Born into the wider body of international law, the climate regime needs to be understood in light of preexisting regimes. By drawing on the current debate about fragmentation in international law, this article highlights challenges for international lawyers and policymakers in navigating the relationship between the climate regime and the biodiversity regime, and the relationship between the climate regime and the multilateral trading system. This article concludes that a narrow focus on conflicts misrepresents the multifaceted nature of climate change and precludes an adequate jurisprudential understanding of the relationship between the climate regime and other regimes. An improved understanding, particularly with respect to interactions with the biodiversity regime, requires a broadening of the debate that takes account of the institutional aspects of these relationships that may allow enhanced political cooperation and coordination. Further, international law, and in particular the emerging concept of systemic integration, has the potential to make a positive contribution to the climate-trade interplay.
Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay signed the Guarani Aquifer Agreement on 2 August 2010. This is the first international treaty regarding the management of a specific transboundary aquifer to have been adopted after the UN International Law Commission (UNILC) adopted the Draft Articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers, which have been annexed to UN General Assembly Resolution 63/124. The latter encourages States to take into account the Draft Articles when devising arrangements for the management of specific transboundary aquifers. The Guarani Aquifer Agreement, therefore, is a first response to this call from the international community. In this article the background to the Guarani Aquifer Agreement is explored, including an overview of the key characteristics of the Guarani Aquifer System and the steps that have led to the adoption of the Guarani Aquifer Agreement. Sovereignty, the obligation to cooperate and the incipient institutional framework are discussed as key elements arising from the Guarani Aquifer Agreement. Finally, the article argues that a link between the latter and the UNILC Draft Articles can be appreciated. This link has important practical implications especially in relation to the applicability of the UNILC Draft Articles for interpretation purposes of the Guarani Aquifer Agreement
The international community has been considering international legal norms and policies for the management of transboundary aquifers for more than ten years. In 2008, the International Law Commission provided a framework with the adoption of the Draft Articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers, which are now formally annexed to a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution. Since 2008, the topic of the law of transboundary aquifers has thrice been placed on the agenda of the UNGA Sixth Committee with a specific mandate to discuss the future form of the Draft Articles. This article explores the options before the international community regarding the future form of the Draft Articles and considers the possible advantages and disadvantages of each option. The article also discusses the extent to which the actual form of the Draft Articles matters in itself, or whether their impact ultimately will depend on other factors.
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