International Law and Transboundary Fresh Water Resources: A Dispute Resolution Perspective

Transboundary fresh water resources are rapidly depleting while human dependency on them continues to grow, suggesting that disputes between states over such resources are increasingly likely to arise. Whereas the dominant focus in the literature is on preventing transboundary fresh water disputes, this thesis addresses the complementary need for effective resolution of such disputes if and when they do arise. Scholarship and practice tend to belittle the utility of international law principles and dispute resolution mechanisms in this context. After identifying possible extra-legal reasons for the limited role of international law in the resolution of transboundary fresh water disputes, the thesis turns to the possible legal reasons. It examines, first, the applicable principles of international water law and, second, the available dispute resolution mechanisms. Findings from an original database of transboundary fresh water disputes that arose between 1920 and 2017 around the world lead to a conceptual reassessment of the roles that the principles of equitable and reasonable utilization and no significant harm are conventionally understood to play. The thesis proposes a reformulation of these two principles, together with the duty to cooperate, that might better guide states in the resolution of transboundary fresh water disputes. The thesis then canvasses the types of dispute resolution mechanisms available to states, and argues that restoring an earlier form of arbitration as a quasi-diplomatic process would increase the appeal and potential effectiveness of this mechanism, given the unique character of transboundary fresh water disputes. Finally, the ongoing Nile River dispute between Ethiopia and Egypt is used to illustrate the difference that the proposed reforms might make in the resolution of this, and other, transboundary fresh water disputes.S.J.D.2020-11-19 00:00:0