Water Laws for Water Security in the Twenty-First Century

Abstract

Concern for the long-term sustainability of water resources development and use has gained definitive prominence on the agenda of the world community at the Second World Water Forum and Ministerial Conference held at The Hague in March 2000. The concept and goal of water security were loosely articulated there, by reference to ‘key challenges’, namely, meeting basic needs; securing the food supply; protecting ecosystems; sharing water resources; managing risks; valuing water; and governing water wisely. Governance, in particular, attracted attention and debate at the International Freshwater Conference held in Bonn, in December 2001, preparatory to the United Nations World Summit for Sustainable Development (Johannesburg, 2002) and to the Third World Water Forum (Kyoto, 2003). Governance has also attracted the attention of the water ministers of African countries meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, in April 2002, and it has been echoed in the ensuing Abuja Ministerial Declaration on Water committing African countries to put in place ‘arrangements for the governance of water affairs at all levels’. It is readily apparent that water security, and the governance issues which that concept and goal trigger in train, will be the mainstay of much contemporary international and domestic discourse about water resources. However, the authoritative pronouncements recalled earlier invariably fail to pin down with accuracy the concepts of ‘water security’, and of ‘good governance’ in relation to water. The ‘Recommendations for Action’ issued from the Bonn Freshwater Conference articulate seventeen priority actions in the field of water-related governance at the domestic and the international levels, which, in effect, help substantiate that elusive concept and translate it into measurable goals. Implicitly, action, in particular, at the domestic level is underpinned by legislation for the management and development of water resources, setting out a web of rights and obligations for the resource users, for government, and the members of civil society. This chapter will focus on such legislation, and, in particular, on the requirements for a supportive legal framework for the ‘priority actions’ recommended by the Bonn conference. A comparative state-of-the-art review and analysis of the contemporary legal framework for the management of water resources will first be made, and salient features and main trends highlighted.