IUCN-WCC Conservation Campus 99 Law, good governance and climate change adaptation

1. IUCN-WCC Conservation Campus 99Law, good governance and climate change adaptation Climate Change Adaptation under Intl. Water Law Dr. Owen McIntyre Faculty of Law University College Cork National University of Ireland

2. Adaptation Problems for International Water Regimes • Intl. water regimes have less developed utilisation / allocation rights regimes • Intl. water regimes less flexible – ‘calcify’: • No mechanisms for long-term change / decline • Climate change impacts geographically uneven • Varied local / regional responses • Ecosystems protection traditionally subordinate to economic and social uses / development • Uncertain ecosystems stress tolerances; reqs re maintenance of minimum ecological flows

3. Uncertainty Inhibits Inter-State Cooperation! • Hydrological Uncertainty: • Precipitation and run-off patterns; impacts • Storage systems; reservoirs; flood defences • Ecosystems impacts / tolerances • Meta uncertainty; geographical scale problems; etc. • Economic Uncertainty • Population-driven increased demand (Nile) • Economic development; energy; lifestyle • Political Uncertainty • New claimants excluded from regime (Nile) • Environmental advocates for wetlands protection

4. Principles of International Water Law – 1997 UNWC • Equitable and Reasonable Utilisation (ERU) • Cardinal Rule but Normatively Indeterminate • Equitable Balancing of Relevant Factors • Prevention of Significant Transboundary Harm • Includes Economic, Social and Ecological Harm • Subordinate to ERU (some harm may be tolerated) • Duty of Cooperation • Procedural / Informational Obligations (e.g. TB EIA) • Cooperative Institutional Machinery (e.g. RBOs) • Environmental / Ecosystems Protection • Broad State Acceptance, Substantive and Procedural Sophistication, Cooperative Institutions - Increasingly Autonomous

5. Factors Relevant to ERU (Art. 6) • (a) Geographic, hydrographic, hydrological, climatic, ecological and other factors of a natural character; • (b) The social and economic needs of the watercourse States concerned; • (c) The population dependent on the watercourse in each watercourse State; • (d) The effects of the use or uses of the watercourses in one watercourse State on other watercourse States; • (e) Existing and potential uses of the watercourse; • (f) Conservation, protection, development and economy of use of the water resources of the watercourse and the costs of measures taken to that effect; • (g) The availability of alternatives, of comparable value, to a particular planned or existing use.

6. Adaptation Measures • Consumptive Water Uses • Reallocation of existing uses; foregoing • Conservation of water • Ecosystems Protection (precautionary) • Maintenance of minimum ecological flows • Flood Management and Mitigation • Prevention of transboundary harm • Notification / Exchange of information

7. Conclusions • Adaptive management: dynamic / revisional allocation / utilisation regimes • Robust institutions for transboundary cooperation: identifying hydrological, ecological conditions; modelling human dependence; communication mgt. • Precautionary management of uncertainty • Robust requirements re monitoring, modelling, (re)assessment, exchange of information, • TB E(S)IA methodologies must take account of climate change risks • Discourse on Human Right to Water • Ecosystems (Arts. 20-23); Intl Env Law