International law in the water security discourse

2015 ◽  
pp. 45-76
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Security Discourse

scholarly journals Water Security and International Law

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Cullet ◽  
Lovleen Bhullar ◽  
Sujith Koonan
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Water Insecurity ◽  
Security Discourse ◽  
Hybrid Framework ◽  
International Water Law ◽  
International Water ◽  
Dominant Paradigm

International law seeks to ensure water security and to prevent or resolve conflicts leading to water insecurity. This relationship is based on a hybrid framework comprising binding and nonbinding instruments. The multi-scalar dimensions of water (in)security are recognized, but further engagement is required. The link between international law and water (in)security is considered primarily through the lens of international water law, which focuses on transboundary (surface) watercourses. Groundwater—the other main source of water and determinant of water (in)security—receives little attention. Further, the traditional state-centric approach, with its emphasis on sovereignty and cooperation, remains the dominant paradigm despite some attempts to redefine it. Several other branches of international law present opportunities for expanding international law's engagement with the water security discourse. Finally, the climate change challenge requires a reconsideration of international law's approach to water (in)security while considering the global dimensions of water. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Law and Social Science, Volume 17 is October 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

International Water Law in Central Asia: The Nature of Substantive Norms and what Flows from It

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 169-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dinara ZIGANSHINA
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Aral Sea ◽  
Aral Sea Basin ◽  
Transboundary Waters ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
International Water Law ◽  
International Water ◽  
Reasonable Use

Water security issues arising from the Central Asian states’ heavy reliance on, and competition over, the shared waters of the Aral Sea Basin have attracted urgent political and academic discussion. However, any analysis of the role that international law plays in addressing these substantive complex problems remains incomplete and imprecise. This article sets the stage for a deeper understanding of international law and of its potential operation in the context of the transboundary waters in the Aral Sea Basin. It seeks to explore the substantive norms operating in the field, namely, the rule of equitable and reasonable use, the no-harm rule, and obligations relating to environmental protection, with a view to understanding how these substantive norms work and ascertaining what conduct is required of the states with respect to their shared watercourses.

Water Security and Armed Conflict

2020 ◽  
pp. 125-144
Author(s):  
Rhett B. Larson
Keyword(s):  
Water Stress ◽  
International Law ◽  
River Water ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Food Prices ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ancient Civilizations ◽  
Human Conflict

Water has not just been the locus of human cooperation, as seen in our early ancient civilizations arising along the banks of desert rivers. It has also been the geography of our conflicts. Indeed, the role of water in human conflict can be seen even in our languages. For example, the word “rival” comes from the Latin word rivalis, meaning those who share a river. Water has been a strategic target and even a weapon in war. In very rare instances, disputes over water have escalated into violence. Water stress results in instability, rising food prices, and desperation, which are often dry kindling for radicalization. This chapter discusses the history of water and violence, why water is more often a source of cooperation than conflict, and the role international law has, and may, play in continuing the pattern of water as a catalyst for peace.

The Influence of Narratives on Negotiations and Resolution of the Upper Jordan River Conflict

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 293-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Zeitoun ◽  
Michael Talhami ◽  
Karim Eid-Sabbagh
Keyword(s):  
Water Security ◽  
Security Studies ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
Jordan River ◽  
Missed Opportunities ◽  
Environmental Narratives ◽  
Security Discourse ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Colonial Archives ◽  
The Cost

Abstract This article tests the assertion that narratives constructed around international environmental issues serve to promote or reduce opportunities for their resolution. It does this by interpreting the influence of Lebanese and Israeli environmental narratives on resolution of and indirect negotiations over the Upper Jordan River conflict. Colonial archives, key informant interviews and academic and policy literature serve to identify and critically investigate the narratives. An official Lebanese narrative of adherence to international law is found to contradict the more popular nationalist narrative of Israeli ‘theft’ of the flows. An Israeli water security discourse is found to be built on earlier narratives that have long held water (and the Upper Jordan flows in particular) as both a physically scarce and strategic commodity necessary for continued existence of the Israeli state. Basic discourse, security studies and negotiation theory is developed to gauge the influence of the narratives during the 2002 informal negotiations over the Wazzani pumping station dispute. The more influential Israeli discourse is found to establish the starting point (no discussion on re-allocation of the flows) and process of the informal negotiations. The narratives are found to open or shut windows for resolution of the conflict, by politicizing or securitizing ideas about the flows, respectively. The conflict management approach favored by US and EU mediators is seen to align with the more dominant discourse, at the cost of enduring asymmetry and tensions, and missed opportunities for both resolution of the conflict and promotion of fair water-sharing norms.

scholarly journals Water Security and International Law

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuomas Kuokkanen
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
Water Law ◽  
Rules And Principles ◽  
International Water Law ◽  
International Water ◽  
The Relationship

The article explores water security from an international law point of view. The article argues that in order to better understand water security it is important to focus on the function of international water law. Even though water security is a relatively recent concept it was latent in the process of the evolution of international water law.  In addition, the article examines the relationship between man and water from the point of view of water security. The article seeks to answer the question: how does international water law deal with that relationship? Is water only an object to be utilized and protected or has the relationship become more complex and ambivalent through the occurrence of various extreme events. Furthermore, the article places the concept of water security into a historiographical and substantive context. It explores three broad approaches by international law to water issues: general international law, the regulatory approach and the management approach. The article argues that they are all relevant to water security. Finally, the article seeks to demonstrate that even though water security has emerged as a new notion, this does not mean that international law does not include rules and principles relevant for water security. Indeed, many general principles of international law are applicable in the context of water security. In addition, specific regulations dealing with water quantity and quality issues have been developed in international environmental law, although they are not necessarily labelled as water security rules. Moreover, various risk management methods have been elaborated to deal with water-related disasters and crises. Reciprocally, water security arguments are not necessarily new notions but rather reflect already existing concepts and principles. 

scholarly journals Payment for Ecosystem Services and the Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Securing Resource Flows for the Affluent?

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Carlo Rodríguez-de-Francisco ◽  
Bibiana Duarte-Abadía ◽  
Rutgerd Boelens
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Political Ecology ◽  
Poverty Alleviation ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Payment For Ecosystem Services ◽  
Hydropower Project ◽  
Security Discourse ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Scalar Politics

Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) is not only a prominent, globally promoted policy to foster nature conservation, but also increasingly propagated as an innovative and self-sustaining governance instrument to support poverty alleviation and to guarantee water, food, and energy securities. In this paper, we evaluate a PES scheme from a multi-scalar and political-ecology perspective in order to reveal different power dynamics across the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus perspective. For this purpose, we analyze the PES scheme implemented in the Hidrosogamoso hydropower project in Colombia. The paper shows that actors’ strongly divergent economic and political power is determinant in defining how and for whom the Nexus-related water, food, and energy securities are materialized. In this case, the PES scheme and its scalar politics, as fostered by the private/public hydropower alliance, are instrumental to guaranteeing water security for the hydropower scheme, which is a crucial building-block of Colombia’s energy security discourse. For this, the water and food securities of the adjacent, less powerful communities are sacrificed. Examining the on-the-ground politics of WEF Nexus is key to understanding their impact on equitable and sustainable governance of water, energy, and food in the everyday lives of millions of resource users. We conclude that politicizing the Nexus can help to trace both the flows of resources and the flows of power.

scholarly journals The Role of the Courts in Advancing Water Security in South Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 1-35
Author(s):  
Bronwen Qumbu
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Applicable Law ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
Security Discourse ◽  
Laws And Policies

This article explores the role which courts could play in promoting water security in South Africa. As the country is one of the driest on the continent, its water security issues remain at the forefront of the service delivery conundrum. Therefore, issues of water security often need to be litigated to arrive at a favourable and just outcome. This is where the focus of this article lies. Based on a critical analysis of the legal framework governing water security and relevant case law, the article argues that courts could promote water security by discharging certain duties. Firstly, the courts must uphold the applicable law by weighing the rights and interests that relate to water and must then make reasonable, just and equitable findings. Secondly, the courts must solve water-related disputes between parties by interpreting and applying the applicable laws and policies. It is submitted that by executing these two functions, the courts contribute to a deeper understanding of the water security discourse. Finally, it is argued that through the execution of their traditional judicial functions, courts contribute to the making of law that directly affects water security.

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