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CE 397 Transboundary Water Resources

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.

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CE 397 Transboundary Water Resources

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  1. CE 397Transboundary Water Resources International Water Conventions

  2. 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

  3. 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

  4. 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

  5. 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

  6. 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

  7. Nile hail 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

  8. 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.

  9. 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

  10. 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  

  11. 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

  12. 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

  13. 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 significantharm • Legally ambiguous terms (see Waterbury paper) • equitable, reasonable, significant • prevent unequivocal allocations of water • Absence of any mechanism for supranational enforcement

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