United Nations Watercourses Convention Research Articles

China's Transboundary Water Treaty Practices: A Comparative Study with the United Nations Watercourses Convention

China's Transboundary Water Treaty Practices: A Comparative Study with the United Nations Watercourses Convention

The Dispute over the Status and Use of the Waters of the Silala case and the customary rules on the definition of international watercourse

The International Court of Justice is to determine, in the Dispute over the Status and Use of the Waters of the Silala case, the international status of the waters in question by customary rules of international law. In its identification of the existence and contents of the applicable rules on the definition of international watercourse, the Court may refer to the United Nations Watercourses Convention, other international instruments, State practice and international jurisprudence. The decisive fact for finding an international watercourse is that the components of the watercourse are situated in two or more States. Difficulties may lie in the determination of the components of the watercourse and their physical relationships. The Court may have to decide whether the status of waters can be altered by artificial means by certain general principles of the law of international watercourses.

Predicting and Assessing Cooperation in Multilateral River Basins

This study reexamines a model of cooperation for transboundary waters derived from considerations of transaction costs and international relations. The model of Lee and Lee (2013) is revised and operationalized for quantitative testing. Results are analyzed based on an independently developed index reflecting the principled contents of international fresh water agreements. Fifty-two agreements from four basins were coded for core principles of the 1997 United Nations Watercourses Convention, along with related elements indicating deeper levels of institutionalization, to generate index values. We find support for the model’s predictions regarding the Rhine-Meuse and Mekong basins examined in the initial study; however, extending the model to two further basins is less straightforward. Nonetheless, the model may provide insight into factors affecting the management of shared waters, and considerations of certain qualifying factors regarding its application to the Amazon and Incomati basins lend support to its predictive validity. The index developed here may offer a detailed means of assessing the level of cooperation present within any given multilateral river basin.

Notification concerning Planned Measures on Shared Watercourses

AbstractNotification of co-riparian states of planned measures on shared watercourses has been widely accepted as an established principle of international water law, and is codified and elaborated in the United Nations Watercourses Convention. However, despite this wide acceptance, issues have arisen in operationalizing notification, and in dealing with the different types of responses that may ensue following notification. The World Bank has been financing projects on international watercourses since its inception in the late 1940s, and has built an extensive wealth of policies and experience in this field. This monograph discusses the historical and legal foundations of notification under international law, analyses the policies and implementation experience of the World Bank thereon, and identifies comparators and synergies between the provisions of the Watercourses Convention and the Bank policies and practice.

A New Scenario-Based Framework for Conflict Resolution in Water Allocation in Transboundary Watersheds

One of the main causes of water conflicts in transboundary watersheds all over the world is represented by the increasing water demand due to urban, industrial, and agricultural development. In this context, water scarcity plays a critical role since, during a drought period, water supply is not sufficient to cover the demand of all water uses. In this work, we have conceptualized and developed a new scenario-based framework able to improve the sustainability and equity of water allocation among two or more riparian countries. The proposed approach is in accordance with the United Nations Watercourses Convention. It considers a hydraulic/hydrologic model, a water-management model, and combines them with multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) and what if scenario analysis (WISA). The suggested framework was applied to the transboundary watershed of Cuareim/Quaraí river (Uruguay/Brazil) to tackle a real water-sharing conflict. It resulted in being very flexible in exploring various policy options and test and quantifying them with different scenarios to reach an objective and impartial decision in a water-sharing issue. This framework can effectively be applied to any other transboundary watershed to resolve any possible conflict related to water-allocation/water-management matter.

Non-discrimination and liability for transboundary acid mine drainage pollution of South Africa’s rivers: could the UN Watercourses Convention open Pandora’s mine?

ABSTRACTIn 1997, South Africa became an inaugural party to the United Nations Watercourses Convention. With the convention entering into force in August 2014, South Africa is now bound by all of its provisions, including those relating to ‘no significant harm’ and liability for transboundary pollution. Article 32, the principle of ‘non-discrimination’, provides recourse for foreigners experiencing or under imminent threat of transboundary harm to seek compensation in the jurisdiction where the alleged harm originated. This article investigates the possibility under the convention of pursuing liability for transboundary acid mine drainage pollution originating in South Africa harming the Olifants-Limpopo Rivers.

The Guarani Aquifer Accord

The Guarani Aquifer Accord of 2010 represents a plan for the multiple, sustainable, equitable and reasonable use of the water of the Guarani Aquifer System and a pledge to prevent significant harm to this vast natural resource in South America. Based on good science and good international law, this regional agreement was reached by Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, acknowledging the environmental, economic and geopolitical importance of the underground water linking the four states known as the “Guarani Aquifer System.” The Guarani Aquifer Accord (“Acordo sobre o Aquífero Guarani” or “Acuerdo Aquífero Guarani”) is the first regional treaty to be modeled after the International Law Commission Draft Articles on Transboundary Aquifers of 2008, which address “confined” aquifers that are outside the scope of the United Nations Watercourses Convention of 1997. This article explores the Guarani Aquifer Accord’s provisions for exchanges of scientific and technical information, notification and consultation, direct negotiations, referral to a joint commission to be created once the Accord enters into force for evaluation and recommendations in case of a dispute, and the option of a subsequent arbitration protocol to be negotiated in future. Taken together, procedural requirements and the provisions in the Accord in favor of diplomatic and political resolution of future disputes over the use and protection of the water may forestall the need to resort to litigation in international courts or tribunals. This article concludes that, even absent an additional protocol for arbitration of disputes and absent the establishment of a joint commission to facilitate information exchange, convene regular meetings and build trust as contained in the agreement, the Guarani Aquifer Accord provides a framework for regional cooperation designed to avoid or resolve conflicts.

Unravelling Cooperation: The Role and Limits of Cooperation in the Governance of International Watercourses

Fresh water is one of the most fundamental natural resources on the planet for human beings as well as ecosystems more generally. This thesis explores ongoing efforts in international law to govern international watercourse systems more effectively. These efforts have been given recent impetus by the long-awaited entry into force in August 2014 of the first global, comprehensive treaty governing international watercourses – the 1997 United Nations Watercourses Convention (UNWC). The UNWC largely reflects customary international law and given that the UNWC still only has thirty-five State parties, custom continues to play an important role in the governance of many major international watercourses.This thesis focuses on the central notion of cooperation in the field of customary international watercourses law. It first highlights the prominence of the vague, multi-layered and contested concept of cooperation and attempts to unpack it. In doing so, it identifies four distinct manifestations of cooperation and reveals the special emphasis the literature has placed on the fourth manifestation: specific procedural obligations of cooperation.This thesis ultimately applies the assertions made in the literature about the binding and effective nature of customary rules of cooperation to a current case study: a dispute between Ethiopia and Egypt over the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Nile River. Through this case study, this thesis posits that the specific obligations of cooperation identified (notably notification and consultation) sit uneasily in customary international law. Lingering uncertainty about the content of such obligations, in both the literature and by relevant States themselves, highlights the importance of codifying and institutionalising rules of cooperation, so crucial to watercourse management, in order to improve their overall effectiveness.

Entry into force of the UN Watercourses Convention: why should it matter?

The United Nations Watercourses Convention entered into force on 17 August 2014, following a long and complex journey that dates back to 1970 when the UN referred the matter to its legal arm, the International Law Commission. This article follows the Convention through that long and turbulent road, examines its main provisions and analyses the reasons for the delay of its entry into force. It concludes by answering the question of why entry into force of the Convention should indeed matter.

The Environmental Protection of Wetlands under International Law

The environmental protection of wetlands under international law is accomplished through various methods including conventions, customary principles of international water law and decisions of the International Court of Justice. The most representative instrument is the Ramsar Convention, which specifically focuses on wetlands protection through conservation and “wise use” of such an ecosystem and its resources. The principles of international water law codified in the 1997 United Nations Watercourses Convention provide a management approach to be applied to each watercourse, requiring all watercourse States to ensure the protection and preservation of ecosystems through the application of principles of cooperation, reasonable utilization and causing no harm along the entirety of each basin. An analysis of these instruments reveals the best practices to manage wetlands in transboundary basins around the world.

The International Law Commission's flawed Draft Articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers: the way forward

In 2008 the United Nations International Law Commission finalized Draft Articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers; they were annexed to a United Nations General Assembly resolution later that year. In Autumn 2011, the General Assembly will decide on the final form of these articles. Unfortunately, the articles overlap with the 1997 United Nations Watercourses Convention and contain an even more serious flaw: they introduce the novel and potentially dangerous concept that a state has sovereignty over the portion of a transboundary aquifer located within its territory. After providing background on the Draft Articles, this paper proposes possible remedies for these problems.

The Helsinki Rules, the UN Watercourses Convention and the Berlin Rules: Perspectives on International Water Law

Shared water resources remain the most important area without a universal treaty regulating the uses and protection of such resources. This is notwithstanding the extensive work of two scholarly non-governmental organizations, the Institute of International Law and the International Law Association, as well as the work of the International Law Commission of the United Nations. The work of those institutions resulted in some basic international water law rules, such as the Helsinki and Berlin Rules, and the United Nations Watercourses Convention. The paper analyzes those instruments, discusses the basic areas of similarities and differences among them, and examines the basic challenges facing international water law.

The United Nations Watercourses Convention Ten Years Later: Why Has its Entry into Force Proven Difficult?

After about 27 years of extensive preparatory work and formal and informal deliberations, the United Nations General Assembly adopted on May 21, 1997, by a large majority, the Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses. The adoption of the Convention was hailed as a major breakthrough and as an historical moment in the evolution of international water law. However, ten years after its adoption, the Convention has not yet entered into force. This article reviews the history, basic features and status of the Convention, analyzes the reasons for the reluctance of states to become parties to it, and examines its role and prospects.