International Conventions and Treaties
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses (UN Watercourses Convention) holds an important position in the development of International Water Law (IWL) and has influenced many river basins of the world.
The Convention became effective on 17th August 2014, seventeen years after its adoption by the UN General Assembly in 1997.
International Conventions and Treaties
1. The UN Water courses Convention (UNWC)
The UNWC was proposed as a response to the acknowledgment that a global legal instrument was needed to bolster cooperation between states over their shared water resources and mitigate the potential for conflict.
The UNWC was also meant to serve as a global treaty whose role was to supportother watercourse treaties by acting as a template and filling the gaps where coverage was lacking (McCaffrey, 1998).
Along with the UNECE Helsinki Convention, the UNWC is the only global treaty governing trans-boundary watercourses. It provides rules that can be tailored to the distinct circumstances of each international watercourse and gives liberty to watercourse states to take the actions that suit their needs and interests as required by the singularity of the situation (McCaffrey. 1998).
The UNWC, which is now widely recognized as the most authoritative source of international water law, is a pivotal document of IWL in a number of ways: it creates a strong framework for water governance arrangements and a basic common ground that enhances predictability and encourages reciprocity (Rieu-Clarke and Lopez, 2013).
It codifies and clarifies existing norms and develops emerging principles of customary IWL; it constitutes a model that can guide the interpretation of other treaties and the negotiation and drafting of future ones (Rocha et al., 2013); and, it has informed the judgments of international and regional courts (McCaffrey. 1998).
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2. The UNECE Water Convention
The UNECE Water Convention aims to ensure the sustainable use of trans-boundary water resources by facilitating cooperation on trans- boundary surface and ground waters and strengthens their protection and sustainable management. Initially negotiated as a regional instrument, it has been amended to become universally available.
The Convention on the Protection and Use of Trans-boundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention) was adopted in Helsinki in 1992 and entered into force in 1996.
Almost all countries sharing trans-boundary waters in the region of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) are Parties to the Convention. The Convention obliges Riparian Parties to prevent, control and reduce trans-boundary impact, use trans-boundary waters in a reasonable and equitable way and ensure their sustainable management.
In summary, the UN Watercourses and the UNECE Conventions hold important positions in the development of International Water Law (IWL) and water laws in many countries and regions of the world.
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