ADAPTING THE LAW OF WATER MANAGEMENT TO GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE AND OTHER HYDROPOLITICAL STRESSES¹

Abstract

Existing legal regimes for the management of water resources are already stressed by changing technologies and growing populations. There is little reason for doubt that today the planet is undergoing significant and even alarming climate change. In the past such global climatic changes had dramatic effects on water resource availability with disastrous consequences for many human communities. Today's climate changes can be managed without such disastrous consequences for present day communities only if there are major reforms to existing water law regimes at the local, national, and international levels. In particular, at the local and national levels, water resources must be treated as public property rather than as common or private property. At the international level, water must be managed at the drainage basin level rather than according to national boundaries that largely ignore rational water management criteria. At all levels, care must be given to decentralizing decision making and to use economic incentives insofar as possible, without, however, mistaking economic incentives for markets. The public nature of water resources precludes true markets as a significant management tool.

Conflicting messages? The IPCC on conflict and human security

“…In fact, while frequent threats can be cited, outbreaks of interstate violence over water have been rare or even non-existent (Wolf, 1998). Some of the sources also stress that water is more frequently a source of cooperation, even between countries that have gone to war on other issues, such as India and Pakistan (Dellapenna, 1999). TAR cites the widely publicized 'water conflict chronology' developed by Gleick (1998), but overlooks that few of the listed conflicts involve any actual violence and that most concern the use (or threat of use) of water as a weapon in an on-going conflict.…”

The importance of context in relation to policy transfer: a case study of environmental water allocation in Australia

“…Accordingly, institutions for water management are often tailored quite specifi cally to a certain physical environment, which can infl uence the potential for transferability. For example, legal frameworks for water allocation in western North America were designed specifi cally to refl ect semi-arid conditions that exist in many parts of this region (Dellapenna, 1999); their appropriateness for different hydrological contexts can be limited.…”

Adapting to Change in Transboundary Rivers: An Analysis of Treaty Flexibility on the Orange-Senqu River Basin

“…Worldwide, existing freshwater agreements are often ill-equipped for the changes that characterize the social and ecological systems they aim to address (Goldenman, 1990;Dellapenna, 1999). While seasonal variability is normally anticipated in water treaties, inter-annual variations, extreme events and the consequences of climate change are often omitted (Miller et al, 1997).…”