Rivers Do Not Know Borders: The Legal History and the Views of Today's Actors of Cooperation Based on the Finnish-Swedish Transboundary River Agreement

Abstract

The article examines the legal history of the joint, Finnish-Swedish Transboundary River Agreement based management of the Torne River basin, which connects Finland and Sweden in the north, and the experiences of the current actors in the border river cooperation. The Torne River basin is large, and its management requires cross-border cooperation. The article uses legal sources to examine how and why Finland and Sweden established a new level of transboundary water management in the 1971 Transboundary River Agreement, and how this arrangement was subsequently modified by the 2010 Agreement. It also draws on interview data to assess the experiences of current actors regarding the opportunities and challenges of joint management of the bordering waters. The article highlights the importance of effective cooperation in the shared transboundary water bodies, and raises the issue of whether the current legal and administrative structures are sufficient to achieve the sound use of water bodies on the one hand, and climate and environmental objectives on the other.