Groundbreaking new legal model

The international water law research institute has just secured funding to formulate a new groundbreaking legal model in international law. For centuries conflicts have occurred between nations concerning the ownership and usage of their shared waterways. Problems are numerous. From landlocked countries claiming their right to fish seas hundreds of miles from their land to countries working out how to share the resources of the Nile which dissects ten countries, the legalities of water rights is a complicated international issue.

Dr Patricia Wouters and her team have received £332,000 to formulate a legal assessment model that countries can use to determine their share of a contested waterway. They have also received additional funding to train people at ministerial level in the five countries of the Aral Sea basin to arbitrate their own legal agreements on their waterways. Once the team's legal model is in place it will provide a blueprint for countries to determine their rights and recognise the rights of other countries. The first of a series of three training sessions took place in Uzbekistan in September with another session this month and the final in January.

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