by Pat Wouters
The University’s International Water Law Research Institute played a key role in the recent World Water Forum in Kyoto. Here, the institute’s director, Dr Patricia Wouters, outlines the forum’s objective and the Institute’s involvement.
In March 2003, the world’s largest meeting on water, the 3rd World Water Forum, was convened in Japan (Kyoto, Osaka and Shiga). The objective of the Forum was to identify mechanisms for turning internationally agreed water policy principles into practice. Water law was recognised as one of the key drivers in meeting the challenges facing water resources management at all levels: national, regional and global.
The President of the World Water Council, Dr Abu-Zeid, who opened the Kyoto World Water Forum, identified the need for a new "World Water Ethic", in which law plays a fundamental role. The international community has been called upon to further develop the legal and regulatory frameworks for water in order to "codify rights, privileges and obligations of individuals, communities and States". Water law is considered as an essential integral part of good governance in the field of water resources. Without a transparent, responsive, evolutive and enforceable legal framework, even the best of policy initiatives and technical solutions will remain ineffective on the ground.
As the leading research institute in water law, and the only academic institution to offer postgraduate degrees in water law and policy, the University of Dundee was prominent at the Forum. The IWLRI significantly contributed to the discussion and to shaping out future international activities in the area of water resources management. The IWLRI is participating in a unique partnership - the Universities Partnership for Transboundary Waters - an international academic consortium of water experts representing ten universities on five continents, which is seeking to promote a global water governance culture. The Partnership is developing an unprecedented educational model, which would offer an opportunity for students from basin states of all of the major international rivers of the world, to be trained by participating universities as world’s future water leaders. Each university will teach its own specific disciplines, such as hydrology, geography, conflict resolution, peace studies, and water law, the latter being delivered by the University of Dundee.
The IWLRI also developed and presented at the Forum its Legal Assessment Model - an innovative tool, which can be used for legal education as well as a practical device in negotiating international water agreements and resolving international disputes. Dr. Patricia Wouters, Director of the IWLRI, explains: "Previously engineering was top of the international agenda to tackle water issues. The Kyoto meeting witnessed a dramatic change of policy. Law and negotiations are now being considered as vital instruments in resolving water disputes, both within individual countries and between them. The interdisciplinary Legal Assessment Model that was conceptualised and designed on the basis of three principal disciplines - law, hydrology and economics - will now be used to help resolve international water disputes and develop national water policy consistent with international obligations." A dissemination and uptake strategy is currently being developed by the IWLRI.
It is expected that the Universities Partnership and the implementation of the LAM will contribute to achieving one of the Millennium Development Goals ensuring equitable access to water at the national and interstate levels.