Water Law in a Globalised World: The Need for a New Conceptual Framework

Water law is at a crossroads. Its basic structure and principles are being challenged by the increasingly global dimension of water issues. Yet, neither the international framework nor national water laws acknowledge the intrinsic links between the global water cycle and access to water at the local level. Water law must be reconceived around a broader understanding of water while being allowed at the same time to shed its old sectoral framework that makes little space for integration with other related areas of law such as environmental and human rights law