irrigation and storage infrastructure, restore ecosystems and habitats, enhance coordination between private and state owned companies, improve energy transition and planning, and re-define the scope and impact of diplomatic partnerships. Winning Together shows how developed and developing countries can move beyond hard-bargaining tactics and avoid the ultimatums that accompany the presumption that there are not enough resources to go around, and that one side must win and the other must inevitably lose.