Abstract
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, water management has caused severe disputes in Central Asia. Likewise, due to competing needs and priorities between the upstream and downstream states, water continues to divide these two groups of countries. As a result, water resources have emerged not as tools for facilitating regional cooperation but as a source of conflict. Though, at present, these conflicts do not seem to threaten war, they pose a significant threat to regional stability, security and sustainable development. In view of that, if they are not addressed, they could lead to armed conflicts. This chapter explores the role of international law in the prevention and resolution of such conflicts, with the main question here being: what is the role of international water law in the prevention and resolution of possible conflicts over water in Central Asia? To that end, the chapter takes a sneak peek into the tools in international water law to respond to water disputes. In examining the management of transboundary watercourses in Central Asia and ratification by Central Asian countries of the agreements governing the management of such watercourses, the chapter then takes a comparative approach and makes special reference to the European Union, specifically with respect to the Rhine river basin. The author posits that cooperation over shared watercourses, supplemented by treaties, can be a good tool of managing conflicts over such watercourses and that water scarcity may not be the sole cause of conflicts.
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Notes
- 1.
See Alao 2007, p. 207.
- 2.
Ki-moon 2015.
- 3.
Ibid.
- 4.
Dalbaeva 2018.
- 5.
Jannik and Ravnborg 2004.
- 6.
Levy and Sidel 2008.
- 7.
Alao 2007.
- 8.
Sedeqinazhad et al. 2018, p. 3.
- 9.
International Centre for Water Cooperation (2017) Cooperation over shared waters. www.siwi.org/priority-area/transboundary-water-management/. Accessed 27 May 2019.
- 10.
Draper 2006, p. 3.
- 11.
Ibid., p. 5.
- 12.
Lazerwitz 1993.
- 13.
Wolf 2007.
- 14.
Ibid.
- 15.
Ibid.
- 16.
Ibid.
- 17.
Alan et al. 2013, p. 569.
- 18.
Levy and Sidel 2011.
- 19.
Zeitoun 2008, p. 3.
- 20.
Bauer 2004, pp. 6–7.
- 21.
Nanni 2007.
- 22.
Report of the International Law Commission, Draft Articles on the Law of Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses, U.N. GAOR, 46th Sess., Supp. No. 10 at 161, U.N. Doc. A/46/10, (1991) [hereinafter Draft Articles].
- 23.
Ibid., Article 1.
- 24.
Barraqué 2011, p. 2.
- 25.
See also UN Human Rights Council resolution 15/9 of September 2010, resolution 16/2 of March 2011, resolution 18/1 of September 2011 and resolution 21/2 of September 2012.
- 26.
United Nations Water 2014.
- 27.
United Nations General Assembly, “The human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation,” Resolution 70/169, U.N. Doc. A/RES/70/169/.
- 28.
Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition 2017, https://www.barrilacfn.com/en/magazine/food-for-all/the-pros-and-cons-of-water-privatization/.
- 29.
Ibid.
- 30.
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights 2003.
- 31.
Ibid.
- 32.
Dellapenna 2011.
- 33.
Crootof 2016.
- 34.
‘Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros Project (Hungary/Slovakia), Judgment, 25 September 1997’ [1997] International Court of Justice/Reports of judgments, advisory opinions and orders (ICJ Reports).
- 35.
‘Case Concerning the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros Project (Hungary/Slovakia) (“The Danube Dam Case”) [1997] ICJ Reports 7' [1997] International Court of Justice/Reports of judgments, advisory opinions and orders (ICJ Reports).
- 36.
Draft Articles (n 22).
- 37.
See Article 5(1) of the Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses (adopted 21 May 1997, entered into force on 17 August 2014) 2998 UNTS (UN Watercourses Convention).
- 38.
See Article 7(1).
- 39.
Ibid., Article 8(1).
- 40.
Magsig 2015.
- 41.
Crawford and Brownlie 2012.
- 42.
Bearden 2018.
- 43.
Louka 2006, p. 49.
- 44.
McCaffrey 2001.
- 45.
Ibid.
- 46.
Magsig 2015.
- 47.
Ibid., at 26.
- 48.
Louka 2006.
- 49.
Jones and Cech 2009, p. 51.
- 50.
Ibid.
- 51.
Ibid.
- 52.
United Nations Water 2019.
- 53.
Gronwall 2008.
- 54.
Ibid.
- 55.
Arnold 2018.
- 56.
Alao 2007.
- 57.
Ibid.
- 58.
Ibid.
- 59.
Ibid.
- 60.
Ibid.
- 61.
Wolf 2007, pp. 1–3.
- 62.
Abukhater 2013, p. 2.
- 63.
Wolf 2004.
- 64.
Ibid.
- 65.
See Article 1(4) of the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (adopted on 17 March 1992, entered into force 6 October 1996) 1936 UNTS 269.
- 66.
Cioc 2002.
- 67.
Ibid.
- 68.
International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine 2019.
- 69.
Plum and Schulte-Wülwer-Leidig 2014.
- 70.
Verweij 2000, p. 80.
- 71.
International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine (2013) First European River prize 2013: success on the Rhine. www.icpdr.org/main/publications/first-european-riverprize-2013-success-rhine. Accessed 28 June 2019.
- 72.
See Article 3(e) of the Convention for the Protection of the Rhine against Chemical Pollution (Rhine Convention) [1977] OJ L240/37-63.
- 73.
Ibid., Article 5(1).
- 74.
Federal Water Act 1957 (GE).
- 75.
Waste Water Charges Act 1976 (GE).
- 76.
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 [2000] OJ L327/1.
- 77.
Ibid., Article 3(3).
- 78.
Guerrini and Romano 2014, p. 55.
- 79.
European Commission 2019.
- 80.
See Article 2(15) of 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 [2000] OJ L327/1.
- 81.
International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine 2018.
- 82.
Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (adopted on 17 March 1992, entered into force 6 October 1996) 1936 UNTS 269 (Water Convention).
- 83.
See Article 2(b) of the Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses (adopted 21 May 1997, entered into force on 17 August 2014) 2998 UNTS (UN Watercourses Convention).
- 84.
Bernardini 2007.
- 85.
Ibid.
- 86.
Ibid.
- 87.
Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (adopted on 17 March 1992, entered into force 6 October 1996) 1936 UNTS 269.
- 88.
See Article 4(1) of the Water Code 1993 (KZ).
- 89.
Ibid., Article 7.
- 90.
Ibid., Article 2(2).
- 91.
Ibid., Article 25(2).
- 92.
Ibid., Article 95.
- 93.
Ibid., Article 96.
- 94.
Shaw 2008, p. 197.
- 95.
Ibid., at 197.
- 96.
Boisson de Chazournes 2013.
- 97.
Ibid.
- 98.
Guzman 2008, p. 126.
- 99.
Ibid., at 126.
- 100.
Ki-moon 2015.
- 101.
Sands 2000.
- 102.
Ibid., at 374.
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Nashoonga, H. (2022). The Role of International Law in the Prevention and Resolution of Possible Conflicts over Water in Central Asia: A Comparative Study with Special Reference to the European Union (EU). In: Sayapin, S., Atadjanov, R., Kadam, U., Kemp, G., Zambrana-Tévar, N., Quénivet, N. (eds) International Conflict and Security Law. T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-515-7_64
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