Ad hoc legal mechanisms governing transboundary aquifers: current status and future prospects

ABSTRACT

In recent years, different international institutions have repeatedly called for states to enter into agreements on the transboundary aquifers they share. Nevertheless, very few agreements have been established. This article examines the few ad hoc legal mechanisms that are in existence, and identifies some possible reasons for states’ reluctance. Finally, this article suggests that there is a need for the international community to stimulate a more cooperative approach to the management of this natural resource based on the preventive and precautionary principles.

KEYWORDS:

• International water law
• groundwater
• transboundary aquifers
• international agreements

Acknowledgements

This article benefited from research carried out alongside Francesco Sindico, Renee Martin-Nagle and Stephanie Hawkins at the Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance, Glasgow, UK. The author’s research visit at SCELG was possible thanks to a Royal Society Edinburgh/Caledonian Research Fund European Visiting Research Fellowship and a Xunta de Galicia Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Notes

1. The Law of Transboundary Aquifers: Report of the Secretary-General, 29 June 2011, A/66/116 and A/66/166/Add.1; The Law of Transboundary Aquifers: Report of the Secretary-General, 22 July 2013, A/68/172.

2. An English translation is available in Annex 7 to the GEF project document, ‘Formulation of an Action Programme for the Integrated Management of the Shared Nubian Aquifer’, available at http://iwlearn.net/iw-projects/2020/project_doc/nsas-project-document/view.

3. Programme for the Development of a Regional Strategy for the Utilisation of the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System (NSAS) – Terms of Reference for the Monitoring and Exchange of Groundwater Information of the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System Agreement No 1 – Terms of Reference for the Monitoring and Exchange of Groundwater Information of the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System Agreement No 2 – Terms of Reference for Monitoring and Data Sharing, Tripoli, 5 October 2000. Text available in Burchi and Mechlem (2005), pp. 4–6.

4. Between 2005 and 2011 the four states developed a second project: ‘Formulation of an Action Programme for the Integrated Management of the Shared Nubian Aquifer’, funded by GEF and executed by the International Atomic Energy Agency, with support from UNESCO; see http://iwlearn.net/iw-projects/2020. More recently, the ministers in charge of water resources in the four states and the chairperson of the joint authority signed a Regional Strategic Action Plan on 18 September 2013, available at http://iwlearn.net/iw-projects/2020/reports/regional-strategic-action-programme-for-nubian-aquifer-system.

5. ‘Establishment of a Consultation Mechanism for the Northwestern Sahara Aquifer System (SASS)’, 2002. It was endorsed by Algeria on 6 January 2003, Tunisia on 15 February 2003 and Libya on 23 February 2003. Excerpts available in Burchi and Mechlem (2005), pp. 6–8.

6. http://sass.oss-online.org/en.

7. http://www.oss-online.org/fr/projet-sai.

8. Bamako Declaration of the Ministers in Charge of Water Resources of the Countries Sharing the Iullemeden Aquifer System (Mali, Niger, Nigeria), Bamako, Mali, 20 June, 2009; Memorandum of Understanding to the Setting Up of a Consultative Mechanism for the Management of the Iullemeden Aquifer System, Bamako, 20 June 2009.

9. Joint and Integrated Water Resources Management of the Iullemeden -Taoudeni/Tanezrouft Aquifer Systems and the Niger River (GICRESAIT Project); see http://www.oss-online.org/fr/projet-gicresait.

10. ‘Memorandum of Understanding for the Establishment of a Consultation Mechanism for the Integrated Management of the Water Resources of the Iullemeden, Taoudeni/Tanezrouft Aquifer Systems (ITAS), (Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria)’, 2nd Council of Ministers GICRESAIT Project, Abuja, Nigeria, 28 March 2014, available at http://www.internationalwaterlaw.org/documents/regionaldocs/Iullemeden_MOU-2014.pdf.

11. ‘Acuerdo sobre el Acuífero Guaraní, hecho en San Juan, República Argentina, el 2 de agosto de 2010’; English translation available at http://www.internationalwaterlaw.org/documents/regionaldocs/Guarani_Aquifer_Agreement-English.pdf.

12. See ‘Strategic Action Program (SAP) for Guarani Aquifer’, which summarizes the main results and recommendations of the project: http://iwlearn.net/iw-projects/974/reports/strategic-action-program/view.

13. ‘Agreement between the Government of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the Management and Utilization of the Ground Waters in the Al-Sag/Al-Disi Layer’, Riyadh, 30 April 2015. Unofficial English translation at http://www.internationalwaterlaw.org/documents/regionaldocs/Disi_Aquifer_Agreement-English2015.pdf.

14. ‘Arrangement relatif a la Protection, a l’Utilization et a la Realimentation de la Nappe souterraine franco-suisse du Genevois, septembre 1977’. Unofficial English translation at http://www.internationalwaterlaw.org/documents/regionaldocs/franko-swiss-aquifer.html.

15. ‘Convention relative a la protection, a l’utilisation, a la realimentation et au suivi de la Nappe Souterraine Franco-Suisse du Genevois, fait à Genève le 18 décembre 2007’. Unofficial English translation at http://www.internationalwaterlaw.org/documents/regionaldocs/2008Franko-Swiss-Aquifer-English.pdf.

16. Agreement referred to by Margat and Van Der Gun (2013), p. 233; Académie de l’Eau, BRGM, OIEAU, and UNESCO (2011), p. 87.

17. ‘Memorandum of Understanding between City of Juárez, Mexico Utilities and the El Paso Water Utilities Public Services Board of the City of El Paso, Texas’, 6 December 1999, http://internationalwaterlaw.org/documents/regionaldocs/Local-GWAgreements/El_Paso-Juarez_MoU.pdf.

18. ‘Memorandum of Agreement Related to Referral of Water Right Applications Related to the Transboundary Abbotsford-Sumas Aquifer between the State of Washington as Represented by the Department of Ecology and the Province of British Columbia as Represented by the Minister of Environment, Lands and Parks’, 10 October 1996, http://internationalwaterlaw.org/documents/regionaldocs/Local-GW-Agreements/1996-BC-WAWater-Right-Referral-Agreement.pdf.

19. The resulting reports are available at http://www.groundwatergovernance.org/.