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CE 397 Transboundary Water Resources
International Water Conventions
Water Rights
Though the water running in the stream is everyone's, in the pitcher it is his only who drew it out
John Locke,
Second Treatise on Government, p. 18. Legal instruments for water allocation in
international settings Extend notions of sharing from human
interactions to those between nations
Watercourse
Definition - A system of surface waters and
groundwaters constituting a unitary whole and normally flowing into a common terminus (UN 97)
Transboundary - extends over several nations Once resource has been developed and use of it is
growing, problems defining entitlements to use appear
Transboundary Settings
Nationally Water rights and institutions are devised to
rationally and equitably develop and use the resource
Internationally Water rights don’t exist between countries Laws are enforced by international agreements
between countries, not by an overarching authority
Example: Tigris – Euphrates Shared between
Turkey, Syria, Iraq Turkish projects
motivated search for agreement
Characterized by unilateral development (upstream)
Country positions: Iraq: Historic rights Syria: Shared resource Turkey: Reasonable & Equitable Utilization
Example: Jordan River Basin States and % of total
basin: Jordan (48.44%) Israel (21.35%) West Bank (7.4%) Golan Heights (3.54%) Syria (11.54%) Lebanon (1.34%) Egypt (6.39%)
Basin Population: approximately 13.3
million Characterized by unilateral
development (midstream) and international conflict
Nilehail to thee, O Nile, that issues from the earth and comes to keep Egypt alive! When he rises, then the land is in jubilation, then every belly is in joy -- Anonymous
Basin Countries Burundi Dem Rep of Congo Egypt Eritrea Ethiopia Kenya Rwanda Sudan Tanzania Uganda
Characterized by unilateral development (downstream) and international conflict
Rio Grande/Bravo
The uncertainty of water demand and supply into this century emerges as a potential source of conflict between both the United States and Mexico and between municipal, industrial, and agricultural users on either side of the border.
Water in Transboundary Settings
General rules of international law which guide sharing of water in transboundary settings Principles generally hinge on notions of
Equality, reasonableness, and avoidance of harming ones neighbors
In addition, the rules call for prevention of conflicts through
Information sharing, Notification and consultation of neighboring
riparians of proposed works
International Water Law Helsinki Rules
“Rules on the Uses of the Water of International Rivers” (ILA, Helsinki, 1966)
http://www.internationalwaterlaw.org/IntlDocs/Helsinki_Rules.htm Helsinki Convention
“Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes” (UN-ECE, Helsinki, 1992)
http://www.unece.org/env/water/ UN Convention
“Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses” (UN, New York, 1997)
http://www.internationalwaterlaw.org/IntlDocs/Watercourse_Conv.htm
Intended to be framework documents providing guidance for the construction of more specific multilateral agreements governing particular transboundary situations
Sovereignty and Integrity
Absolute territorial sovereignty: a nation may use any amount of water flowing into its territory for consumption or for disposing of pollution with no regard for adversely affected downstream nations (Harmon doctrine)
Absolute territorial integrity: a downstream nation has a right to an uninterrupted flow of a fixed quantity of usable water from upstream states
Limited territorial sovereignty: Every nation bordering a watercourse has the right to use water flowing in its territory provided that the use does not harm the territory or interests of other nations (riparian rights)
Community of interest: no nation may use waters in its jurisdiction without consultation and cooperation with downstream nations
Equitable use: each nation in a river basin is entitled to a reasonable and equitable share of water consumption and disposal of pollution
Helsinki Rules
Distribution among riparians governed by: Contribution to the drainage basin area Climatic factors Prior use Economic & social needs Population Costs of meeting needs by alternative means Availability of other resources Avoidance of undue waste & damage
downstream
UN Convention 1997
Riparian states can utilize the resource in an equitable and reasonable manner in order to achieve optimal and sustainable utilisation
States are obligated to undertake all necessary measures to ensure that such utilization does not lead to any other riparian states suffering significant harm
Legally ambiguous terms (see Waterbury paper) equitable, reasonable, significant prevent unequivocal allocations of water
Absence of any mechanism for supranational enforcement