ABSTRACT
Many of the rivers around the globe have become unusable as sources and some others could become liabilities rather than lifesavers if no action is taken. According to the World Water Commission, ‘more than one-half of the world’s major rivers are being seriously depleted and polluted, degrading and poisoning the surrounding eco-systems, thus threatening the health and livelihood of people who depend upon them for irrigation, drinking and industrial water’. The Commission adds, ‘Many of the rivers are being depleted because global demand for water is rising sharply. The problem will be further aggravated by having to meet the needs for food, drinking water, and water for economic development of the additional two billion people on Earth by 2025’.7 In the opinion of the Commission, global water shortages will become so catastrophic over the next 25 years that two in three people on the planet will face regular depletion of water supplies.8 In this context this chapter9 aims to examine the attempts made through international law to address this problem since the primary function of international law is to manage conflicts and above all, to prevent conflicts. 1.2 Development of International Watercourses Law International law-making in the area of sharing, utilising, managing and developing the waters of international watercourses between riparian States reached a new height in 1997 with the adoption by the UN General Assembly of a Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses.10 There was little international law on international watercourses until the 1950s. There were a few declarations specific to a geographical region or resolutions of non-
7 Press Release of the World Water Commission World Water Vision 29 November 1999. 8 This prediction was made by the World Water Commission in a report released to mark the World Water Day on 22 March 2000. See ‘Global thirst will turn millions into water refugees’ The Independent (London) 23 March 2001. 9 An earlier version of this Chapter was published as an article by the present author in Nepal Law Review (Faculty of Law, Tribhuvan University) Vol. 15 (1 & 2) July 2002 [1]-[14]. 10 The Convention was adopted on 21 May 1997 by Resolution 51/229 of the General Assembly. It was adopted by a vote of 103 in favour to 3 against (Burundi, China, Turkey), with 27 abstentions (Andorra, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Israel, Mali, Monaco, Mongolia, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Rwanda, Spain, Tanzania and Uzbekistan). For text of the Convention, see 36 ILM 700, 1997; UN Doc A/51/869 of 11 April 1997. For the reasons given by some of the States for voting against or abstentions, see UN Doc A/51/PV99 of 21 May 1997. The Convention has not yet entered into force. It was opened to signature on 21 May 1997 and remained open to signature until 20 May 2000.
