Factors that could limit the effectiveness of the UN Watercourses Convention upon its entry into force

Whilst International agreements relating to natural resources date back to the 19th century, ¹ most agreements were adopted following the UN Conference on the Human Environment in 1972. ² Since 1972, there has been an extensive exercise in treaty making covering a wide range of global natural resource issues. ³ However, by the time the Rio Conference took place in 1992, questions over the extent to which these agreements had actually been implemented reached the global stage. Signals that more needed to be done already started to appear in Agenda 21, which called upon states, ‘to ensure the effective, full and prompt implementation of legally binding instruments’. ⁴ Academics and policy analysts — primarily from the disciplines of political science, law and, to a certain degree, economics — responded with vigor to the call to focus on the implementation and effectiveness of agreements. ⁵ In the past few decades, numerous groups have studied the implementation, compliance and effectiveness within the context of these agreements. Yet, Young cautions that ‘our knowledge of institutional dynamics is comparatively underdeveloped…This is particularly true regarding multilateral environmental agreements and other forms of international and transnational cooperation pertaining to environmental issues’. ⁶