The United Nations International Law Commission’s Draft Articles on Transboundary Aquifers

Abstract

Despite being an important source of supply for basic human needs and development, groundwater has been largely out of sight and out of mind. Activities worldwide are rapidly increasing the pressure on this important but invisible resource, causing quantity depletion and quality degradation. A significant development in the process of helping to make groundwater governance visible was the development in 2008 of the United Nations International Law Commission’s Draft Articles on Transboundary Aquifers. This article considers the implications of the Draft Articles from the perspective of international law, reflecting in particular on the overlap with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non- Navigational Uses of International Watercourses, the principle of limited sovereignty in the context of shared groundwater resources and the possible future form of the Draft Articles. It also considers the work of other international institutions which have supported the Commission’s work. This article concludes that the Draft Articles have struck the right balance and have provided an important step forward in helping to make this invisible resource visible in international law. This article has been prepared in anticipation of the 2022 UN World Water Day on ‘Groundwater: Making the Invisible Visible’ and the International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre Groundwater Summit on 22–23 March 2022.