UNESCO Future Forum Global Water Futures IHP-HELP Centre ... · Water resource management (drought...

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Facing Future Challenges -- The integral role

of international law in advancing regional

hydro-integration

UNESCO Future Forum

Global Water Futures

UNESCO Paris

12 April 2012 Professor Dr Patricia Wouters

IHP-HELP Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science | under the auspices of UNESCO Slide | 2

Outline of the talk: Global Water Futures

"Facing Future Challenges -- The integral

role of international law in advancing

regional hydro-integration"

1. The Big Picture: future water challenges

2. Role of international law

3. Regional hydro-integration

4. The way forward: Dynamic Cooperation

What are the BIG issues?


Water: there is no life without it

No development

without water

1.2 billion

without safe

drinking

water and

2.4 billion

without

sanitation

widening

water gap

Only a fraction

readily available

1.4 billion km3 of

water on Earth

Water – central to environmental, social and economic issues


Water for all – Rio (1992 & 2012)

“Water is needed in all aspects of life. The general

objective is to make certain that adequate supplies of

water of good quality are maintained for the entire

population of this planet, while preserving the

hydrological, biological and chemical functions of

ecosystems, adapting human activities within the

capacity limits of nature and combating vectors of

water related diseases.”[Chapter 18, Agenda 21, 1992]


• "Pressures on freshwater

are rising, from the

expanding needs of

agriculture, food

production and energy

consumption to pollution

and the weaknesses of

water management." U.N. Secretary General

Ban Ki-moon

• "Climate change is a

real and growing threat.

Without good planning

and adaptation,

hundreds of millions of

people are at risk of

hunger, disease, energy

shortages and poverty.”UN World Water Development

Report 2012 - “Managing Water

under Uncertainty and Risk”

Global water crisis: UN WWDR March 2012


IPCC report – Water & climate change

1. Water resource management (drought & floods)

2. Ecosystems (decline resilience & adaptability)

3. Agriculture and forests (crops & livestock)

4. Coastal systems and low-lying areas(sea-level rise

& salinity)

5. Industry & settlements & society (urban water

supply; infrastructure; floods)

6. Sanitation & human health (quality & availability).

(Bates et al 2009, IPPC report)


Broken Bridges (UNEP 2012 report)

003: Broken Bridges: Reconnecting Science and Policy

(Ranked #4). To cope with global environmental change, our society needs strategies and policies that are underpinned by a strong science and evidence base. But many believe the linkage between the policy and science communities is inadequate or even deteriorating, and that this ‘broken bridge’ is hindering

the development of solutions to global environmental change. This problem requires a new look at the way science is organized and how the science-policy interface can be improved.


Water / Food/ Energy nexus

1 bn suffer from hunger

2.4 bn lack access to

improved sanitation

0.9 bn lack access to safe water

1.5 bn without access

to electricity2.5 bn without access to

modern forms of energy

30-50% � in demand by 2030

40% � in demand by 2030

40% � in demand by 2030


World Economic Forum – Water Risk Matrix

Interdependencies

and linkages

between water and

everything else

• Sustainable

solutions require

coordinated

interdisciplinary

response

Risk Response Network of the

World Economic Forum, Global

Risks 2011 : Sixth Edn (World

Economic Forum 2011) at 2.


Global water security threat

C. J. Vörösmarty et al., 'Global Threats to Human Water Security and River Biodiversity', 467 Nature (2010) 7315, 555.

• Water Security – ‘the state of having secure access to water; the assured freedom from poverty of, or want for, water for life.’[P. Wouters, 2005]

• 80% of population exposed to high levels of threat to water security…


Conflicts-of-use over water (environment)?

The integral role of

International Law


Promoting a ‘Larger Freedom’

“In a world of interconnected threats and challenges, it is

in each country’s self-interest that all of them are

addressed effectively. Hence, the cause of larger freedom

can only be advanced by broad, deep and sustained global

cooperation among states. Such cooperation is possible if

every country’s policies take into account not only the

needs of its own citizens but also the needs of others. This

kind of cooperation not only advances everyone’s interests

but also recognizes our common humanity.”

UN Sec General Report, In Larger Freedom: Towards Development,

Security and Human Rights for All (UN 2005).


1. The imperative of

collective action

2. Ensuring

environmental

sustainability

3. The implementation

challenge

In Larger Freedom: Grand challenges


International Law – Law of Nations

“to maintain international peace and security … and ... the fundamental freedoms of all …”

UN Charter


International Water Law / Law of Nations

Law of nations

Rule of law

Water securityHydro-

solidarity

Transboundary waters

Hydro-diplomacy


Water conflicts/peace agenda

“Fierce competition for freshwater may well

become a source of conflict and wars in the

future.” (Annan, 2001)

“But the water problems of our world need

not be only a cause of tension; they can also be

a catalyst for cooperation [...] If we work

together, a secure and sustainable water future

can be ours.” (Annan, 2002)


Role of International Law

International law is clearly much more than a simple

set of rules. It is a culture in the broadest sense in

that it constitutes a method of communicating

claims, counter-claims, expectations and

anticipations as well as providing a framework for

assessing and prioritising such demands.

(Shaw, 2003 )


" If the daunting challenges now

facing the world are to be

overcome, it must be in important

part through the medium of rules,

internationally agreed,

internationally implemented and, if

necessary, internationally enforced.

That is what the rule of law requires

in the international order. ”

Lord Bingham The Rule of Law (2010)

Role of Law = Rule of Law


(Water) law serves three key functions

1. It defines and identifies the legal rights and obligations tied to

water use(broadly defined) and provides the prescriptive

parameters for resource development and management;

2. It provides tools for ensuring the continuous integrity of the

regime – that is, through monitoring and assessment of

compliance and implementation, dispute prevention, and

settlement;

3. It allows for modifications of the existing regime, in order to be

able to adapt to changing needs and circumstances.

(Wouters 2000)


how

why

what who

Law as platform for integration

Role of Law:

collecting,

communicating &

clarifying (before,

during and after)

Information

Institutions

Implementation

Regional Hydro-integration


International law within a context

Human

National

Regional

Int’l / Global

Po

liti

cal

Eco

no

mic

So

cie

tal

En

vir

on

me

nta

l

Sca

le

Disciplinary Interface


Sovereignty challenges: transboundary waters

• Three allocation theories

States must respect sovereigntyof other states

Equal rights of use – equitable and reasonable use

Limited territorial sovereignty

Unlimited use regardless of the needs of downstream states

Absolute territorial sovereignty

No interference withnatural flow and conditions

Absolute territorial integrity

vs.

..


Legal Analytical Framework – platform for integration

Substantive Rules

Equitable and

reasonable use

Implementation

Procedural Rules

Institutional mechanisms

Dispute avoidance

/settlement

Scope

Defines rights &

responsibilities of users

Ensures compliance and

accommodates changes

in circumstances

What uses?

What waters?

What users?

Implementing “Equitable and Reasonable Utilisation”

– the Legal Assessment Model (LAM)

Mozambique

PalestineChina

Law Hydrology Economics

The Legal Assessment Model

Phase I

Defining

Scope

Phase II

Data

Collection

Data Collection Tools

•Legal Audit Scheme

•Relevant Factors Matrix

•Glossary of TermsPhase III

Evaluation

•Legal

•Hydrological

•Economic

•Methods

•Techniques

•Legal ParametersPhase IV Options

ensuring equitable entitlement

Defining Scope

Evaluation


Water Security: Legal Analytical Framework

Availability

Access

Addressing

Conflicts-of-

use

WSAF:

1. Legal

framework

2. Informed by

science

3. Dynamic

What?

Who?Why?


International Law and Water Security

Availability

• Quantity

• Quality

• Control

Access

• Rights

• Legal framework

• Enforcement

Addressing

Conflicts-of-use

• Governance

• Equity

• Dispute settlement

Water Security Analytical Framework

The way forward:

Dynamic Cooperation


The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation

Bertrand Russell

Addressing Water Security: Dynamic Cooperation


• We should view every regional

watershed or aquifer as an

opportunity for stronger

international cooperation.

• Access to reliable supplies of

clean water is a matter of

human security. It’s also a

matter of national security.

• There could be huge political

and economic benefits from

regional water diplomacy.

• Water is actually a test case for

preventive diplomacy.

5 streams of action

1. Capacity development (local,

national, regional)

2. Elevate diplomatic efforts and

we need to better coordinate

them

3. Mobilizing financial support

4. Harness the power of science

and technology

5. Broadening the scope of our

partnerships

Dynamic Cooperation: Agenda-setting


• New theory of

cooperation? Global

community-of-interests

(obligations erga omnes)

• Applied and theoretical

approaches to achieving a

larger freedom

• Law, science & policy

interface that unlocks

uncertainty and risk

Super-Cooperators theory?


Building a global community - capacity tower

E-security

Regional & Global

National Capacity

Local E-Leaders• Research

• Teaching


Higher Education and Training mission

UNESCO HELP programme + IHP

Tweed Basin as HELP demonstration basin

& Dundee leadership on European HELP basins

Impact

UNESCO HELP basins worldwide network

10/04/2012 Governing Board Meeting 38

THANK YOU !Dundee

UNESCO HELP Centre forWater Law, Policy & Science

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