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A Matter of Survival

The main strength of the UNECE Water Convention is its tables are falling by 1-3 meters a year. In a world where 30-40
institutional framework, which is designed to assist its signatories percent of irrigated land used for food production is supplied
in the implementation of its provisions. This institutional setting from aquifers, this is a critical issue for food security. The
includes a series of political and technical intergovernmental problem is expected to get worse in the coming decades.
bodies, the Implementation Committee and a Secretariat, under
the overall guidance of the Meeting of the Parties. Thus, the A basic requirement for the reversal of this trend is the need for
Convention has had a significant impact on water cooperation territorial states to recognize that certain aquifers are shared
among the States Parties. and that there is thus a need to develop a coordinated policy
of the use of these water resources. This is an essential political
Moreover, Article 9 contains a number of tasks to be included condition that when fulfilled, can serve as a point of departure
into bilateral and multilateral agreements, calling for the for cooperation among states inspired by International Water
establishment of international institutions for the management Law.
of shared water basins.
The need for improved international cooperation for the
Two additional protocols, the 1999 Protocol on Water and Health reasonable and equitable exploitation of transboundary aquifers
and the 2003 Protocol on Civil Liability and Compensation for is growing. Rules relating to this type of cooperation can be
Damage Caused by the Transboundary Effects of Industrial found in the framework of the UN International Law Commission
Accidents on Transboundary Watercourses (not yet entered into (ILC), and are based on the principles of International Water
force), were adopted subsequently. Law articulated in the framework of the 1997 UN Watercourses
Convention.
The UNECE Water Convention and its protocols were further
complemented by a number of guidelines and recommendations, In 2008, the ILC adopted the Draft Articles on the Law of
as well as by the EU Framework Directive on Water adopted in Transboundary Aquifers (A/RES/63/124). Based on this work,
2000 (Directive 2000/60/EC). The purpose of these instruments in 2011, the UN General Assembly recommended to “the
is to strengthen the implementation of the basic rules of states concerned to make appropriate bilateral or regional
International Water Law. In this context, an Implementation arrangements for the proper management of their transboundary
Committee was established to assist countries which are facing aquifers, taking into account the provisions of the draft articles
difficulties implementing the Convention. annexed to its resolution 63/124” (A/RES/66/104). An additional
“soft law instrument” is provided by the 2012 Model Provisions
The UNECE Water Convention is globally significant in two ways: on Transboundary Groundwater developed in the framework of
first, the Convention’s system indicates the general direction the UNECE Water Convention. This document is also based on
of the development of international water cooperation and the principles and rules embodied in the ILC Draft Articles on the
second, it specifically emphasizes the importance of permanent Law of Transboundary Aquifers.
institutional arrangements for the management of transboundary
water basins. These are features which are of global relevance. A The instruments described above stress two important aspects
similar development direction is reflected in the Southern African of groundwater management: the precautionary approach which
region. The 1995 SADC Protocol on Shared Watercourse Systems, considers the fragility of groundwater and the need to deepen
revised in 2000, promotes agreements among countries sharing our knowledge about aquifers (their limits, water quality, and
specific watercourses, along the lines of the norms of the 1997 recharge) in order to manage them in a sustainable manner.
UN Watercourses Convention. It is therefore important that further bilateral and multilateral
agreements are developed on this issue, within the general
The UN Watercourses Convention entered into force in 2014 and guidance of the principles of International Water Law.
is binding for the 36 states that have ratified it so far. In 2016,
the UNECE Water Convention was opened to all UN Member
States, thus creating a possibility for its norms and mechanisms International Water Law, Human Needs and
to assist in the creation of appropriate bilateral or multilateral Human Rights
arrangements for specific watercourses or, where such
arrangements already exist, to strengthen them further. International Water Law is designed to serve human needs. This
is recognized in the 1997 UN Watercourses Convention, which
Transboundary Aquifers demands that water is distributed in a fair and reasonable
manner, taking into consideration the “social and economic
In transboundary aquifers, however, international cooperation needs” (Article 6). More recently, the UN General Assembly
is far less developed, with very few international agreements and the Human Rights Council have recognized the right to safe
focused on shared groundwater (five at the global level) and a drinking water and sanitation as a human right (A/RES/64/292).
few more covering groundwater together with surface waters. In this context, reference was also made to the General
This poses a special problem given the now well-established Comment no. 15, adopted by the UN Committee on Economic,
facts about groundwater exploitation in many parts of the world Social and Cultural Rights in 2002 (E/C.12/2002/11). The same
where groundwater is withdrawn in quantities greater than interpretation inspired the 1999 Protocol on Water and Health
nature’s ability to recharge those aquifers. In some cases, water (protocol additional to the UNECE Water Convention), the 2002

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