Transboundary water law and vulnerable people: legal interpretations of the ‘equitable use’ principle

Abstract

Vulnerable people require additional measures to ensure their water capabilities, as they have certain characteristics making them more vulnerable than others. As pointed out by recent studies, transboundary water access laws and policies do not sufficiently address the needs of vulnerable people. The prevailing legal arrangements often only address extrinsic vulnerability and forgo focusing on intrinsic vulnerability, which creates the need for different transboundary water legislation. This paper shows how international treaties can address the right to certain water capabilities by considering not merely the current but also future global populations into the creation of their transboundary agreements.

Keywords:

• transboundary water law
• social vulnerability
• water capabilities
• human rights

Acknowledgments

The author would especially like to thank Professor Patricia Wouters, Dr Owen McIntyre, Associate Professor Md. Nasif Ahsan, and an anonymous reviewer for their valuable comments and suggestions which improved the quality of the paper.