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International Agreements on Transboundary Freshwater Resources

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Nile Water Rights

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Abstract

A particular challenge facing international water law is the diversity of the geographic, climatic, hydrological, and socio-economic conditions along shared watercourses. International water law must accommodate these and provide rules for effective transboundary watercourse cooperation. This chapter shows how treaties approach this challenge at three mutually influential levels: global, regional, and basin-specific. Notably, the 1997 United Nations Watercourses Convention is the only international treaty that was negotiated at the global level on the uses of transboundary watercourses, establishing abstract rules adaptable to particular situations for any watercourse. This chapter presents the Convention’s main provisions and highlights the Nile riparian states’ interventions during its negotiation. Regional agreements can promote the development and harmonization of watercourse agreements within a region, but ultimately watercourse-specific agreements are indispensable for concretizing the principles of international water law and any existing regional water agreements for a particular watercourse. As shown here, the impact of the United Nations Watercourses Convention on treaty practice concerning individual watercourses is noteworthy. The establishment of joint river commissions to manage shared watercourses under such treaties has proven to be exceedingly beneficial.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    FAO (1978, 1984). Recent treaties are included in the International Freshwater Treaties Database of the Oregon State University at https://transboundarywaters.science.oregonstate.edu/content/international-freshwater-treaties-database (accessed 27 June 2019). So far, groundwater has received relatively little attention in treaty practice. McCaffrey (2007), pp. 484–485, assumes that one of the main reasons for this is that, unlike surface water, groundwater is not visible, and only recently have states become sufficiently aware of the physical interaction between groundwater and surface water. On state practice concerning groundwater, see generally McCaffrey (1991), pp. 55–57.

  2. 2.

    These include for example the Accord concernant la protection de la Meuse (signed 26 April 1994, entered into force 1 January 1998), replaced by the Accord international sur la Meuse (signed 3 December 2002, entered into force 1 December 2006), at http://www.meuse-maas.be/CIM/media/ACCORDS/accord-gand_f.pdf (accessed 26 June 2019); Agreement on the Protection of the River Scheldt (signed 26 April 1994, entered into force 1 January 1998), ILM 34 (1995), p. 859; Convention on Cooperation for the Protection and Sustainable Use of the River Danube (signed 29 June 1994, entered into force 22 October 1998), OJ L 342, 12 December 1997, p. 19; Convention on the International Commission for the Protection of the River Oder against Pollution (signed 11 April 1996, entered into force 28 April 1999), OJ L 100, 15 April 1999, p. 21; Convenio sobre cooperación para la protección y el aprovechamiento sostenible de las aquas de las cuencas hidrográficas hispano-portuguesas (Convention on the Cooperation for the Protection and Sustainable Use of the Waters of the Luso-Spanish River Basins) (opened for signature 20 November 1998, entered into force 31 January 2000), available at http://www.fao.org/faolex/en/ (accessed 26 June 2019); Convention on the Protection of the Rhine (signed 12 April 1999, entered into force 1 January 2003), OJ L 289, 16 November 2000, p. 31. See also Sands et al. (2013), p. 319.

  3. 3.

    Boisson de Chazournes (2013), p. 27; ‘Abd al-‘Āl (2010), p. 111.

  4. 4.

    See para. 5 of the preamble of the UN Watercourses Convention. The understanding as a framework convention in the case of the UN Watercourses Convention does not correspond to the usual nature of a framework convention under international environmental law, as it does not include binding minimum standards for the contracting parties that watercourse-specific agreements would have to comply with. See also Hey (1998), pp. 292–293.

  5. 5.

    Report of the Sixth Committee convening as the Working Group of the Whole, UN Doc. A/51/869, GAOR, 51st Sess., 11 April 1997, Agenda item 144, para. 8 “Statements of understanding: As regards Article 3(a)”. On the understanding of the UN Watercourses Convention in this sense, see among Egyptian commentators e.g. ‘Abd al-‘Āl (2010), p. 111; and among Sudanese commentators ‘Alī Ṭāhā (2005), pp. 192–193.

  6. 6.

    See also Boisson de Chazournes (2013), p. 65.

  7. 7.

    Ibid., pp. 48–49. For a detailed analysis of the interrelations between legal developments at the universal, regional, and basin level, see Boisson de Chazournes (2009).

  8. 8.

    See also Boisson de Chazournes (2013), p. 51; Sands (1998), p. 86; Bulto (2009), p. 292.

  9. 9.

    UN Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses, UN Doc. A/RES/51/869, 21 May 1997, ILM 36 (1997), p. 700. See generally on the UN Watercourses Convention McCaffrey (2007), pp. 359–381; Tanzi and Arcari (2001); Hey, 1998, pp. 291–300; McIntyre and Tignino (2013), pp. 286–302.

  10. 10.

    Boisson de Chazournes (2005), p. 23; McCaffrey (2007), p. 377; Sands et al. (2013), p. 312. But see Hey (1998), pp. 291–292.

  11. 11.

    Boisson de Chazournes (2005), p. 23; Türk (2012), pp. 1048–1049.

  12. 12.

    Current status of ratification at https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXVII-12&chapter=27&clang=_en (accessed 26 June 2019). Pursuant to Art. 36, para. 1 UN Watercourses Convention, 35 ratifications were required for the entry into force of the Convention. The fact that this number of ratifications was not achieved for a long time is also attributed to the fact that many countries are not interested in ratifying the Watercourses Convention, for a variety of reasons: Some may already have signed agreements for their transboundary watercourses and therefore consider the Convention neither necessary nor advantageous for them. Other states may have assumed that their position in current disputes is more advantageous if they are not party to the Convention. Finally, a number of countries are not riparian states of an international watercourse and therefore have little interest in becoming contracting parties. McCaffrey (2007), p. 374.

  13. 13.

    ILC, Draft Articles on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses and commentaries thereto adopted by the Drafting Committee on second reading, YBILC 1994, Vol. II, Pt. 2, p. 89, para. 222. The provisions of the Convention closely follow the text of the draft articles of the ILC.

  14. 14.

    Art. 13, para. 1(a) of the Charter of the United Nations entrusts the General Assembly to initiate studies and make recommendations for the purpose of “encouraging the progressive development of international law and its codification”. Accordingly, in 1947, the General Assembly established the ILC as a permanent subsidiary organ with the objective of promoting the progressive development of international law and its codification; see UN GA Res. A/RES/174 (II), 21 November 1947. See also the revised current statute of the ILC, UN Doc. A/CN.4/4/Rev.2 (1982).

  15. 15.

    Important preparatory work that informed the development of the ILC’s draft articles for the UN Watercourses Convention was carried out by two international non-governmental organizations, the Institute of International Law and the ILA, in particular the ILA Helsinki Rules of 1966. See McCaffrey (2007), p. 377.

  16. 16.

    The Sixth Committee is the primary forum for discussing legal questions within the United Nations General Assembly, http://www.un.org/en/ga/sixth/ (accessed 26 June 2019).

  17. 17.

    UN GA Res. 49/52, 9 December 1994, Draft Articles on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses, p. 2, para. 3.

  18. 18.

    UN GA, Verbatim record, 99th plenary meeting, 21 May 1997, UN Doc. A/51/PV.99, pp. 7–8.

  19. 19.

    McCaffrey (2007), p. 375.

  20. 20.

    Bulto (2009), p. 317. For a detailed discussion of the opinions of the individual Nile riparian states, in particular Egypt, vis-à-vis the UN Watercourses Convention, see Maḥfūẓ Muḥammad (2009), pp. 327–339.

  21. 21.

    UN GA, Press Release, General Assembly adopts Convention on Law of Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses, UN Doc. GA/9248, 21 May 1997, Annex p. 9.

  22. 22.

    See ‘Abd al-‘Āl (2010), pp. 102–103.

  23. 23.

    To the same effect see Abseno (2013), p. 196. On the influence of the UN Watercourses Convention on the negotiation and content of the CFA, see Chap. 8, passim.

  24. 24.

    It is important to note that international water law has further evolved since the adoption of the 1997 UN Watercourses Convention. More recent developments include the recognition of an obligation under international law to carry out a transboundary environmental impact assessment and the recognition of a human right to water. For a detailed analysis of the conformity of the UN Watercourses Convention with recent developments in customary international law, see McIntyre and Tignino (2013), pp. 286–302.

  25. 25.

    Caponera (2007), p. 221; Hey (1998), pp. 294–295; Türk (2012), p. 1049.

  26. 26.

    Sands et al. (2013), p. 312. However, the UN Watercourses Convention does not impose binding minimum standards for the management of transboundary watercourses, as it neither obliges states to adapt existing watercourse agreements to minimum standards (see Art. 3, para. 2) nor contains binding requirements for the conclusion of new agreements (see Art. 3, para. 3).

  27. 27.

    Brown Weiss (2013), p. 112; Maḥfūẓ Muḥammad (2009), p. 480.

  28. 28.

    McIntyre and Tignino (2013), p. 301; ‘Alī Ṭāhā (2005), p. 193.

  29. 29.

    These include for example the Convention on Cooperation for the Protection and Sustainable Use of the River Danube (signed 29 June 1994, entered into force 22 October 1998), OJ L 342, 12 December 1997, p. 19; Art. 6 and Annex II of the Treaty of Peace between the State of Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, 26 October 1994, ILM 34 (1995), p. 43; Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin (signed 5 April 1995, entered into force on the same day), ILM 34 (1995), p. 864; Protocol on Shared Watercourse Systems in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Region (signed 28 August 1995, entered into force 29 December 1998), reproduced in FAO, 1997, p. 146.

  30. 30.

    These include the Revised Protocol on Shared Watercourses in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) (signed 7 August 2000, entered into force 22 September 2003), ILM 40 (2001), p. 321; Agreement between the Syrian Arab Republic and the Lebanese Republic for the Sharing of the Southern Great River Basin Waters and the Building of a Joint Dam on it, 20 April 2002, available at http://www.fao.org/faolex/en/ (accessed 26 June 2019); Framework Agreement on the Sava River Basin, 3 December 2002, UNTS, Vol. 2366, p. 479; Protocol for Sustainable Development of Lake Victoria Basin, 29 November 2003, at http://repository.eac.int/handle/11671/1640 (accessed 26 June 2019); Agreement on the Establishment of the Zambezi Watercourse Commission, 13 July 2004, at http://www.zambezicommission.org/sites/default/files/publication_downloads/zamcom-agreement.pdf (accessed 26 June 2019). See Rieu-Clarke and Loures (2009), p. 191. For a survey of watercourse agreements that were based on the UN Watercourses Convention, see Burchi (2002), pp. 271–279.

  31. 31.

    ‘Abd al-‘Āl (2010), p. 102; ‘Alī Ṭāhā (2005), pp. 120–121.

  32. 32.

    Fitzmaurice (2001), p. 440.

  33. 33.

    Fischhendler (2008), p. 112.

  34. 34.

    Vinogradov et al. (2003).

  35. 35.

    Addendum of Statements of Understanding pertaining to Certain Articles of the Convention, ILM 36 (1997), pp. 700, 719–720.

  36. 36.

    See Kaška (2006), p. 98; Maḥfūẓ Muḥammad (2009), p. 480.

  37. 37.

    See for example Maḥfūẓ Muḥammad (2009), p. 333.

  38. 38.

    ILA, Helsinki Rules on the Uses of the Waters of International Rivers, Report of the Fifty-Second Conference held at Helsinki 1966, 1967, p. 477.

  39. 39.

    The confined aquifer is distinguished from the unconfined aquifer and is characterized by the fact that the water table in a confined aquifer has an overlying rock layer that does not transmit water in any appreciable amount or that is impermeable, while the water table of an unconfined aquifer is open to the atmosphere through permeable material. Encyclopædia Britannica (2011), p. 770.

  40. 40.

    See Boisson de Chazournes (2005), pp. 9–10.

  41. 41.

    See UN GA, Report of the Secretary-General, Draft Articles on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses and Resolution on Confined Transboundary Groundwater, 51st Sess., UN Doc. A/51/275, p. 21.

  42. 42.

    See e.g. the Protocol for Sustainable Development of Lake Victoria Basin, 29 November 2003, at http://repository.eac.int/handle/11671/1640 (accessed 26 June 2019). Pursuant to its Art. 2, the Protocol applies to the sustainable development of the Lake Victoria Basin, which, according to Art. 1, para. 2 of the Protocol, is referred to as the “geographical area extending within the territories of the Partner States determined by the watershed limits of the system of waters, including surface and underground waters flowing into Lake Victoria”.

  43. 43.

    Rieu-Clarke (2013), p. 250.

  44. 44.

    Rosenstock, (1994), p. 4, para. 3.

  45. 45.

    ILC, Draft Articles on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses and commentaries thereto adopted by the Drafting Committee on second reading, YBILC 1994, Vol. II, Pt. 2, p. 90, para. 4. Specifically for the regulation of confined aquifers, the ILC adopted the Resolution on Confined Transboundary Groundwater, YBILC 1994, Vol. II, Pt. 2, p. 135. On the scope and definition of the Convention with regard to groundwater, see Eckstein (2005), pp. 525–564.

  46. 46.

    Statement of the Working Group in UN Doc. A/51/869, p. 6, para. 8.

  47. 47.

    UN GA, Verbatim record, 99th plenary meeting, 21 May 1997, UN Doc. A/51/PV.99, pp. 5 and 12.

  48. 48.

    Brown Weiss (2013), p. 53. See also Türk (2012), p. 1054.

  49. 49.

    NBI, Country information, at http://www.nilebasin.org/index.php/nbi/member-states (accessed 26 June 2019).

  50. 50.

    FAO (2012), p. V.

  51. 51.

    Rieu-Clarke and Loures (2009), p. 189; Caflisch (1998), p. 11.

  52. 52.

    This principle has found expression, for example, in Art. 30, para. 3 and Art. 59 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.

  53. 53.

    Statement by Switzerland, UN Doc. A/51/275, p. 30. In this sense also the statements of Sudan, UN Doc. A/51/275/Add. 3, p. 6; and the United States, UN Doc. A/51/275/Add. 2, p. 5.

  54. 54.

    Caflisch (1998), p. 12.

  55. 55.

    Statement of Ethiopia in the vote on the Watercourses Convention, UN GAOR, 51st Sess., 99th plenary meeting, UN Doc. A/51/PV.99 (1997), p. 9. On the Ethiopian position and its rationale, see ‘Alī Ṭāhā (2005), pp. 120–121.

  56. 56.

    Wolde-Giorghis (2009), p. 283.

  57. 57.

    See the statement of Egypt in the vote on the UN Watercourses Convention in UN GAOR, 51st Sess., 99th plenary meeting, UN Doc. A/51/PV.99 (1997), p. 10. On the Egyptian position, see ‘Alī Ṭāhā (2005), p. 120.

  58. 58.

    See also ‘Abd al-‘Āl (2010), p. 103.

  59. 59.

    Maḥfūẓ Muḥammad (2009), p. 332.

  60. 60.

    For details on the Egyptian point of view on the UN Watercourses Convention, see Kaška (2006), pp. 96–102.

  61. 61.

    On the Nile water agreements and their binding effect from the point of view of the Nile riparian states, see Chap. 6, Sect. 6.2.

  62. 62.

    Rieu-Clarke and Loures (2009), pp. 188 and 190.

  63. 63.

    See Chap. 3, Sect. 3.1.1.

  64. 64.

    ILC, Draft Articles on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses and commentaries thereto adopted by the Drafting Committee on second reading, YBILC 1994, Vol. II, Pt. 2, p. 97, para. 5. See also McCaffrey (2007), p. 363.

  65. 65.

    ILC, Draft Articles on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses and commentaries thereto adopted by the Drafting Committee on second reading, YBILC 1994, Vol. II, Pt. 2, p. 101, para. 1.

  66. 66.

    Ibid., p. 101, para. 3.

  67. 67.

    Ibid., p. 110, para. 4.

  68. 68.

    UN GA, Report of the Sixth Committee convening as the Working Group as the Whole, 11 April 1997, UN Doc. A/51/869, p. 5.

  69. 69.

    UN GA Res. A/RES/64/292, 28 July 2010. The human right to water shapes the interpretation of “vital human needs” in Art. 10, para. 2 of the UN Watercourses Convention. It strengthens the priority of the vital human needs over other water uses. On the relevance of the human right to water within the context of the UN Watercourses Convention, see McIntyre and Tignino (2013), pp. 293–302.

  70. 70.

    ‘Alī Ṭāhā (2005), p. 196.

  71. 71.

    See ‘Abd al-‘Āl (2010), p. 108.

  72. 72.

    The existence of such regional custom is for example supported by Maḥfūẓ Muḥammad (2009), p. 334.

  73. 73.

    This can be inferred from the formulation “take all appropriate measures” of Art. 7 of the UN Watercourses Convention and corresponds to customary international law, Hey (1998), p. 294.

  74. 74.

    McCaffrey (2013), p. 18.

  75. 75.

    See e.g. Bourne (1997), pp. 224–225; McCaffrey (2007), p. 366; Freestone and Salman (2007), p. 352; Rieu-Clarke (2013), p. 253. To the same effect also Caflisch (1997), p. 798; Nollkaemper (1996), pp. 55–56; Abseno (2009), p. 91. Le Floch considers that the wording of the UN Watercourses Convention is sufficiently vague to either assume a primacy of the principle of equitable and reasonable utilization or an equality of both principles, Le Floch (2010), p. 489. In fact, the Convention is interpreted for example in the writings of Egyptian commentators as laying down an equality of both principles, see Maḥfūẓ Muḥammad (2009), p. 480.

  76. 76.

    Handl (2007), p. 537; Hey (1998), p. 294.

  77. 77.

    Hey (1998), p. 294.

  78. 78.

    McCaffrey (2007), p. 366.

  79. 79.

    ILC, Draft Articles on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses and commentaries thereto adopted by the Drafting Committee on second reading, YBILC 1994, Vol. II, Pt. 2, p. 103, para. 2.

  80. 80.

    McCaffrey (2007), p. 365.

  81. 81.

    UN GAOR, Sixth Committee, 51st Sess., 62nd meeting, UN Doc. A/C.6/51/SR.62/ Add. 1 (1997), pp. 3–4, paras. 9–10.

  82. 82.

    UN GAOR, 51st Sess., 99th plenary meeting, UN Doc. A/51/PV.99 (1997), pp. 10–11.

  83. 83.

    See the statement of Ethiopia in the vote on the Watercourses Convention in UN GAOR, 51st Sess., 99th plenary meeting, UN Doc. A/51/PV.99 (1997), pp. 10–11.

  84. 84.

    Sixth (Legal) Committee of the General Assembly, Summary of records of meetings, Summary record of the 16th meeting, 9 October 1996, UN Doc. A/C.6/51/SR.16, p. 9, para. 37.

  85. 85.

    UN GAOR, 51st Sess., 99th plenary meeting, UN Doc. A/51/PV.99 (1997), p. 9. Tanzania also abstained from voting with the similar explanation that the Convention did not achieve a balance between the interests of the riparian states with regard to the equitable use of watercourses, see UN GAOR, Sixth Committee, 51st Sess., 62nd meeting, UN Doc. A/C.6/51/SR.62/Add. 1 (1997), p. 9, para. 40.

  86. 86.

    UN GAOR, 51st Sess., 99th plenary meeting, UN Doc. A/51/PV.99 (1997), p. 10.

  87. 87.

    ILC, Report of the International Law Commission on the work of its Forty-Sixth Session (1994), UN GAOR, 49th Sess., UN Doc. A/49/10, p. 111, para. 4.

  88. 88.

    Other riparian states do not need to be notified. Hey (1998), p. 296, criticizes this as complicating the overall assessment of all existing and potential uses of a watercourse.

  89. 89.

    ILC, Draft Articles on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses and commentaries thereto adopted by the Drafting Committee on second reading, YBILC 1994, Vol. II, Pt. 2, p. 111, para. 4.

  90. 90.

    Ibid., p. 111, para. 2.

  91. 91.

    McCaffrey (2007), p. 473.

  92. 92.

    Ibid., p. 475.

  93. 93.

    See also e.g. Hey (1998), p. 296.

  94. 94.

    ICJ, Pulp Mills on the River Uruguay (Argentina v. Uruguay), Judgment, ICJ Reports 2010, pp. 82–83, paras. 204–205. The Court later confirmed the obligation in ICJ, Certain Activities Carried Out by Nicaragua in the Border Area (Costa Rica v. Nicaragua) and Construction of a Road in Costa Rica along the San Juan River (Nicaragua v. Costa Rica), Judgment, ICJ Reports 2015, p. 706, para. 104.

  95. 95.

    To the same effect see McIntyre and Tignino (2013), p. 293.

  96. 96.

    See ‘Abd al-‘Āl (2010), pp. 108–109.

  97. 97.

    UN GA, Verbatim record, 99th plenary meeting, 21 May 1997, UN Doc. A/51/PV.99, p. 9.

  98. 98.

    McCaffrey (2007), p. 372.

  99. 99.

    Fitzmaurice (2001), p. 445; Brown Weiss (2007), p. 222.

  100. 100.

    Boisson de Chazournes (2013), p. 31.

  101. 101.

    See also Nanda and Pring (2013), p. 307; Brown Weiss (2007), p. 206.

  102. 102.

    Nanda and Pring (2013), p. 317.

  103. 103.

    ILC, Draft Articles on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses and commentaries thereto adopted by the Drafting Committee on second reading, YBILC 1994, Vol. II, Pt. 2, p. 122, para. 4.

  104. 104.

    Report of the Sixth Committee convening as the Working Group as the Whole, 11 April 1997, UN Doc. A/51/869, p. 5.

  105. 105.

    See also Boisson de Chazournes (2013), p. 31.

  106. 106.

    See also ILC, Draft Articles on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses and commentaries thereto, YBILC 1994, Vol. II, Pt. 2, pp. 132–133, para. 1–6. This principle was controversial in both the ILC and the Working Group, see McCaffrey (2007), pp. 509–510.

  107. 107.

    McCaffrey (1990), pp. 57–62.

  108. 108.

    On public participation, see Hey (1995), pp. 133–134.

  109. 109.

    Agenda 21 is an action plan for global sustainable development that was adopted by over 170 governments at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and since has been reaffirmed at the various subsequent United Nations conferences concerned with sustainable development.

  110. 110.

    Agenda 21, Chap. 18: 18.9(c).

  111. 111.

    So e.g. Agenda 21, Chap. 18: 18.9(c); 18.12(m) and (n); 18.19; and 18.22. See also Hey (1995), p. 128, note 7.

  112. 112.

    See e.g. Agenda 21, Chap. 18: 18.50(c) and 18.59(e). See also Hey (1995), pp. 133–134.

  113. 113.

    Agreements on other environmental media increasingly include rules on public participation and subsidiarity in decision-making processes, such as Art. 4, para. 1(i) and Art. 6(a)(iii) United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 9 May 1992, UNTS, Vol. 1771, p. 107; Art. 14, para. 1(a) Convention on Biological Diversity, 5 June 1992, UNTS, Vol. 1760, p. 79; Art. 3(a) and Art. 5(d) Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa, 14 October 1994, Doc. A/AC.241/15/Rev.3, ILM 33 (1994), p. 1332. See Wolfrum and Kirschner, 2013, p. 14. The currently most comprehensive and specific agreement in this field is the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, 25 June 1998, UNTS, Vol. 2161, p. 447. Generally on public participation in environmental matters, see Ebbesson (2009).

  114. 114.

    See also Hey (1998), p. 297; Boisson de Chazournes (2005), p. 31.

  115. 115.

    Draft Articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers, UN GA, A/RES/63/124, 11 December 2008. See generally on these draft articles Dellapenna and Loures (2011), pp. 217–233; McCaffrey (2009), pp. 272–293; Mechlem (2009), pp. 801–821; Matz-Lück (2009), pp. 141–150.

  116. 116.

    The draft articles are intended to cover “all transboundary aquifers and aquifer systems regardless of whether or not they are related to surface waters”, Yamada (2005), p. 7, para. 16. On the background of the approach chosen by the ILC, see Matz-Lück (2009), pp. 141–142.

  117. 117.

    Yamada (2005), p. 7, para. 16.

  118. 118.

    UN GA, A/RES/63/124, 11 December 2008.

  119. 119.

    See UN GA, A/RES/68/118, 19 December 2013. See also UNGA, Sixth Committee (Legal), 71st session, The law of transboundary aquifers (Agenda item 86), 2016, https://www.un.org/en/ga/sixth/71/transboundary_aquifers.shtml (accessed 25 June 2019).

  120. 120.

    See UN GA, A/C.6/66/SR.16, 14 February 2012, Agenda item 85.

  121. 121.

    ILC, Text of the Draft Articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers with commentaries thereto, Report of the International Law Commission, 58th Sess., 2006, GAOR 61st Sess., Suppl. No. 10, UN Doc. A/61/10, p. 194, para. 5.

  122. 122.

    Boisson de Chazournes (2013), pp. 38–39; Matz-Lück (2009), p. 143.

  123. 123.

    McCaffrey (2007), p. 502.

  124. 124.

    Boisson de Chazournes (2013), p. 36.

  125. 125.

    ILM 31 (1992), p. 1312. In addition, important for water management in Europe is the Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy (Water Framework Directive), OJ L 327, 22 December 2000, p. 1. It should be noted, however, that this directive does not constitute a source of international law under Art. 38 of the ICJ Statute, but supranational law at Community law level of the European Union.

  126. 126.

    Revised Protocol on Shared Watercourses in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) (signed 7 August 2000, entered into force 22 September 2003), ILM 40 (2001), p. 321.

  127. 127.

    Boisson de Chazournes (2013), p. 33.

  128. 128.

    Act of Asunción on the Use of International Rivers, 3 June 1971, reproduced in Rios y lagos internacionales (Utilización para fines agricolas e industriales) 4th edn., 4 OEA/Ser.I/VI, CIJ-75 rev. 2, Organization of American States, Washington D.C., 1971, pp. 183–186. Contracting parties are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

  129. 129.

    ASEAN Agreement on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, Kuala Lumpur, 9 July 1985, reproduced in Burchi and Mechlem (2005), pp. 35–46. Contracting and/or signatory states are Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.

  130. 130.

    Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, 17 March 1992, ILM 31 (1992), p. 1312. The Convention entered into force on 6 October 1996. It has been supplemented by two protocols, the 1999 Protocol on Water and Health and the 2003 Protocol on Civil Liability and Compensation for Damage Caused by the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents on Transboundary Waters.

  131. 131.

    See generally Türk (2012), p. 1056.

  132. 132.

    See Arts. 25 and 26 UNECE Water Convention of 28 November 2003, UN ECE/MP.WAT/14.

  133. 133.

    See Art. 1, para. 1 UNECE Water Convention which covers—unlike the UN Watercourses Convention—confined aquifers.

  134. 134.

    Boisson de Chazournes (2013), p. 33.

  135. 135.

    See UNECE, Guide to Implementing the Convention, 2013, p. 24, para. 107.

  136. 136.

    The precautionary principle: Art. 2, para. 5(a); polluter-pays principle: Art. 2, para. 5(b); required standard of technology: Art. 3, para. 1(c) and Art. 13, para. 1(b) in conjunction with Annex I.

  137. 137.

    See Art. 3, paras. 1–3 and Art. 8, para. 2 UN Watercourses Convention.

  138. 138.

    Boisson de Chazournes (2013), p. 50.

  139. 139.

    Accord concernant la protection de la Meuse (signed 26 April 1994, entered into force 1 January 1998), replaced by the Accord international sur la Meuse (signed 3 December 2002, entered into force 1 December 2006), at http://www.meuse-maas.be/CIM/media/ACCORDS/accord-gand_f.pdf (accessed 26 June 2019).

  140. 140.

    Agreement on the Protection of the River Scheldt (signed 26 April 1994, entered into force 1 January 1998), ILM 34 (1995), p. 859.

  141. 141.

    Convention on Cooperation for the Protection and Sustainable Use of the River Danube, (signed 29 June 1994, entered into force 22 October 1998), OJ L 342, 12 December 1997, p. 19.

  142. 142.

    Convention on the International Commission for the Protection of the River Oder against Pollution (signed 11 April 1996, entered into force 28 April 1999), OJ L 100, 15 April 1999, p. 21.

  143. 143.

    Convenio sobre cooperación para la protección y el aprovechamiento sostenible de las aquas de las cuencas hidrográficas hispano-portuguesas (Convention on the Cooperation for the Protection and Sustainable Use of the Waters of the Luso-Spanish River Basins) (opened for signature 20 November 1998, entered into force 31 January 2000), available at http://www.fao.org/faolex/en/ (accessed 26 June 2019).

  144. 144.

    Convention on the Protection of the Rhine (signed 12 April 1999, entered into force 1 January 2003), OJ L 289, 16 November 2000, p. 31.

  145. 145.

    Revised Protocol on Shared Watercourses in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) (signed 7 August 2000, entered into force 22 September 2003), ILM 40 (2001), p. 321. The protocol replaced the earlier Protocol on Shared Watercourse Systems in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Region (signed 28 August 1995, entered into force 29 December 1998), reproduced in FAO, 1997, p. 146. Review and discussion of the 2000 SADC Protocol at Salman (2001a), pp. 981–1022. See also Salman (2001b), pp. 317–319.

  146. 146.

    Established in 1992 as a regional organization of Southern African countries, SADC continues the role and activities of the Southern African Development Coordinating Conference (SADCC) which existed from 1980 to 1992 without legal status or constituting treaty. The objective of SADC is to promote socio-economic development, peace, security, and economic growth in the member states through regional integration. The 16 current SADC member states are Angola, Botswana, Comoros, the DR Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. See http://www.sadc.int/about-sadc/ (accessed 26 June 2019). Detailed overview of the transboundary watercourses in the SADC region, the history and organizational structure of the SADC, and the 1995 and 2000 protocols on transboundary watercourses at Salman (2001a), pp. 981–1022.

  147. 147.

    Salman (2001b), p. 318.

  148. 148.

    Art. 3, paras. 7, 8 and 10 SADC Protocol on the principle of equitable and reasonable utilization and the no-harm rule; Art. 4, para. 1 SADC Protocol on planned measures; Art. 4, para. 2 SADC Protocol on environmental protection and preservation. For a comparison of the main provisions of the SADC Protocol of 2000 with the UN Watercourses Convention, see Salman (2001a), pp. 1004–1022.

  149. 149.

    For example in the Tripartite Interim Agreement between the Republic of Mozambique and the Republic of South Africa and the Kingdom of Swaziland for Co-operation on the Protection and Sustainable Utilisation of the Water Resources of the Incomati and Maputo Watercourses, 29 August 2002, available at http://www.fao.org/faolex/en/ (accessed 26 June 2019). See Boisson de Chazournes (2013), p. 126.

  150. 150.

    Salman (2001a), p. 982.

  151. 151.

    See also Boisson de Chazournes (2013), p. 128; Bulto (2009), p. 292. For a survey of watercourse agreements divided by continent, see Sands et al. (2013), pp. 319–340.

  152. 152.

    See Art. 3, para. 3 UN Watercourses Convention: “Watercourse States may enter into one or more agreements, hereinafter referred to as ‘watercourse agreements’, which apply and adjust the provisions of the present Convention to the characteristics and uses of a particular international watercourse or part thereof.”

  153. 153.

    Brown Weiss (2007), pp. 241–242. See also the synopsis of the watercourse agreements on major international watercourses at Mekonnen (2005), pp. 166–194.

  154. 154.

    For example, in the Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation between Great Britain and the United States (signed 19 November 1794), CTS 52 (1793–1795), p. 243; Part VII (Navigation des rivières traversant différens Ètats) Acte du Congrès de Vienne, 9 June 1815, at https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k91227n/f1.image (accessed 26 June 2019); Convention relative to the Free Navigation of the Elbe, 23 June 1821, BFSP 8 (1820–1821), p. 953; Act of Mainz, 31 March 1831 and Act of Mannheim, 17 October 1868, BFSP 59 (1868–1869) p. 470; Partie XII (Ports, Voies d’eau et Voies ferrées) Traité de Versailles, 28 June 1919, reproduced in Librairie Militaire Berger-Levrault, 1919. Detailed overview of the historical development of international watercourse agreements and their regulatory contents worldwide at Brown Weiss (2013), pp. 79–110. On the historical development of international watercourse agreements, see also Chap. 2, Sect. 2.1.

  155. 155.

    Brown Weiss (2007), p. 238.

  156. 156.

    Türk (2012), p. 1061.

  157. 157.

    Brown Weiss (2013), pp. 88–89.

  158. 158.

    Caponera (2007), p. 186; Brown Weiss (2007), p. 241.

  159. 159.

    For example the Danube River Protection Convention of 1994, which defines the “catchment area” of the Danube as “the hydrological river basin”, see Art. 1(b) Convention on Cooperation for the Protection and Sustainable Use of the River Danube (signed 29 June 1994, entered into force 22 October 1998), OJ L 342, 12 December 1997, p. 19. See also McCaffrey (2007), p. 488.

  160. 160.

    See also UNEP (2006), p. 12; Rieu-Clarke and Loures (2009), p. 187. Similarly Türk (2012), p. 1062, who points out that the agreements often lack adequate management procedures and dispute resolution mechanisms.

  161. 161.

    For example, the Convention on Cooperation for the Protection and Sustainable Use of the River Danube (signed 29 June 1994, entered into force 22 October 1998), OJ L 342, 12 December 1997, p. 19; Art. 6 and Annex II of the Treaty of Peace between the State of Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, 26 October 1994, ILM 34 (1995), p. 43; Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin (signed 5 April 1995, entered into force on the same day), ILM 34 (1995), p. 864.

  162. 162.

    For example, the Agreement between the Syrian Arab Republic and the Lebanese Republic for the Sharing of the Southern Great River Basin Waters and the Building of Joint Dam on it, 20 April 2002, available at http://www.fao.org/faolex/en/ (accessed 26 June 2019); Framework Agreement on the Sava River Basin, 3 December 2002, UNTS, Vol. 2366, p. 479; Protocol for Sustainable Development of Lake Victoria Basin, 29 November 2003, http://repository.eac.int/handle/11671/1640 (accessed 26 June 2019); Agreement on the Establishment of the Zambezi Watercourse Commission, 13 July 2004, http://www.zambezicommission.org/sites/default/files/publication_downloads/zamcom-agreement.pdf (accessed 26 June 2019). See also Rieu-Clarke and Loures (2009), p. 191. For a detailed discussion of the watercourse agreements that are oriented at the UN Watercourses Convention, see Burchi (2002), pp. 271–279.

  163. 163.

    Convenio sobre cooperación para la protección y el aprovechamiento sostenible de las aquas de las cuencas hidrográficas hispano-portuguesas (Convention on the Cooperation for the Protection and Sustainable Use of the Waters of the Luso-Spanish River Basins) (opened for signature 20 November 1998, entered into force 31 January 2000), available at http://www.fao.org/faolex/en/ (accessed 26 June 2019).

  164. 164.

    See Costa et al. (2008), pp. 5–6; Boisson de Chazournes (2013), p. 127.

  165. 165.

    Tripartite Interim Agreement between the Republic of Mozambique and the Republic of South Africa and the Kingdom of Swaziland for Co-operation on the Protection and Sustainable Utilisation of the Water Resources of the Incomati and Maputo Watercourses of 29 August 2002, available at http://www.fao.org/faolex/en/ (accessed 26 June 2019). See Boisson de Chazournes (2013), p. 128.

  166. 166.

    Art. 13 in conjunction with Art. 1 Tripartite Interim Agreement between the Republic of Mozambique and the Republic of South Africa and the Kingdom of Swaziland for Co-operation on the Protection and Sustainable Utilisation of the Water Resources of the Incomati and Maputo Watercourses of 29 August 2002, available at http://www.fao.org/faolex/en/ (accessed 26 June 2019).

  167. 167.

    Preamble paras. 6, 7 and 8, and Arts. 1 and 3(a) Tripartite Interim Agreement between the Republic of Mozambique and the Republic of South Africa and the Kingdom of Swaziland for Co-operation on the Protection and Sustainable Utilisation of the Water Resources of the Incomati and Maputo Watercourses of 29 August 2002, available at http://www.fao.org/faolex/en/ (accessed 26 June 2019).

  168. 168.

    Boisson de Chazournes (2013), p. 128.

  169. 169.

    Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin (signed 5 April 1995, entered into force on the same day), ILM 34 (1995), p. 864.

  170. 170.

    See Art. 6 of the Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin (signed 5 April 1995, entered into force on the same day), ILM 34 (1995), p. 864. See Boisson de Chazournes (2013), p. 128.

  171. 171.

    Bulto (2009), p. 292. See for a general discussion on international river commissions and other joint mechanisms for the management of transboundary river basins Caponera (2003), pp. 319–396. On international river commissions, see also Wolfrum (1995), pp. 1042–1043.

  172. 172.

    Brown Weiss (2013), pp. 91–92.

  173. 173.

    Boisson de Chazournes (2013), p. 176.

  174. 174.

    See Caponera (2007), p. 235; Vinogradov et al. (2003), pp. 57–62.

  175. 175.

    See Arts. 8 and 24 UN Watercourses Convention.

  176. 176.

    ICJ, Pulp Mills on the River Uruguay (Argentina v. Uruguay), Judgment, ICJ Reports 2010, pp. 53–54, paras. 89–90.

  177. 177.

    For an overview of agreements that establish joint institutional mechanisms, see Caponera (2003), pp. 351–360.

  178. 178.

    Boisson de Chazournes (2013), pp. 178–179.

  179. 179.

    Brown Weiss (2007), p. 260.

  180. 180.

    See also Boisson de Chazournes (2013), p. 179.

  181. 181.

    Caponera (2007), pp. 235–236. See for example the Convention on the International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine against Pollution, 29 April 1963, https://www.iksr.org/en/international-cooperation/about-us/history/index.html (accessed 26 June 2019).

  182. 182.

    For an overview of river commissions, including their structures and functions, divided by continent, see Caponera (2007), pp. 235–246. For a survey of selected bilateral and multilateral institutions for the management of international rivers, lakes, and groundwater, see Burchi and Spreij (2003).

  183. 183.

    See Caponera (2007), p. 235.

  184. 184.

    Convention on the International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine against Pollution, 29 April 1963, https://www.iksr.org/en/international-cooperation/about-us/history/index.html (accessed 26 June 2019).

  185. 185.

    Convention on the Protection of the Rhine (signed 12 April 1999, entered into force 1 January 2003), OJ L 289, 16 November 2000, p. 31.

  186. 186.

    Convention on the International Commission for the Protection of the Elbe (signed 8 October 1990, entered into force 30 October 1992), OJ L 321, 23 November 1991, pp. 0025–0027.

  187. 187.

    Convention on Cooperation for the Protection and Sustainable Use of the River Danube (signed 29 June 1994, entered into force 22 October 1998), OJ L 342, 12 December 1997, p. 19.

  188. 188.

    Convention on the International Commission for the Protection of the River Oder against Pollution (signed 11 April 1996, entered into force 28 April 1999), OJ L 100, 15 April 1999, p. 21.

  189. 189.

    Convention on the Protection of Lake Constance against Pollution (signed 27 October 1960, entered into force 10 November 1961), http://www.igkb.org/die-igkb-internationale-gewaesserschutz-kommission-fuer-den-bodensee/uebereinkommen-ueber-den-schutz-des-bodensees-gegen-verunreinigung/ (accessed 26 June 2019).

  190. 190.

    See McCaffrey (2007), pp. 511–512; Caponera (2007), p. 239.

  191. 191.

    Convention portant création de l’Organisation pour la mise en valeur du fleuve Sénégal (Convention establishing the Organization for the Development of the Senegal River) (signed 11 March 1972), reproduced in FAO (1997), p. 24.

  192. 192.

    Agreement on the Establishment of the Zambezi Watercourse Commission (signed 13 July 2004), http://www.zambezicommission.org/sites/default/files/publication_downloads/zamcom-agreement.pdf (accessed 26 June 2019).

  193. 193.

    Agreement between the Republic of the Sudan and the United Arab Republic for the Full Utilization of the Nile Waters, 8 November 1959, UNTS, Vol. 453, p. 51.

  194. 194.

    Draft Convention for the Establishment of the Nile Basin Authority, VIII Nile Conference, Cairo, March 1999, reproduced in Caponera (2003), pp. 361–374.

  195. 195.

    See NBI, http://www.nilebasin.org (accessed 26 June 2019). See also ‘Alī Ṭāhā (2005), p. 175.

  196. 196.

    Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin (signed 5 April 1995, entered into force on the same day), ILM 34 (1995), p. 864.

  197. 197.

    Ibid., Chap. IV.

  198. 198.

    Ibid., Art. 1.

  199. 199.

    For a brief overview of the Mekong River Commission, see McCaffrey (2007), pp. 285–288.

  200. 200.

    An example for a river commission with decision-making powers is the Organization for the Development of the Senegal River. This commission is, inter alia, vested with powers with regard to development projects in the river basin, see Art. 1, para. 3(e) Convention portant création de l’Organisation pour la mise en valeur du fleuve Sénégal (Convention establishing the Organization for the Development of the Senegal River) (signed 11 March 1972), reproduced in FAO (1997), p. 24.

  201. 201.

    Caponera (2007), pp. 247–248. On potential functions of river commissions, see also Ely and Wolman (1967), pp. 138–146.

  202. 202.

    Caponera (2007), pp. 254–255. To the same effect see already Ely and Wolman (1967), p. 146.

  203. 203.

    See also the Guidelines for the Establishment of an International Water Resources Administration, Annex to the ILA Madrid Report on Administration of International Water Resources (1976), reproduced in Caponera (2003), pp. 330–332. See also the discussion of existing agreements on international river commissions at Caponera (2007), pp. 246–255.

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  1. International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT), Rome, Italy

    Philine Wehling

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  1. Philine Wehling
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Wehling, P. (2020). International Agreements on Transboundary Freshwater Resources. In: Nile Water Rights. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-60796-1_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-60796-1_4

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