The Ilisu Dam and Its Impact on the Mesopotamian Marshes of Iraq: Implications for the Future Directions of International Water Law

The law of international watercourses has been successful in providing some measure of assistance in conflict avoidance and resolution. However, evolution of this body of law, which has been gradual in nature, is facing challenges adapting to climate change and its grave consequences. Climate change is causing the glaciers of the world to melt, and resulting in unpredictable shifts in patterns of rainfall, thus seriously impacting shared watercourses. The history and ecology of the Tigris Euphrates Basin, and the issues surrounding Turkey’s recent impoundment of water behind the Ilisu Dam on the Tigris, provide an example highlighting such challenges. This monograph argues that international collaboration over transboundary watercourses is imperative for maintaining peace and stability and should force us to think of new ways to address these newly emerging and growing challenges in this field.

Implementing International Watercourses Law through the WEF Nexus and SDGs: an Integrated Approach Illustrated in the Zambezi River Basin

International watercourses law, as primarily codified in the UN Watercourses Convention which reflects the basic principles of customary international water law, provides only a broad framework for states to follow. It does not explicitly address the trade-offs of water uses across multiple sectors, such as energy and food, and the interplay between water and sustainable development. These gaps could be filled by turning to policy frameworks such as the Water-Energy-Food Nexus (WEF) and the global development agendas, such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This monograph argues that utilizing these frameworks in an integrated manner, could aid riparian states and non-state actors in the consideration of competing water uses, thereby helping to resolve tensions and promoting cooperation among concerned states, as demonstrated using the Zambezi River Basin as a case study.

African Basin Management Organizations

In Africa, basin organizations are almost indispensable mechanisms for any attempt to achieve the sustainable protection of transboundary water resources. Indeed, transboundary freshwater pollution is a growing concern at the African transboundary basin level. In this context, African basin organizations play a central role in the protection of transboundary water resources and their ecosystems. In order to prevent pollution damage and protect water resources, basin institutions have been entrusted with a variety of functions and tasks in the formation and implementation of pollution control standards. This monograph explores and highlights the increasingly important role of basin organizations in this area and provides some avenues for strengthening the work they perform to protect river systems.

Data Innovations for Transboundary Freshwater Resources Management: Are Obligations Related to Information Exchange Still Needed?

Cross-border data and information exchange is one of the most challenging issues for transboundary water management. While the regular exchange of data and information has been identified as one of the general principles of international water law, only a minority of treaties include direct obligations related to mutual data exchange. Technological innovations related to real-time data availability, space technology and earth observation have led to an increase in quality and availability of hydrological, meteorological and geo-spatial data. These innovations open new avenues for access to water related data and transform data and information exchange globally. This monograph is an exploratory assessment of the potential impacts of these disruptive technologies on data and information exchange obligations in international water law.

Use of Experts in International Freshwater Disputes

International disputes related to freshwater resources are increasing in number and complexity. The rising complexity is necessarily accompanied and compounded by the involvement of experts in dispute resolution. This monograph examines, through case studies of international tribunal decisions, the role and use (or absence) of experts in international freshwater disputes. Through this examination, the authors identify the good practices as well as the lacunae in expert use in disputes of this nature. The monograph goes on to suggest the best practices with respect to expert involvement and use for a more fair and efficient resolution of international water disputes.

Notification concerning Planned Measures on Shared Watercourses

Notification 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.

Adapting Watercourse Agreements to Developments in International Law

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses (UN Watercourses Convention) recommends that states apply and adapt their watercourse agreements to the provisions of the UN Watercourses Convention. To explore the advantages of abiding to crucial developments in international water law, environmental law, and climate change law, this monograph will analyze the most important hydroelectric energy treaty in the South American region, the Itaipu Treaty. The monograph will argue that adapting watercourse agreements to developments in international law provides a way to foster sustainable development for the treaty parties, the countries sharing the watercourse ecosystem, as well as the international community as a whole.

The International Law Association Helsinki Rules

Although the International Law Association (ILA) was established in 1873, it only turned its attention to the internationally shared water resources in 1954, when its study of the applicable principles and rules of international law thereon began. The first ILA committee assigned to this task was the Rivers Committee, which, after a decade of intensive study and through several resolutions and statements, arrived unanimously at a set of articles reflecting customary international law, known as The Helsinki Rules on the Uses of the Waters of International Rivers.The Helsinki Rules approved at the ILA Helsinki Conference in 1966 were soon widely accepted across the globe as a non-binding authoritative source of international water law. This monograph traces the work of ILA leading to the approval of the Helsinki Rules, analyses the Rules, and identifies their influence on, and contribution to the evolution of international water law.

Shared Watercourses and Water Security in South Asia: Challenges of Negotiating and Enforcing Treaties

Shared water resources have influenced South Asia’s geography and history, as well as riparians’ responses to the challenges of utilizing, managing, and protecting such resources. Because of scarcity, population growth, and climate change impacts on all the riparians, national calls for water security have become louder. Consequently, collaboration among the nations of South Asia for ensuring equitable sharing of such water resources has not been optimal. While most countries do not have reliable systems for data generation, those possessing some hydrological data consider them state secrets, restricting their exchange. Even when treaty obligations exist, data-sharing practices are ad hoc, and the range of information shared is limited. Thus, negotiating new transboundary water treaties amongst South Asia’s riparian countries has become a daunting task, and enforcing existing ones remains a real challenge.