Promoting research excellence

by Alistair Rieu-Clarke

The world is facing a water crisis. At the start of the International Year of Freshwater 2003, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan commented that, "Water is likely to become a growing source of tension and fierce competition between nations, if present trends continue, but it can also be a catalyst for co-operation."

Currently, 1.1 billion people lack access to safe water supplies and 2.4 billion are without adequate sanitation services. Through its world-renowned interdisciplinary research and postgraduate teaching, the International Water Law Research Institute (IWLRI), University of Dundee, is committed to solving the current water crisis. As a result, the last six months has seen the IWLRI active in several regions of the world.

Within Europe, Sergei Vinogradov and Alistair Rieu-Clarke organised an EU funded training seminar on international water law, negotiation skills and conflict resolution for governmental water experts from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Russia and Ukraine. The workshop formed part of a larger project to promote the peaceful management of transboundary water resources within Central and Eastern Europe. In St Micheilsgestel, the Netherlands, Patricia Jones presented the results of the IWLRI's DFID funded Knowledge and Research Project to an audience of top EU scientists charged with monitoring Europe's water quality. Patricia Wouters travelled both to Stockholm, Sweden, and Madrid, Spain, where she gave key note a ddresses to the International Water Resources Association's XI World Water Conference and the Stockholm Water Symposium. Both events are widely recognised for bringing together leading experts in the water sector.

The IWLRI has also been active in Central Asia. With the support of the Aral Sea Interstate Commission for Water Coordination, it organised a NATO Advanced Research Workshop, Integrated Water Resources Management in Transboundary Basins - An interstate and intersectoral approach, in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The highly successful groundbreaking workshop attracted an interdisciplinary panel of world experts and ministerial representatives from all the governments of the Aral Sea Basin states.

Sergei Vinogradov, Alistair Rieu-Clarke and Zhang Jiebin organised a special session at the International Conference of GIS and Remote Sensing in Hydrology, Water Resources and Environment in Yichang City, near the Three Gorges Dam Site in China. The special session focused on the role of international law in reconciling State claims to transboundary waters. In November 2003, Andrew Allan travelled to Nepal to carry out research as part of a UK Department for International Development funded project aimed at the implementation of water user associations through effective legal frameworks.

Finally, November saw Patricia Wouters attend the Melbourne 5th Annual Australasian Water Law & Policy Conference where she was invited to give a key note address on the role of international water law in regional peace and security.

Water is increasingly being recognised as a key strategic resource for peace, poverty alleviation and sustainable development. With the United Nations designating 2005 to 2015 as the International Decade for Water, it is hoped that the IWLRI will continue to work around the world to strengthen its reputation for research excellence in water law and make an important contribution to addressing the water crisis.

Many exciting plans and prospects are on the horizon for the IWLRI, including the Dundee Water Law Conference in August 2004.

Left: Alistair Rieu-Clarke, IWLRI, at Three Gorges Dam Site, Yichang, China