Public Participation and Water Resources Management : Where Do We Stand in International Law ?
« Public Participation and Water Resources Management : Where Do We Stand in International Law ? », Platform for International Water Law and International Hydrological Programme of UNESCO.
The principle of public participation plays a crucial role in the management of natural resources. It has helped to shape the rights of individuals and local communities in the management and protection of shared water resources. The principle of public participation has been enshrined in a number of international instruments such as the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development and Agenda 21. The 1998 Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters has been instrumental to refining its content. The 1999 Protocol on Water and Health to the 1992 Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, for its part, has contributed to emphasizing the importance of transparency in the decision-making process. Agreements on transboundary water resources have increasingly been incorporating this principle whose contours may vary from one river basin commission to another.
The publication “Public Participation and Water Resources Management: Where Do We Stand in International Law?” captures these trends in international law, highlighting the rights of individuals and local communities in water resources management. The book is the result of a joint effort by the Platform for International Water Law of the Faculty of Law of the University of Geneva and the International Hydrological Programme of UNESCO, with the support of the Société académique de Genève. It collects the proceedings of an international conference organized in December 2013 in Geneva by the Platform for International Water Law in partnership with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). This event brought together experts and practitioners working on water resources management and protection. Invited speakers and other experts in the field contributed to the present publication.
« Public Participation and Water Resources Management: Where Do We Stand in International Law? » connects recent legal developments in international law through a multidisciplinary approach. It addresses critical issues such as the rights of local communities in relation to river basin commissions and dispute settlement mechanisms. The right to water, transparency in the decision-making process, and access to justice are also examined in the publication, which describes recent practice in the management of water resources.
4 Feb 2015