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Transboundary Aquifers: the International Community’s Quest to Manage

DSA Scotland Mini Conference 14 October 2011, University of Aberdeen DSA / University of Aberdeen / CISD. Transboundary Aquifers: the International Community’s Quest to Manage. Dr Francesco Sindico Lecturer in International Law

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Transboundary Aquifers: the International Community’s Quest to Manage

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  1. DSA Scotland Mini Conference 14 October 2011, University of Aberdeen DSA / University of Aberdeen / CISD Transboundary Aquifers: the International Community’s Quest to Manage Dr Francesco Sindico Lecturer in International Law Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy (University of Dundee)

  2. Outline Context Transboundary Aquifers: what are they and why is it important to regulate Development perspective (an attempt…)

  3. Context: Past and Future Research Past research Project at the University of Surrey Seminar “Transboundary Aquifers and International Law: The Experience of the Guarani Aquifer System” (31/08/2010) Special issue of the International Community Law Review International conference “The Management of the Guarani Aquifer System: An Example of Cooperation” (21-23.09.2011) Future research UoD pump prime funding on Groundwater / Energy nexus

  4. Transboundary Aquifers 18 October 2011 UN/RES/63/124 “Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its sixty-sixth session an item entitled “The law of transboundary aquifers” with a view to examining, inter alia, the question of the form that might be given to the draft articles”

  5. Transboundary Aquifers Draft Articles International Law Commission 2002 – 2008 Collaboration between lawyers and scientists

  6. Transboundary Aquifers What is an aquifer? “a permeable water bearing geological formation underlain by a less permeable layer and the water contained in the saturated zone of the formation”, UN ILC Draft Articles, art. 2a).

  7. Transboundary Aquifers What is an aquifer? • Underground geological formation (container / the rock) • Natural resources stored underground in the container (groundwater)

  8. Transboundary Aquifers Uses and Challenges • Extraction of water • Extraction of heat (energy) • Extraction of minerals • Storage and disposal of any substance (CCS) • Overexploitation • Competition over different uses • Pollution

  9. Transboundary Aquifers Relevance

  10. Transboundary Aquifers Relevance • Transboundary surface watersheds • more than 400 worldwide (international rivers, lakes, etc…) • similar number of bilateral and multilateral treaties • overarching 1997 UN Watercourses Convention • 273 TBA have been identified (ISARM 2009) but very few have been “partly” regulated • Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System (Chad, Egypt, Libya and Sudan) • North Western Sahara Aquifer System (Algeria, Libya and Tunisia) • French-Swiss Geneva Aquifer • Guarani Aquifer System

  11. The future [form] of the UNILC Draft Articles (2011…) • An international conference for the negotiation of a global Convention on the law of transboundary aquifers [hard law] • General Assembly Resolution that “takes note” of the UNILC Draft Articles on the law of transboundary aquifers [soft law] • General Assembly Resolution that adopts a “Declaration” regarding principles applicable to the management of transboundary aquifers [soft law] • To consider the format of the UNILC Draft Articles once more practice is analysed Transboundary Aquifers

  12. Transboundary Aquifers What are they? Sponge (rock and water) Why is it important to regulate? Vital for global water security

  13. Transboundary Aquifers: a development perspective (an attempt…) Groundwater vital for the well being of communities If groundwater is found beneath a border within a TBA, cooperation between those communities is paramount

  14. Transboundary Aquifers: a development perspective (an attempt…) Legal frameworks can frame such a cooperation in order to foster joint management But, at the end of the day it is a political matter, which needs to be informed by good science (policy/science/law linkage, which leads to a positive development outcome)

  15. Dr Francesco Sindico Lecturer in International Law, CEPMLP f.sindico@dundee.ac.uk

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