The Watercourses Convention: To What Extent Does It Provide a Basis for Regulating Uses of International Watercouses? (original) (raw)

The Legal Response to International Water Conflicts: The UN Watercourses Convention and Beyond

GERMAN YEARBOOK OF INTERNATIONAL LAW, 1999

The UN Watercourses Convention, adopted in May 1997, and ratified to date by six Parties/ is a global framework agreement with the goal to "ensure the utilization, development, conservation, management and protection of international watercourses" and the promotion of their optimal and sustainable utilization for present and future generations. In line with this, the Convention requires that "an international watercourse shall be used and developed by watercourse States with a view to attaining optimal and sustainable utilization thereof and benefits therefrom, taking into account the interests of the watercourse States concerned, consistent with adequate protection of the watercourse." This paper addresses the question whether the UN Watercourses Convention facilitates achievement of these aims, specifically in the context of conflicts-of-uses and water scarcity.

Still not in Force: Should States Support the 1997 UN Watercourses Convention?

Review of European …, 2009

On 21 May 1997, at the UN General Assembly, an overwhelming majority of States voted for the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses – a global overarching framework governing the rights and duties of States sharing freshwater systems. To date, the Convention counts 17 Contracting States – 18 short of the number required for entry into force. This article examines whether and why States should support the Convention towards ensuring its entry into force. We first look at the governance of international watercourses in order to illustrate the relevance of the Convention. The article also examines the Convention's drafting and negotiation process, the subsequent practice of States, some possible reasons slowing down ratifications and the likelihood of entry into force in the foreseeable future. Noting the widespread State support for the Convention in 1997, we conclude that, while various reasons have possibly prevented that support from translating into entry into force, the need for an effective UN Watercourses Convention has not diminished. In view of current human and environmental threats to the world's water resources, coupled with the poor governance of transboundary watersheds, the potential role that the Convention could play, once in force and widely ratified, as discussed, may in fact be more critical than ever.

Everything you need to know about the UN Watercourses Convention

WWF Publication, 2009

In 1997, more than one hundred nations joined hands to adopt the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational uses of International Watercourses (UN Watercourses Convention)—a flexible and overarching global legal framework that establishes basic standards and rules for cooperation between watercourse states on the use, management, and protection of international watercourses. The Convention counts today 16 contracting states—19 short of the number required for entry into force. Since the Convention’s adoption, water pollution and overuse have worsened in many places, and the world’s poorest people are already facing shrinking supplies. The scale of the freshwater challenge is enormous, especially with climate change making water availability more unpredictable and causing more frequent, widespread droughts and floods. Securing the water we need to meet growing human needs, safeguard fragile ecosystems, and maintain economic prosperity is actually one of the most serious and urgent tasks confronting the world in the 21st Century. In order to succeed, we will depend not only on water bodies located entirely within one state’s territory, but also on freshwater systems that mark or cross international boundaries. Transboundary waters are physically shared between two or more countries and are some of the most important and vulnerable freshwater resources on the planet. The states concerned have a responsibility to protect them, and to work together to manage them in a sustainable and integrated manner. But transboundary water cooperation raises major practical and political issues. In the past, nations have addressed those issues by adopting and implementing treaties that govern interstate cooperation on specific international watercourses, lakes, and aquifers. As a result, there are many different watercourse agreements, but most of the world’s transboundary water resources still lack sufficient legal protection, either because no management agreements are in place, existing agreements are inadequate, or because not all states within the basin are parties to existing agreements. Without such protection, it will be difficult, if not impossible, for watercourse states to cope cooperatively with existing and future threats from human pressure and environmental change. Therefore, the UN Watercourses Convention is more relevant than ever. Its widespread ratification and implementation is necessary to ensure that states properly utilise and protect those precious water supplies—now and in the future. WWF, Green Cross, and the UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science join other stakeholders in pressing governments, multilateral organisations, and the international water community at large to take immediate and effective action to achieve this.

The Guiding Legal Regime and Institutional Arrangement of Transboundary Watercourse: A Review

THE GUIDING LEGAL REGIME AND INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENT OF TTRANSBOUNDARY WATERCOURSE: A REVIEW, 2022

Among contentious international law issues, the transboundary watercourse management, which is exhibited with a conflicting states interest, is at the center of international law discussion. In order to vividly grasp the very essence behind such conflicting states interest, it is quite important to understand how-the international water law works, and-its institutional platform arrangements are established. Hence, a comprehensive review concerning the guiding legal regime and institutional arrangement of transboundary watercourse is very crucial. In the above vein, at the backdrop of the major theoretical doctrine of transboundary watercourse, this paper reviewed and addressed, customary international watercourse laws and the 1997 UN transboundary watercourses convention coupled with its incorporated principles. Alongside the aforementioned analysis, the paper reviewed major contentious issues relating to the aforesaid customary laws and principles. Moreover, the paper also reviewed and addressed the modelled categorization of institutional arrangement of transboundary watercourse.