Papers by Patricia Wouters
This special issue of Water International presents a selection of papers from the Xiamen Law Scho... more This special issue of Water International presents a selection of papers from the Xiamen Law School (China) symposium on "Promoting Transboundary Water Cooperation - a focus on China", convened in Xiamen in May 2014. Through legal and governance analysis looking at China / Asia / comparative transboundary state practice, this collection of papers provides new insights for how China might go forward with managing its significant transboundary water resources.
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World of Opportunities for our Young Water Professionals - how can you help?
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Theme: “Promoting Transboundary Water Cooperation in Asia – Law, governance and institutions exp... more Theme: “Promoting Transboundary Water Cooperation in Asia – Law, governance and institutions explored”
This special collection of papers, ‘The China Water Papers’ aims at exploring how law/governance/institutions promote (or prevent) transboundary water cooperation, with a regional focus on Asia. Comparative regional state practice is examined with a view to distilling possible lessons for Asia, in general, and China, in particular.
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Working right now on a new paper, 'Why RED is the new BLUE - China's approach to transboundary wa... more Working right now on a new paper, 'Why RED is the new BLUE - China's approach to transboundary water diplomacy' (working title)
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The duty to cooperate – the bedrock of international law continues to evolve as new global challe... more The duty to cooperate – the bedrock of international law continues to evolve as new global challenges emerge that test the boundaries of state sovereignty. This article explores the duty to cooperate through the prism of transboundary waters in the context of impending conflicts-of-use as demands increase to meet growing economic, social, cultural and environmental needs. What are the obligations on sovereign nation states as they develop and manage their shared water resources? This article argues that a norm of ‘dynamic cooperation’ is emerging in the field, with its origins at the very core of international law, and which provides a platform for the continued peaceful management of the world’s shared fresh waters. The declaration of 2013 as the UN International Year of Water Cooperation has helped to provide the impetus to explore more fully the ‘duty to cooperate’ as it relates to the development and management of the world’s shared freshwater resources.
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Professor Wouters: How does President Xi’s speech in Brazil (and across Latin America) during his... more Professor Wouters: How does President Xi’s speech in Brazil (and across Latin America) during his recent tour across the region (following a similar tour across Europe) reveal China’s approach to international law? And… how might this translate into China’s transboundary water treaty-making and state practice. With China upstream on more than 40 major transboundary waters, and with only a handful of water-related treaties, it faces a wide range of issues with its 14 riparian neighbours. Transboundary water cooperation, even founded on principles of limited territorial sovereignty, can be facilitated through treaties and functioning river basin commissions or regional organisations. In China’s quest to be ‘the good neighbour’, taking into account the reasonable needs of its neighbours, with a view to sharing benefits, how can it make progress in the domain of shared transboundary water resources?
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Professor Wouters: The following press release announces a new SEA global tool, prepared under th... more Professor Wouters: The following press release announces a new SEA global tool, prepared under the auspices of the UNECE and open as a global instrument.
How might this SEA Protocol support the peaceful development of transboundary water resources? Given the current trend of the ‘proceduralisation’ of international water law, a fact that facilitates transboundary water cooperation by providing the means for concrete (and mostly technical) cooperation, and the assertion by the ICJ that conducting an EIA is a rule of customary law, how does this new SEA Protocol help? We would welcome research papers on this topic as we work on exploring China’s transboundary water issues, specifically in the context of its ‘upstream dilemma’. Can an SEA help with the matter of eco-compensation strategies across transboundary watercourses, where upstream/downstream benefits need to be more clearly identified and shared?
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Just received this news about our joint paper
A joint paper by Prof Chen, Prof Wouters (Xiamen... more Just received this news about our joint paper
A joint paper by Prof Chen, Prof Wouters (Xiamen CIWL) and Dr Alistair Rieu-Clarke, ‘Exploring China’s transboundary water treaty practice through the prism of the UN Watercourses Convention’ has reached the ‘Most Read Articles’ of Water International with 740 views; and one of only two papers from 2013 to make the list.
Delighted! (great co-authors)
See http://www.tandfonline.com/action/showMostReadArticles?journalCode=rwin20#.U8P5Nl7u8Xc.
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The CIWL symposium is an academic forum convened to explore current issues related to water resou... more The CIWL symposium is an academic forum convened to explore current issues related to water resources, with a focus on water law. The symposium explores international law and transboundary governance models and their contribution to promoting transboundary water cooperation in Asia. The symposium will bring together leading experts in the field from across China, Asia, Europe and the Americas. Selected papers from the events will be published in peer-reviewed journals and in a book. "
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Institute for Security and Development Policy - Stockholm Papers
Water security has become a new global and regional challenge. Control over increasingly scarce w... more Water security has become a new global and regional challenge. Control over increasingly scarce water resources, especially those that cross international borders, has the potential to cause tensions and conflicts between states sharing them. Rapid economic development in Northeast Asia has already put under serious pressure available water resources, including those belonging to some major transboundary river basins, shared by China and Russia. While Sino-Russian interaction related to the management and use of transboundary water resources has experienced ups and downs, generally in accordance with political relations between the two states, over the last few years water-related cooperation has become increasingly active. Accordingly, the latter is governed by various international legal instruments, bilateral and multilateral, and is carried out under the auspices of different joint institutions. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the existing legal and institutional frameworks, which form the basis of the Sino-Russian cooperation in this field, and to determine whether and to what extent they are adequate in dealing with new water security challenges facing the two states.
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Journal of Water Law , Dec 1, 2013
Water security is rapidly becoming one of the most
pressing global issues and it is increasingly... more Water security is rapidly becoming one of the most
pressing global issues and it is increasingly evident
that the world's capacity to respond meaningfully to
water security risks is in serious doubt. The growing
tension over access to water resources manifests itself
at all levels - local, national and international - with
the potential for water-related conflicts most apparent
in transboundary (or shared) water systems (rivers,
basins or aquifers), which cross administrative or international
borders.
Management and utilisation of transboundary water
resources is a multi-dimensional phenomenon where
economic and environmental factors are intertwined
with geopolitical and legal concerns. At the heart of
this tangle is the problem of how to resolve the
inherent contradiction between the physical integrity
of an international watercourse (basin) and the
sovereign right to use its waters by each state sharing
it. The evident reduction in the amount and decline of
the quality of freshwater resources intensifies competition
between various uses and users across borders,
which creates the potential to turn it into open rivalry.
Interstate tensions and disputes over water resources
are becoming increasingly common in different geographical
regions, such as the Middle East, Northern
Africa and Southeast Asia, and are now considered as a
new emerging threat to regional and even global
security. Water controversies usually arise either from
water shortage, where existing and projected needs
cannot be satisfied by available resources, or from
transboundary impacts, first and foremost pollution. In
order to prevent such conflicts it is important to strike
a balance between the competing interests of different
states sharing an international watercourse, while also
taking into account the requirements of ecosystems.
This objective can be achieved only through interstate
cooperation, with appropriate legal and institutional
frameworks being its central piece.
It is within this context that the article explores an
important issue for Northeast Asia: how China and
Russia `cooperate' in the management of their shared
water resources.
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Environmental Liability - Law, Policy and Practice
The duty to cooperate – the bedrock of international law –
continues to evolve as new global cha... more The duty to cooperate – the bedrock of international law –
continues to evolve as new global challenges emerge that test the
boundaries of state sovereignty. This article explores the duty to
cooperate through the prism of transboundary waters in the context of impending conflicts-of-use as demands increase to meet growing economic, social, cultural and environmental needs. What are the obligations on sovereign nation states as they develop and manage their shared water resources? This article argues that a norm of ‘dynamic cooperation’ is emerging in the field, with its origins at the very core of international law, and which provides a platform for the continued peaceful management of the world’s shared fresh waters. The declaration of 2013 as the UN International Year of Water Cooperation has helped to provide the impetus to explore more fully the ‘duty to cooperate’ as it relates to the development and management of the world’s shared freshwater resources.
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Journal of Water Law (2013)
Given the universal acknowledgement of the compelling need to address pressing natural resources ... more Given the universal acknowledgement of the compelling need to address pressing natural resources issues and the current global discourse on agreeing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it is timely to revisit the rules that govern freshwater resources, as one of the most important challenges facing the global community. This work considers the evolution of the duty to cooperate in the context of shared transboundary waters and argues that we now witness the emergence of the duty to cooperate in the peaceful management of the world’s water resources as an obligation erga omnes opposable on all States.
At the heart of our argument are three fundamental tenets: (i) international law has the inherent capacity to, and is in the process of, transforming to address global water-related imperatives; (ii) the rules of international law that apply to shared water resources require a consolidated, and a consolidating, framework in order to address the global water crisis within and across national borders; (iii) the very notion of State sovereignty, recast in our contemporary setting, supports and provides the legal parameters for the crystallisation of an obligation erga omnes to ensure ‘water for all’, as duty and entitlement of the international community as a whole.
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Xiamen Law School China International Water Law programme invites applications for post-docs and ... more Xiamen Law School China International Water Law programme invites applications for post-docs and PhDs in international water law. See attached documents for more information.
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THE ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL WATER LAW
International river basins cover more than half of the land’... more THE ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL WATER LAW
International river basins cover more than half of the land’s surface. With close to 300 major watercourses shared by two or more states and an ever-increasing demand on the world’s diminishing water resources, there may be some justification in the assertion by certain commentators that “water wars” are imminent. The UN forecasts that more than half of the world’s population will suffer direct consequences of water
scarcity if the current development patterns continue. The situation is particularly critical in developing countries, leading the world’s governments to commit themselves to “halve by 2015, the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation,” and also to “develop integrated water resources management and water efficiency plans by 2005” (UN Summit on Development, Johannesburg, 2002). Commendable as these plans may be, what solutions will states find in their competition over shared water resources? This is particularly crucial for states that depend on water supplies that cross their national borders.
This study discusses the relevance and role of international water law in the promotion of cooperation over shared transboundary watercourses. With its focus on
actual case studies and through examination of contemporary state practice and detailed analysis of the 1997 UN Watercourses Convention, this work aims to provide
water resource experts from all disciplines with an overview of the rules of international law that govern interstate relations over water.
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Journal of Water Law
This special issue of the Journal of Water Law presents
a collection of articles derived from re... more This special issue of the Journal of Water Law presents
a collection of articles derived from research currently
being undertaken at our Dundee UNESCO Centre.
The works examine a range of water-related problems
at various scales ± from global to local, and across a
spectrum of disciplines. In tackling the complex challenges
arising in this area, it is proposed that a more
integrated approach, combining water law, policy and
science in constructive ways, will promote innovative
contributions to achieving `water for all'.
During times of unprecedented uncertainty and rapid
change, the need to manage the world's water
resources in ways that enhance the (often divergent)
social, economic and environmental objectives, provides
myriad challenges at all levels. In such a context,
it is especially important to understand the `rules of
the game'. Where there are insufficient quantities or
qualities of water to meet national requirements on
shared transboundary watercourses, or to irrigate the
fields for local farmers; or where raging floods
adversely affect human and ecosystem populations,
the need for robust and responsive legal frameworks is
readily apparent. It is interesting to note, however, that
despite the recent proliferation of global policy
statements, experts' reports and projects aimed at
addressing the global water crisis, most have failed to
integrate effectively water law, policy and science in
their proposed solutions. The next World Water
Development Report (produced by the UN agencies
working on water and released every three years at the
World Water Forum), already a work-in-progress, will
focus on the theme of uncertainty and risk, and
provides yet one more opportunity for such a joinedup
approach.
Guest Editors: Professor Patricia Wouters and Dr Sarah Hendry
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Water Security: Principles, Perspectives, Practices (Earthscan/Routledge)
“The Water Security Paradox and International Law:
Securitisation as an Obstacle to Achieving ... more “The Water Security Paradox and International Law:
Securitisation as an Obstacle to Achieving Water Security and the Role of Law in De-Securitising the World’s Most Precious Resource”
Christina Leb and Patricia Wouters
Introduction
Water is life.
Lack of access to adequate quantities and qualities of water resources is linked to most, if not all, development issues – poverty, poor health, diminished livelihoods, child mortality and conflict. It is within this context that we explore the issue of water security. ‘Water insecurity’ derails pathways to economic efficiency, social equity and environmental sustainability, all necessary for national security (GWP). Growing water scarcity and competition for shared water resources driven by population growth, expansion of human economic activity and climate change is at the heart of the debate over the securitisation of water and water security.
National security threats linked to water, or the ‘securitisation of water’, is one strand of the debate. In that domain, the lack of access to water is viewed primarily as a political issue, as the very object of securitisation. Distinct, but connected to this discourse, is the notion of ‘water security’, which is concerned primarily with resource management. The former approach places water at the centre of the politicisation process and favours isolationist resource planning and potential zero-sum games, while the latter approach, the achievement of water security, revolves around resource management objectives and evokes a range of environmental, economic and social equity considerations best addressed jointly among the nation-States sharing the resource.
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Journal of Water Law , Jul 2, 2013
This paper examines Chinese transboundary water cooperation specifically through the prism of t... more This paper examines Chinese transboundary water cooperation specifically through the prism of the rules of international law that govern the uses of transboundary water resources. China’s state practice will be considered in the light of the principal legal instruments in this field – the UN Watercourses Convention (UNWC) and the UNECE Transboundary Water Convention (UNECE TWC), each a result of codification and progressive development of the rules in this field. Increasing transboundary water cooperation is a global theme as the international community seeks new ways to tackle serious water problems, witnessed at the recent UN Security Council meeting that concluded emphasizing this very topic. As one of the largest players in the international arena, China has an opportunity to build upon and enhance its cooperation on transboundary waters.
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Papers by Patricia Wouters
This special collection of papers, ‘The China Water Papers’ aims at exploring how law/governance/institutions promote (or prevent) transboundary water cooperation, with a regional focus on Asia. Comparative regional state practice is examined with a view to distilling possible lessons for Asia, in general, and China, in particular.
How might this SEA Protocol support the peaceful development of transboundary water resources? Given the current trend of the ‘proceduralisation’ of international water law, a fact that facilitates transboundary water cooperation by providing the means for concrete (and mostly technical) cooperation, and the assertion by the ICJ that conducting an EIA is a rule of customary law, how does this new SEA Protocol help? We would welcome research papers on this topic as we work on exploring China’s transboundary water issues, specifically in the context of its ‘upstream dilemma’. Can an SEA help with the matter of eco-compensation strategies across transboundary watercourses, where upstream/downstream benefits need to be more clearly identified and shared?
A joint paper by Prof Chen, Prof Wouters (Xiamen CIWL) and Dr Alistair Rieu-Clarke, ‘Exploring China’s transboundary water treaty practice through the prism of the UN Watercourses Convention’ has reached the ‘Most Read Articles’ of Water International with 740 views; and one of only two papers from 2013 to make the list.
Delighted! (great co-authors)
See http://www.tandfonline.com/action/showMostReadArticles?journalCode=rwin20#.U8P5Nl7u8Xc.
pressing global issues and it is increasingly evident
that the world's capacity to respond meaningfully to
water security risks is in serious doubt. The growing
tension over access to water resources manifests itself
at all levels - local, national and international - with
the potential for water-related conflicts most apparent
in transboundary (or shared) water systems (rivers,
basins or aquifers), which cross administrative or international
borders.
Management and utilisation of transboundary water
resources is a multi-dimensional phenomenon where
economic and environmental factors are intertwined
with geopolitical and legal concerns. At the heart of
this tangle is the problem of how to resolve the
inherent contradiction between the physical integrity
of an international watercourse (basin) and the
sovereign right to use its waters by each state sharing
it. The evident reduction in the amount and decline of
the quality of freshwater resources intensifies competition
between various uses and users across borders,
which creates the potential to turn it into open rivalry.
Interstate tensions and disputes over water resources
are becoming increasingly common in different geographical
regions, such as the Middle East, Northern
Africa and Southeast Asia, and are now considered as a
new emerging threat to regional and even global
security. Water controversies usually arise either from
water shortage, where existing and projected needs
cannot be satisfied by available resources, or from
transboundary impacts, first and foremost pollution. In
order to prevent such conflicts it is important to strike
a balance between the competing interests of different
states sharing an international watercourse, while also
taking into account the requirements of ecosystems.
This objective can be achieved only through interstate
cooperation, with appropriate legal and institutional
frameworks being its central piece.
It is within this context that the article explores an
important issue for Northeast Asia: how China and
Russia `cooperate' in the management of their shared
water resources.
continues to evolve as new global challenges emerge that test the
boundaries of state sovereignty. This article explores the duty to
cooperate through the prism of transboundary waters in the context of impending conflicts-of-use as demands increase to meet growing economic, social, cultural and environmental needs. What are the obligations on sovereign nation states as they develop and manage their shared water resources? This article argues that a norm of ‘dynamic cooperation’ is emerging in the field, with its origins at the very core of international law, and which provides a platform for the continued peaceful management of the world’s shared fresh waters. The declaration of 2013 as the UN International Year of Water Cooperation has helped to provide the impetus to explore more fully the ‘duty to cooperate’ as it relates to the development and management of the world’s shared freshwater resources.
At the heart of our argument are three fundamental tenets: (i) international law has the inherent capacity to, and is in the process of, transforming to address global water-related imperatives; (ii) the rules of international law that apply to shared water resources require a consolidated, and a consolidating, framework in order to address the global water crisis within and across national borders; (iii) the very notion of State sovereignty, recast in our contemporary setting, supports and provides the legal parameters for the crystallisation of an obligation erga omnes to ensure ‘water for all’, as duty and entitlement of the international community as a whole.
International river basins cover more than half of the land’s surface. With close to 300 major watercourses shared by two or more states and an ever-increasing demand on the world’s diminishing water resources, there may be some justification in the assertion by certain commentators that “water wars” are imminent. The UN forecasts that more than half of the world’s population will suffer direct consequences of water
scarcity if the current development patterns continue. The situation is particularly critical in developing countries, leading the world’s governments to commit themselves to “halve by 2015, the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation,” and also to “develop integrated water resources management and water efficiency plans by 2005” (UN Summit on Development, Johannesburg, 2002). Commendable as these plans may be, what solutions will states find in their competition over shared water resources? This is particularly crucial for states that depend on water supplies that cross their national borders.
This study discusses the relevance and role of international water law in the promotion of cooperation over shared transboundary watercourses. With its focus on
actual case studies and through examination of contemporary state practice and detailed analysis of the 1997 UN Watercourses Convention, this work aims to provide
water resource experts from all disciplines with an overview of the rules of international law that govern interstate relations over water.
a collection of articles derived from research currently
being undertaken at our Dundee UNESCO Centre.
The works examine a range of water-related problems
at various scales ± from global to local, and across a
spectrum of disciplines. In tackling the complex challenges
arising in this area, it is proposed that a more
integrated approach, combining water law, policy and
science in constructive ways, will promote innovative
contributions to achieving `water for all'.
During times of unprecedented uncertainty and rapid
change, the need to manage the world's water
resources in ways that enhance the (often divergent)
social, economic and environmental objectives, provides
myriad challenges at all levels. In such a context,
it is especially important to understand the `rules of
the game'. Where there are insufficient quantities or
qualities of water to meet national requirements on
shared transboundary watercourses, or to irrigate the
fields for local farmers; or where raging floods
adversely affect human and ecosystem populations,
the need for robust and responsive legal frameworks is
readily apparent. It is interesting to note, however, that
despite the recent proliferation of global policy
statements, experts' reports and projects aimed at
addressing the global water crisis, most have failed to
integrate effectively water law, policy and science in
their proposed solutions. The next World Water
Development Report (produced by the UN agencies
working on water and released every three years at the
World Water Forum), already a work-in-progress, will
focus on the theme of uncertainty and risk, and
provides yet one more opportunity for such a joinedup
approach.
Guest Editors: Professor Patricia Wouters and Dr Sarah Hendry
Securitisation as an Obstacle to Achieving Water Security and the Role of Law in De-Securitising the World’s Most Precious Resource”
Christina Leb and Patricia Wouters
Introduction
Water is life.
Lack of access to adequate quantities and qualities of water resources is linked to most, if not all, development issues – poverty, poor health, diminished livelihoods, child mortality and conflict. It is within this context that we explore the issue of water security. ‘Water insecurity’ derails pathways to economic efficiency, social equity and environmental sustainability, all necessary for national security (GWP). Growing water scarcity and competition for shared water resources driven by population growth, expansion of human economic activity and climate change is at the heart of the debate over the securitisation of water and water security.
National security threats linked to water, or the ‘securitisation of water’, is one strand of the debate. In that domain, the lack of access to water is viewed primarily as a political issue, as the very object of securitisation. Distinct, but connected to this discourse, is the notion of ‘water security’, which is concerned primarily with resource management. The former approach places water at the centre of the politicisation process and favours isolationist resource planning and potential zero-sum games, while the latter approach, the achievement of water security, revolves around resource management objectives and evokes a range of environmental, economic and social equity considerations best addressed jointly among the nation-States sharing the resource.
This special collection of papers, ‘The China Water Papers’ aims at exploring how law/governance/institutions promote (or prevent) transboundary water cooperation, with a regional focus on Asia. Comparative regional state practice is examined with a view to distilling possible lessons for Asia, in general, and China, in particular.
How might this SEA Protocol support the peaceful development of transboundary water resources? Given the current trend of the ‘proceduralisation’ of international water law, a fact that facilitates transboundary water cooperation by providing the means for concrete (and mostly technical) cooperation, and the assertion by the ICJ that conducting an EIA is a rule of customary law, how does this new SEA Protocol help? We would welcome research papers on this topic as we work on exploring China’s transboundary water issues, specifically in the context of its ‘upstream dilemma’. Can an SEA help with the matter of eco-compensation strategies across transboundary watercourses, where upstream/downstream benefits need to be more clearly identified and shared?
A joint paper by Prof Chen, Prof Wouters (Xiamen CIWL) and Dr Alistair Rieu-Clarke, ‘Exploring China’s transboundary water treaty practice through the prism of the UN Watercourses Convention’ has reached the ‘Most Read Articles’ of Water International with 740 views; and one of only two papers from 2013 to make the list.
Delighted! (great co-authors)
See http://www.tandfonline.com/action/showMostReadArticles?journalCode=rwin20#.U8P5Nl7u8Xc.
pressing global issues and it is increasingly evident
that the world's capacity to respond meaningfully to
water security risks is in serious doubt. The growing
tension over access to water resources manifests itself
at all levels - local, national and international - with
the potential for water-related conflicts most apparent
in transboundary (or shared) water systems (rivers,
basins or aquifers), which cross administrative or international
borders.
Management and utilisation of transboundary water
resources is a multi-dimensional phenomenon where
economic and environmental factors are intertwined
with geopolitical and legal concerns. At the heart of
this tangle is the problem of how to resolve the
inherent contradiction between the physical integrity
of an international watercourse (basin) and the
sovereign right to use its waters by each state sharing
it. The evident reduction in the amount and decline of
the quality of freshwater resources intensifies competition
between various uses and users across borders,
which creates the potential to turn it into open rivalry.
Interstate tensions and disputes over water resources
are becoming increasingly common in different geographical
regions, such as the Middle East, Northern
Africa and Southeast Asia, and are now considered as a
new emerging threat to regional and even global
security. Water controversies usually arise either from
water shortage, where existing and projected needs
cannot be satisfied by available resources, or from
transboundary impacts, first and foremost pollution. In
order to prevent such conflicts it is important to strike
a balance between the competing interests of different
states sharing an international watercourse, while also
taking into account the requirements of ecosystems.
This objective can be achieved only through interstate
cooperation, with appropriate legal and institutional
frameworks being its central piece.
It is within this context that the article explores an
important issue for Northeast Asia: how China and
Russia `cooperate' in the management of their shared
water resources.
continues to evolve as new global challenges emerge that test the
boundaries of state sovereignty. This article explores the duty to
cooperate through the prism of transboundary waters in the context of impending conflicts-of-use as demands increase to meet growing economic, social, cultural and environmental needs. What are the obligations on sovereign nation states as they develop and manage their shared water resources? This article argues that a norm of ‘dynamic cooperation’ is emerging in the field, with its origins at the very core of international law, and which provides a platform for the continued peaceful management of the world’s shared fresh waters. The declaration of 2013 as the UN International Year of Water Cooperation has helped to provide the impetus to explore more fully the ‘duty to cooperate’ as it relates to the development and management of the world’s shared freshwater resources.
At the heart of our argument are three fundamental tenets: (i) international law has the inherent capacity to, and is in the process of, transforming to address global water-related imperatives; (ii) the rules of international law that apply to shared water resources require a consolidated, and a consolidating, framework in order to address the global water crisis within and across national borders; (iii) the very notion of State sovereignty, recast in our contemporary setting, supports and provides the legal parameters for the crystallisation of an obligation erga omnes to ensure ‘water for all’, as duty and entitlement of the international community as a whole.
International river basins cover more than half of the land’s surface. With close to 300 major watercourses shared by two or more states and an ever-increasing demand on the world’s diminishing water resources, there may be some justification in the assertion by certain commentators that “water wars” are imminent. The UN forecasts that more than half of the world’s population will suffer direct consequences of water
scarcity if the current development patterns continue. The situation is particularly critical in developing countries, leading the world’s governments to commit themselves to “halve by 2015, the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation,” and also to “develop integrated water resources management and water efficiency plans by 2005” (UN Summit on Development, Johannesburg, 2002). Commendable as these plans may be, what solutions will states find in their competition over shared water resources? This is particularly crucial for states that depend on water supplies that cross their national borders.
This study discusses the relevance and role of international water law in the promotion of cooperation over shared transboundary watercourses. With its focus on
actual case studies and through examination of contemporary state practice and detailed analysis of the 1997 UN Watercourses Convention, this work aims to provide
water resource experts from all disciplines with an overview of the rules of international law that govern interstate relations over water.
a collection of articles derived from research currently
being undertaken at our Dundee UNESCO Centre.
The works examine a range of water-related problems
at various scales ± from global to local, and across a
spectrum of disciplines. In tackling the complex challenges
arising in this area, it is proposed that a more
integrated approach, combining water law, policy and
science in constructive ways, will promote innovative
contributions to achieving `water for all'.
During times of unprecedented uncertainty and rapid
change, the need to manage the world's water
resources in ways that enhance the (often divergent)
social, economic and environmental objectives, provides
myriad challenges at all levels. In such a context,
it is especially important to understand the `rules of
the game'. Where there are insufficient quantities or
qualities of water to meet national requirements on
shared transboundary watercourses, or to irrigate the
fields for local farmers; or where raging floods
adversely affect human and ecosystem populations,
the need for robust and responsive legal frameworks is
readily apparent. It is interesting to note, however, that
despite the recent proliferation of global policy
statements, experts' reports and projects aimed at
addressing the global water crisis, most have failed to
integrate effectively water law, policy and science in
their proposed solutions. The next World Water
Development Report (produced by the UN agencies
working on water and released every three years at the
World Water Forum), already a work-in-progress, will
focus on the theme of uncertainty and risk, and
provides yet one more opportunity for such a joinedup
approach.
Guest Editors: Professor Patricia Wouters and Dr Sarah Hendry
Securitisation as an Obstacle to Achieving Water Security and the Role of Law in De-Securitising the World’s Most Precious Resource”
Christina Leb and Patricia Wouters
Introduction
Water is life.
Lack of access to adequate quantities and qualities of water resources is linked to most, if not all, development issues – poverty, poor health, diminished livelihoods, child mortality and conflict. It is within this context that we explore the issue of water security. ‘Water insecurity’ derails pathways to economic efficiency, social equity and environmental sustainability, all necessary for national security (GWP). Growing water scarcity and competition for shared water resources driven by population growth, expansion of human economic activity and climate change is at the heart of the debate over the securitisation of water and water security.
National security threats linked to water, or the ‘securitisation of water’, is one strand of the debate. In that domain, the lack of access to water is viewed primarily as a political issue, as the very object of securitisation. Distinct, but connected to this discourse, is the notion of ‘water security’, which is concerned primarily with resource management. The former approach places water at the centre of the politicisation process and favours isolationist resource planning and potential zero-sum games, while the latter approach, the achievement of water security, revolves around resource management objectives and evokes a range of environmental, economic and social equity considerations best addressed jointly among the nation-States sharing the resource.
Publication: China Brief Volume: 14 Issue: 14
July 17, 2014 04:38 PM Age: 8 hrs
By: David Cohen
Xi met India’s new prime minister at a BRICS summit and said that China and India are both seeking “national renewal” (Source: Deccan Chronicle)
On July 14, Chinese President Xi Jinping became the second national leader to meet newly elected Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (who has paid a state visit to Bhutan), beating Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in an 80-minute face-to-face meeting at the BRICS Summit in Fortaleza, Brazil (qstheory.cn, July 16). The message he delivered, focusing on China and India’s shared development ambitions, is an application of a theory of development-led diplomacy that Chinese leaders have put forth over the past year.
Xi’s meeting edges out Abe, who had earlier been promised Modi’s first overseas trip. While Modi may still make Japan his first state visit outside the Indian subcontinent, he has delayed a trip planned for early July to September (The Hindu, July 14). In the meantime, with the Xi meeting and a previous visit by Wang Yi, China has been making a pitch to India for a closer relationship built upon expanding economic cooperation—with two new banks to support Indian infrastructure and hints of a trade in services deal, which could help to rebalance India’s $31 billion trade deficit with China (Times of India, June 8). China currently puts strict limits on trade in services, an area in which India has an advantage.
Both Xi and Wang have drawn upon an approach to regional foreign policy first expounded at last year’s Work Forum on Peripheral Diplomacy, and since elaborated in Xi’s speech at the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building in Asia. This approach seeks to persuade China’s neighbors that “for Asians, development is the greatest form of security”—promoting a conception of security that privileges development above other concerns and allows China to argue that its own economic growth is a major contribution to regional security (see China Brief, May 23 and June 19). The goal of this approach seems to be to ensure that economic integration outweighs territorial disputes in the strategic calculus of China’s neighbors.
India’s new government, as Jonathan Ward wrote in China Brief last month, presents China with a test of this theory: Modi harshly criticized China’s territorial claims on the campaign trail, accusing it of having an “expansionist mindset,” but has also made economic development a centerpiece of his government and evinced an interest in learning from China’s reform process (see China Brief, June 19). Both Xi and Wang have seized on the latter focus to argue that the two countries are united by their status as developing nations, and have sought to address Indian economic concerns.
At their meeting, Xi said that both countries are currently “striving for national rejuvenation,” and called for increased services trade, investment and tourism, noting that trade must be balanced to be sustainable—an observation happily endorsed by India’s foreign ministry spokesman (qstheory.cn, July 16; Indian Ministry of External Affairs press briefing, July 15). Wang likewise emphasized shared dreams of national renewal (PRC Foreign Ministry, June 9). Both mentioned the territorial disputes, but did not offer anything new—relegating the issue to the end of their speeches and saying that existing frameworks are sufficient to manage the dispute.
China has also deployed international organizations to woo India, inviting it to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, proposed last year, which will further economic ties both by direct investment and by facilitating further trade in physical goods (qstheory.cn, July 16). A deal announced at the summit to create a BRICS development bank headquartered in Shanghai and initially led by an Indian President will help with the same goals (Times of India, July 16). Xi also invited Modi to attend a November APEC summit hosted by China, which will be India’s first appearance at that forum, and reportedly told Modi that he “looks forward to working more closely with India at the Shanghai Cooperation Forum,” a China-initiated organization at which India has been denied full membership (Indian Ministry of External Affairs press briefing, July 15).
But Modi is also clearly concerned about traditional security issues, focusing on them in a statement released at the opening of the BRICS summit. He mentioned terrorism, Afghanistan, the current wars in the Middle East and North Africa and cyber-security, but not territorial disputes (NDTV, July 15). Likewise, he is apparently interested in maintaining a close relationship with Abe despite the growing tensions in Sino-Japanese ties.
China is unlikely to shelve its territorial disputes in pursuit of trade—while rolling out the peripheral diplomacy strategy in Southeast Asia, China has not avoided confrontations in the South China Sea, placing an oil rig in Vietnamese-claimed waters and sending navy ships to visit a reef in waters disputed with Malaysia during an exercise in February. The oil rig ended drilling on July 15, somewhat earlier than the originally stated schedule of drilling into the middle of August. Instead, Xi argues that the benefits of development will simply outweigh other types of security.
But this theory may work both ways: Xi has argued that it is possible to decouple economic cooperation from territorial and strategic confrontation. While he has made progress toward forging a close business relationship with Modi, there is no guarantee that it will translate into politics.
India and China signed three Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) during the Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari’s recent five-day visit to Beijing from 26 June– 1 July. One of them was on the ‘flood data’ of the Brahmaputra River – also called the Yarlung Tsangpo in China. In the past, we have heard of similar MoUs between the two neighbours on the Brahmaputra, and it is all about the sharing of the hydrological data of Brahmaputra River during monsoons. In the latest MoU on the subject that was signed on 30 June – in presence of Indian Vice President Ansari and his Chinese counterpart Li Yuanchao – Beijing agreed to provide 15 days’ additional hydrological data—from 15 May 15 to 15 October each year.
Bluntly put, the latest MoU on the Brahmaputra flood data means nothing as an additional 15 days worth of hydrological information will not enable India to deal with the problem any differently. What India needs is input from the Chinese side on dams and other projects Beijing is pursuing or intends to pursue based on the waters of the Yarlung Tsangpo. The 510 MW Zangmu dam built at the Gyaca County in the Shannan Prefecture of China’s Tibet Autonomous Region is expected to be commissioned next year. What must be noted is that Beijing has given clearance for the construction of 27 other dams on the Yarlung Tsangpo River that flows 1625 kilometres across China, and 918 kilometres through India in its downstream course.
Moreover, China actually plans to divert water at the Great Bend, located just before where the river enters India, also known as the Shoumatan Point; and also intends to build hydroelectric power projects that could generate 40,000 MWs of power. The plan to divert the Brahmaputra is a reality because China wants to solve the water scarcity in its arid northern areas. The diversion of the water is part of a larger hydro-engineering project, the South-North water diversion scheme, which involves three man-made rivers carrying water to its northern parts. If the water is diverted, the water levels of the Brahmaputra will drop significantly, affecting India’s Northeastern region, and Bangladesh. Estimates suggest that the total water flow will fall by roughly 60 per cent if China successfully diverts the Brahmaputra. Besides, it will severely impact agriculture and fishing as the salinity of water will increase, as will silting in the downstream area.
With an unprecedented mandate and a demonstrated policy to improve ties with its neighbours, the new Narendra Modi government in New Delhi can initiate setting up of something like a South Asia Shared Rivers Commission or Authority by bringing Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan and Nepal on board. The Commission can begin by formulating a framework agreement among the states that share rivers for their use, development, protection, conservation and management of the water and related resources, and establish an institutional mechanism for cooperation among these states. Once such a commission emerges and a cooperative framework on the shared rivers is agreed upon by the concerned states, it can engage with China and try to bring Beijing on board. After all, eleven major rivers flow out of China to countries in its neighbourhood and there is enough commonality of interest.
Cooperation on the Brahmaputra with China is of utmost importance to India and Bangladesh. The principle of cooperation between China, India and Bangladesh—the Brahmaputra basin states—can be on the basis of sovereign equality, territorial integrity, mutual benefit and good faith in order to attain optimal utilisation and adequate protection; conservation of the Brahmaputra River Basin; and to promote joint efforts to achieve social and economic development. These actually are the guiding principles of an effective and successful Nile River Valley Cooperative Framework (NRVCF) involving Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as well as Eritrea as an observer. The NRVCF has enough flexibility in the sense that two of the nations who are part of the Framework can have certain specific bilateral understanding or arrangements. What is significant is that every member nation must maintain total transparency on its plans about utilising the resources of the shared river and inform the states concerned of any project at hand.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has already demonstrated India’s big power ambitions by his proactive foreign policy push, will be well advised to come up with a comprehensive shared river water policy, keeping China’s plans and/or intents in mind. Delay may cost India dearly and we may have a case of non-utilisation of waters of shared rivers such as the Brahmaputra – one that has neither being tapped for hydro-power or navigation, 26 years after it was declared National Waterways Number Two.
Wasbir Hussain
Executive Director, Centre for Development & Peace Studies, Guwahati, and Visiting Fellow, IPCS, New Delhi
Li made the remark in a message sent to the Eco Forum Global Annual Conference 2014 that opened Friday in Guiyang, capital of the southwest province of Guizhou.
Li said that China will continue to strengthen environmental cooperation with all other countries and international organizations by pressing for implementation of the international environmental pact and jointly addressing climate change.
The Premier said China has given even greater priority to developing an eco-wise civilization in its modernization drive. It sticks to a protective approach in development and has improved the regulatory system for environmental protection. He said China has made great efforts to control haze, water pollution and soil contamination and advanced change in energy and resources production and consumption. He said China will continue to carry out major ecological projects in order to offer a healthy environment to the people.
Li said the forum will bring together common sense on eco-wise development and explore new frontiers for sustainable growth in the world.
Nearly 1,000 people attended the forum. Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao made a speech at the opening ceremony.
He said people should balance economic development and preservation of the eco-system. He called for people to adopt the thinking that protecting and improving the environment is equal to maintaining and developing productivity. He said people should pursue the road of civilized development with greater productivity, better lives and a sound environment.
The Vice President also urged people to balance environmental protection and ecological restoration. He said the government should carry out rehabilitation of the eco-system as work of fundamental significance and create the social attitude to be nature friendly and protect the environment.
Li Yuanchao said the balance between developing and saving resources requires a set of rigid rules, an effective system of governance and harsh regulation by the law. He also called for greater efforts in expanding green, recycling and low-carbon-emission industries.
The Vice President said different countries should balance their own specific responsibilities and international cooperation to achieve common environment-friendly development.
He said China is advocating and implementing the development of environment-friendly civilization and is ready to strengthen cooperation with all other countries on an equal, friendly, and mutually beneficial basis.
Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome, Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, President of the Council of States of Switzerland's Federal Assembly Hannes Germann, Russian Presidential Administration chief Sergei Ivanov, Vanuatu Deputy Prime Minister Ham Lini also made speeches at the opening ceremony.
By Sarah Murray
Ferguson illustration
Business school graduates heading to jobs in sectors such as energy, telecoms, drinks or apparel may find the subject of water appears on their agenda. Some may even find themselves wishing that their MBA had given them a better understanding of water management.
Research published last month indicates increasing concern among companies about how to deal with water risks and opportunities. More than three in four companies said they were already facing water-related challenges, according to the study by Vox Global, a communications firm, and Pacific Institute, an environmental research group.
On average, respondents said that they saw water management as the most significant sustainability issue they faced, with almost 60 per cent predicting that water challenges would have an impact on business growth and profitability in the next five years. Nearly 85 per cent said that, in five years’ time, water issues would influence decisions on where they located their facilities.
“Water is going to be seen as a strategic resource,” says Tony Calandro, head of Vox Global’s sustainability and CSR practice group. “Within a business school environment, it’s about understanding how the competition for water is going to impact the business and integrating that into the curriculum.”
“If you have world-class water and engineering people doing advanced research, you can get a good blend of the technology and the management if you put it together properly,” says Peter Lacy, managing director for Asia-Pacific of strategy and sustainability services at Accenture, the professional services group.
“Business schools have a responsibility to ensure that future leaders are exposed to the basics of environmental management through collaboration with departments of engineering, hydrology, science and technology,” says Jean-Paul Jeanrenaud, director at WWF International (World Wildlife Fund) and co-founder of the University of Exeter Business School’s One Planet MBA.
“Unless there’s someone in the faculty with a passion or they are able to leverage experts to shape the curriculum, schools are poorly positioned to bring that depth of knowledge to issues such as water,” says Mr Lacy, who sits on the boards of several global business schools.
However, the question is whether – given the amount of material to be absorbed during the short time span of an MBA programme – the best use of a student’s time would be to delve deeply into the technical complexities of water management.
Mr Lacy believes that water should be included in the MBA as part of more general discussions about the efficient management of resources.
This becomes more pressing as commodity costs rise, making a more compelling case for treating wastewater (which contains everything from metals to nitrogen and phosphorus) as a source of raw materials.
“People on MBA courses might not have time to look into water specifically,” says Jamie Butterworth, chief executive of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. “But if the price of energy, water and virgin materials is going to trend upwards, decoupling growth from resource constraints will allow companies to outperform their competitors – that’s something we’ll start to see covered in the MBA.”
But while companies’ awareness of this might be increasing, it does not always filter down to their recruitment staff. And MBA curriculum changes often reflect the demands of recruiters, explains Andrew Crane, director of the Centre of Excellence in Responsible Business at Schulich School of Business, Canada.
Unless recruiters signal that they are looking for MBA graduates equipped with the skills needed to manage resources such as water, he says, there is not always pressure to alter the curriculum.
“We could easily go far deeper with sustainability teaching but we have to be mindful of our recruiters,” says Prof Crane. “And they’re still not coming on to campus and demanding that graduates know about resource conservation.”
Jim Yong Kim, the president of the World Bank, has warned that the impacts of climate change could lead to an escalation in conflict and social unrest.
His comments come in the wake of the recently published report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which warned that no nation would be unaffected by climate change.
The report cautioned that the effects of global warming would impact on many areas including food prices and availability with production of vital crops predicted to drop by 2050, leading to a rise in poverty and conflict.
Mr Kim, speaking in a recent interview, said he believes disputes over food and water will begin within the next decade as climate change begins to affect production. He urged campaigners and scientists to collaborate to create solutions.
In order to keep global warming below the internationally agreed limit of 2°C, Kim called for governments and the UN to finalise a plan of action.
The four areas Kim outlined in which the World Bank could help fight climate change are investing in cleaner cities, finding a stable price for carbon, removing fuel subsidises and developing climate smart agriculture.
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Speaking at a recent State Council meeting on energy savings and emissions reduction, Li said the government will “crack down hard” on both businesses and local officials who have “ignored basic social responsibility and legal liability” for not providing proper oversight of discharges by companies that fall under their jurisdiction.
Last week, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Water Resources Jiao Yong said only 47.4 percent of the country’s surface water sources met water quality standards for their usage categories -- drinking water, industrial water, agricultural water or landscaping water.
Jiao said his ministry will improve water quality by setting new discharge limits and making sure local governments are handling problems before they lead to public protests.
It is also planning to expand a pilot program that creates a system of “three red lines” -- one each for total water consumption, total wastewater discharges and water efficiency targets. About 95 percent of the nation’s cities and some 700 counties have completed draft plans on these three lines, according to Jiao.
This year, the ministry, together with the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Council, will create a system to determine if local governments are enforcing better water management policies, he added.
Water pollution is a growing public concern in China, and this in turn has spurred more government action.
Last month, the water resources ministry announced a $330 billion USD plan, which is currently under review, to address water pollution and improve water quality. It involves investing in wastewater treatment and recycling and membrane technology.
In December, the State Council approved a plan that focused on water quality in lakes. This plan adjusts the industrial structure and distribution surrounding lakes as a way to limit discharges. It also strengthens pollution control measures for rivers that flow into lakes.
The council also issued a statement calling for stronger scientific management, use of proper technology, adherence to strict water source protection rules, increased government investment, and balancing environmental protection with economic development and livelihoods.
Just last week, over a hundred dead pigs were dumped into a major river in China’s eastern Jiangxi Province. The Ganjiang River provides drinking water to Nanchang, the provincial capital.
The pigs are believed to have been dumped in the river’s upper reaches. All tests showed that tap water in the area was safe for consumption
Tom Bawden
The Independent - 18 March 2014
Climate change will displace hundreds of millions of people by the end of this century, increasing the risk of violent conflict and wiping trillions of dollars off the global economy, a forthcoming UN report will warn.
The second of three publications by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, due to be made public at the end of this month, is the most comprehensive investigation into the impact of climate change ever undertaken. A draft of the final version seen by The Independent says the warming climate will place the world under enormous strain, forcing mass migration, especially in Asia, and increasing the risk of violent conflict.
Based on thousands of peer-reviewed studies and put together by hundreds of respected scientists, the report predicts that climate change will reduce median crop yields by 2 per cent per decade for the rest of the century – at a time of rapidly growing demand for food. This will in turn push up malnutrition in children by about a fifth, it predicts.
The report also forecasts that the warming climate will take its toll on human health, pushing up the number of intense heatwaves and fires and increasing the risk from food and water-borne diseases.
While the impact on the UK will be relatively small, global issues such as rising food prices will pose serious problems. Britain’s health and environmental “cultural heritage” is also likely to be hurt, the report warns.
According to the draft report, a rare grassy coastal habitat unique to Scotland and Ireland is set to suffer, as are grouse moors in the UK and peatlands in Ireland. The UK’s already elevated air pollution is likely to worsen as burning fossil fuels increase ozone levels, while warmer weather will increase the incidence of asthma and hay fever.
Coastal systems and low-lying areas
The report predicts that by the end of the century “hundreds of millions of people will be affected by coastal flooding and displaced due to land loss”. The majority affected will be in East Asia, South-east Asia and South Asia. Rising sea levels mean coastal systems and low-lying areas will increasingly experience submergence, coastal flooding and coastal erosion.
Food security
Relatively low local temperature increases of 1C or more above pre-industralised levels are projected to “negatively impact” yields of major crops such as wheat, rice and maize in tropical and temperate regions. The report forecasts that climate change will reduce median yields by up to 2 per cent per decade for the rest of the century – against a backdrop of rising demand that is set to increase by 14 per cent per decade until 2050.
The global economy
A global mean temperature increase of 2.5C above pre-industrial levels may lead to global aggregate economic losses of between 0.2 and 2.0 per cent, the report warns. Global GDP was $71.8trn (£43.1trn) in 2012, meaning a 2 per cent reduction would wipe $1.4trn off the world’s economic output that year.
Human health
Until mid-century, climate change will impact human health mainly by exacerbating problems that already exist, the report says. Climate change will lead to increases in ill-health in many regions, with examples including a greater likelihood of injury, disease and death due to more intense heatwaves and fires; increased likelihood of under-nutrition; and increased risks from food and water-borne diseases. Without accelerated investment in planned adaptations, climate change by 2050 would increase the number of undernourished children under the age of five by 20-25 million globally, or by 17-22 per cent, it says.
Human security
Climate change over the 21st century will have a significant impact on forms of migration that compromise human security, the report states. For example, it indirectly increases the risks from violent conflict in the form of civil war, inter-group violence and violent protests by exacerbating well-established drivers of these conflicts such as poverty and economic shocks.
Small-island states and other places highly vulnerable to sea-level rise face major challenges to their territorial integrity. Some “transboundary” impacts of climate change, such as changes in sea ice, shared water resources and migration of fish stocks have the potential to increase rivalry among states.
Freshwater resources
The draft of the report says “freshwater-related risks of climate change increase significantly with increasing greenhouse gas emissions”. It finds that climate change will “reduce renewable surface water and groundwater resources significantly in most dry subtropical regions”, exacerbating the competition for water. Terrestrial and freshwater species will also face an increased extinction risk under projected climate change during and beyond the 21st century.
Unique landscapes
Machair, a grassy coastal habitat found only in north-west Scotland and the west coast of Ireland, is one of the several elements of the UK’s “cultural heritage” that is at risk from climate change, the report says. Machair is found only on west-facing shores and is rich in calcium carbonate derived from crushed seashells. It is so rare and special, that a recent assessment by the European Forum on Nature Conservation and Pastoralism described it as an “unknown jewel”.
The IPCC also warns of climate threats to Irish peatlands and UK grousemoors and notes an increasing risk to health across Europe from rising air pollution – in which the polluted UK is already in serial breach of EU regulations
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18 March, 2014 – No Water, No Food: HSBC explores the implications of China’s quest for food safety and food security given current water scarcity and pollution issues in a newly released research report. China Water Risk was commissioned by HSBC Climate Change Centre to research and analyse the findings which form the basis of this report.
The report warns:
China’s agricultural output is as large as Australia’s entire economy and output of its one billion livestock animals (pigs, sheep, cattle, etc.) is more than 1.5x the Singaporean economy;
Almost 30% of China’s agricultural output comes from the water-scarce and polluted North China Plain;
Agriculture is the top user and polluter of water and the government is tightening regulations on water usage, as well as water and soil pollution due to rising fears over food safety;
Only 14% of China’s total land area is currently used as arable land; the country as a whole is close to water-stress levels, and soil has become polluted through the overuse of fertilisers and heavy metals from industry;
At the same time, food demand is increasing in China, driven by rising affluence and urbanisation
By China Daily
05/03/2014 09:50:51
China Daily outlines seven of the major policies introduced by the nation's leadership to build a better, fairer and cleaner China.
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China and India are both planning a slew of large scale dams along the Yarlung Zangbo in disputed territory.
On a visit to India in May, Chinese premier Li Keqiang said that the two countries would no longer avoid talking about their differences – everything, including border disputes and water sharing issues, was up for discussion. In October those talks bore fruit, with long-awaited progress on river issues. Li and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh, meeting in Beijing in their second summit of the year, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on strengthening cooperation on trans-border rivers, one of nine different agreements reached.
Under the agreement, both parties recognised that “trans-border rivers and related natural resources and the environment are assets of immense value to the socio-economic development of all riparian countries” and agreed to cooperate through the existing expert level mechanism on flood-season hydrological data and emergency management. China also agreed to provide India with monsoon-season hydrological data for the Yarlung Zangbo (known in India as the Brahmaputra) for an extra two weeks every year, from May 15, rather than from June 1, to October 15.
The agreement made front page news in the Indian papers. A headline in The Hindu announced that “China will be more transparent on trans-border river projects” while the Indian Express wrote that “China’s acceptance of downstream rights is without precedent, and this is to date China’s only written agreement with a neighbour on these issues.” But Indian academics expressed disappointment, complaining the deal did not cover the real problems: China’s hydropower development and dam building on the Yarlung Zangbo.
Stony silence from Chinese officials
The MoU did not make so much of a splash in the Chinese papers. When asked about the significance of the deal, the International Rivers Office at the Ministry of Water Resources’ Department of International Cooperation, Science and Technology waited a week before declining to comment.
Development of the Yarlung Zangbo has always been a sore point in relations between China and India. India worries Chinese hydropower dams will affect downstream flows. Brahma Chellaney of the Centre for Policy Research, an Indian think-tank, has even said, “China seems intent on aggressively pursuing projects on the Yarlung Zangbo and employing water as a weapon." A spokesperson at the Ministry of Water said China had no plans for any hydrological projects at the Great Bend of the Yarlung Zangbo, before the river flows into India. Meanwhile China would see any Indian development further downstream as threatening its claims over Arunachal Pradesh, which it refers to as South Tibet.
Li Zhifei, an assistant research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ (CASS) Institute for Asia-Pacific Studies, said that China was firmly opposed to any attempt by India to strengthen its de-facto control of the region by developing the Brahmaputra, while India holds that development would not weaken that control. “So real progress in talks on trans-border river and water allocation issues is unlikely, as the negotiations cannot avoid the status of South Tibet.”
Li argued the strategic significance of the new agreement was clear, but that China-India cooperation in this field is still just getting started, and has not yet dealt with the real issues – and so the problems cannot yet be solved. Although the two parties have opted to work together, any discussion of river development will inevitably run into questions of territory. Talks on sovereignty have decided to maintain the status quo, meaning that neither party will make any concessions. “So it can be expected that cooperation on trans-border rivers will go no further than these early exchanges of hydrological and flood-control information.”
But some Chinese academics have expressed confidence in future trans-border river cooperation. Yang Xiaoping, an assistant researcher with the National Institute of International Strategy at CASS, specialises in Chinese-Indian relations. She pointed out that the timetable for provision of flood-monitoring data on the Yarlung Zangbo hadn’t changed for over a decade, since the agreement was first signed in 2002. “It might have changed by just two weeks, but even that is a big step forward.” Yang added that “gathering data during the monsoon season is difficult, there is a lack of trust between the two nations, and scientific data is subject to national security considerations.”
Commenting on the outlook for the future, Yang said there can be further progress on institutionalising cooperation. So far there have only been MoUs,but in the future a working group could be set up to improve cooperation on flood warnings, environmental protection and biodiversity.
“For Chinese academics, trans-border rivers aren’t the decisive factor in relations with India. But if China takes a more positive approach, it will improve its image among neighbouring countries.”
China’s poker-faced party cadres are not known for speaking publicly against the country’s great engineering feats. Yet a Chinese minister has publicly called for an end to the South-North Water Diversion project, a $62billion investment designed to channel water from southern China to the arid north through three canal systems. “China tries to solve its water shortage problem by diverting water. But such a way is, to some extent, now mired in difficulties,” writes Qiu Baoxing, vice minister of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.
The ambitious diversion project will be rendered irrelevant if one in three buildings in Beijing could recycle more wastewater and collect more rainwater, Qiu writes in an article published in the February issue of Water&Wastewater Engineering. The project, which officially started in 2002, is considered controversial because of its high cost, environmental impact and massive displacement of local population.
“ Recycled water could replace diverted water. Most Chinese cities are capable of finding more water if we develop water desalination technology and collect more rain water,” he writes.
Qiu says that new pollution problems have also emerged along some parts of the project’s routes. He says diverted water has led to the leaking of residues in local pipelines, a problem that is “very difficult” to solve.
Already China is grappling to deal with pollution in the central route, which is expected to start delivering water to Beijing and nearby Tianjin some time this year. The Danjiangkou Reservoir, located in central China’s Hubei Province, is badly polluted as the five rivers flowing into it are used as dumping grounds for untreated sewage, China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection acknowledged in November.
Qiu warns that new problems will emerge if China sticks to the diversion project. China has faced a number of water crises during the past few years. In March 2013, more than 16,000 diseased pig carcasses were found in Shanghai’s Huangpu River, which supplies drinking water to parts of the city.
“If we miss the opportunity to repair water ecology, we will pay dearly,” he writes. “If we try to solve our water crisis by diverting water, then new ecological problems will emerge. This is not sustainable at all.”
By Nicholas Dynon
Beijing regularly reminds us that its foreign policy eschews the export of ideology and meddling in the political affairs of other countries. According to its concept of “peaceful development,” China has no intention of exporting ideology or seeking world hegemony, nor does it seek to change or subvert the current international order. In the same breath, Beijing frequently chides the United States as a serial offender in exporting ideology to shore up its international hegemony as the world’s dominant superpower.
China sees itself as the target of powerful Western political, military and media efforts to pursue neoliberal strategies of ideological world dominance. Beijing thus purports to maintain a defensive posture in relation to the export of ideology by other actors and the United States in particular. It articulates this in terms of safeguarding its “ideological security” against “ideological and cultural infiltration.”
Beijing characterizes its strategic intentions as mainly “inward-looking” while the United States’ are “outward-looking.” Thus, their strategic intentions do not clash (China Daily, September 9, 2013). While this inward versus outward characterisation appears prima facie to suggest a non-competitive arrangement, reality suggests otherwise. In addition to its defensive ideological posture—and as much as Beijing might state otherwise—there is an “outward-looking” element to this posture. While there exists no evidence that Beijing is exporting ideology for the purpose of universalizing its political values, there is evidence that it is doing so to safeguard its own ideological security in the face of a US-led “soft war.”
By Rup Narayan Das
The 17th round of India-China Special Representative Talks (SR Talks) on boundary disputes between the two countries concluded in New Delhi on February 11. China was represented by State Councilor Yang Jiechi, and India by National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon. An anodyne press release issued by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said that the talks were candid and constructive ( https://www.mea.gov.in/press-releases.htm?dtl/22861/ ). It further said the Special Representatives continued their discussions on a framework intended to achieve resolution of the boundary question, the second stage of a three-step process agreed to previously by both sides.
The latest round of the SR Talks between the two countries took place against the backdrop of a major border incursion by China on the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on April 15 last year (See China Brief, July 14, 2013). Although the three-week standoff was peacefully resolved on May 5, it exacerbated mistrust between the two countries and exposed the weaknesses of the existing institutional mechanisms and Confidence-Building Measures (CBMs) intended to prevent and defuse border incursions. It is no wonder, therefore, that the focus and thrust of the border talks in recent times have shifted to effective border management rather than seeking resolution of the issue.
By Ankit Panda
February 15, 2014
Although there are few specifics at the moment, the invitation could be an effort to reframe China’s rise.
Until now, the “Maritime Silk Road” (MSR) was China’s pitch to ASEAN, promising to deepen trade and cooperation between the PRC and various Southeast Asian countries. Xi Jinping coined the concept late last year and has been marketing it ever since. It appears now that Xi has expanded the reach of the MSR to India; China extended an invitation for India to join the MSR during the recent 17th round of border talks between the Special Representatives of the two countries in New Delhi.
Chinese Special Representative Yang Jiechi presented the invitation to Indian National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon. India has accepted the invitation although it is not entirely clear what it entails at this point.
Sri Lanka, whose foreign minister G.L. Peiris was just in Beijing, is also an MSR participant. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying indicated that the MSR is a flexible tool in China’s foreign policy at the moment. “This initiative is just an idea for cooperation. It is an open ended platform. The purpose is to integrate all kinds of ongoing cooperation especially cooperation on connectivity in the spirit of (ancient) silk road so that they can connect with each other and promote each other and accelerate regional countries’ common development,” she said.
“In this end China adopts an open attitude. We also hope to see good suggestions from other countries so as to substantiate this idea,” she added.
Including India in the MSR appears logical for China given the recent bids to push forward with the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) economic corridor. The four states held multilateral talks at the end of 2013 to draw up a timetable for the plan which would provide broad economic connectivity. The BCIM Joint Study Group concluded that the plan would ““advance multi-modal connectivity, harness the economic complementarities, promote investment and trade and facilitate people-to-people contacts.”
Generally, diplomats and officials in the region see the MSR as a bid to reframe China’s rise in a non-threatening way. The invitation for India to join the MSR, for example, comes just a week after China held rare naval exercises out of the Sunda Strait in the waters of the eastern Indian Ocean.
For Indian strategists with an eye on China, the traditional concern has been the idea that China, via a series of port facilities in the South China Sea, is establishing a “String of Pearls” to contain India. As Shannon Tiezzi writes over at our China Power blog, the MSR has several parallels to the “string of pearls” idea (a phrase coined by U.S. defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton).
The MSR remains an ambiguous tool of Chinese foreign policy at the point, but it will be one to watch in the coming years. What it does accomplish is offer Beijing a sort of centrality that the historic Silk Road couldn’t. The appeal of the MSR concept for Xi, a native of Shaanxi province – a terminus of the historic Silk Road – isn’t difficult to grasp. Reframing China’s interests in the Asia-Pacific’s maritime commons could serve to assuage concerns among neighbors often sceptical of China’s nefarious intentions.
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China's bold environmental move
There has been some surprising good news out of China. As you probably know, China's super-speed growth has produced super-high levels of pollution. Indeed, Beijing's poor air quality has popularized the word "air-pocalypse". There are days when you can barely see more than a few feet in front of you. It got so bad that the U.S. embassy in Beijing posted a real-time measure of air quality on its website; Chinese officials, of course, have disputed the American data as propaganda.
So people, mostly Chinese people, have asked for an accurate reading of pollution levels in China. In recent years, environmental groups have pressured Beijing to release official data on air pollution. But the government, notorious for being tight-lipped, secretive and unresponsive, had declined. In fact, few people actually believed that Beijing would ever accede to their demands.
Well, guess what? Beijing has ordered 15,000 factories to report details about their emissions: in public, and in real-time. The decree also calls for details on the release of pollutants like wastewater and heavy metals. This is a real first in China – an unprecedented mandate for transparency.
Keep in mind that many of these factories are actually run by powerful state-owned companies, with links to politicians in the upper echelons of government. But for the first time, there is a requirement to publicly acknowledge the environmental impact of mass-scale production…and to take steps to go green.
If you look at the numbers, perhaps we should have seen this coming.
According to the World Bank, the impacts of China's environmental degradation costs the country 9 percent of its Gross National Income. Studies by a number of journals show that more than a million Chinese die prematurely every year because of the country's poor air quality.
More from CNN: Can social media clear air?
And then there's the public response. In the West, we tend to hear only about the big incidents. For example, this time last year, when thousands of dead pigs were found floating in a river near Shanghai. Or when 39 tons of a deadly chemical leaked into one of China's main rivers. Or yet another "air-pocalypse."
All of these incidents and others have led to mass outrage and protest. But often unreported, at a smaller level, every day across this vast country there are hundreds of local protests about the environment. China's Society of Environmental Sciences reports that protests about the environment have grown by an average of 29 percent every year between 1996 and 2011. There are some reports that a majority of the organized protests in China are about the poor quality of air and water.
The good news – for China, and the world – is that Beijing seems to be listening. China has promised to spend $280 billion dollars cleaning up its air. According to information from the International Energy Agency: China's carbon emissions per unit of GDP have dropped by half since the 1990s. Massive investments in wind and solar energy mean that China hopes to get 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.
The next step is to be open and transparent about how it is progressing on these fronts. But this is a big first move. And it should send a signal to other developing countries to stop denying their pollution problems and start dealing with them. Most of them are actually much worse than China in this regard. So we have the strange irony that dictatorial China, responding to public protests, is cleaning up its air faster than democratic India.
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CNN's Jason Miks
Senior members of the University of Cambridge are calling for a debate on gender progression within the higher education sector
Added 20 February 2014 | University of Cambridge, academics, Times Higher Education
Posted by Rebecca Paddick
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In a letter published today in the Times Higher Education, more than 50 Cambridge staff – among them heads of colleges and departments – appeal for a broader and more inclusive approach to academic appointments and promotions so that talented women stand a better chance of progressing to senior positions.
They argue that conventional success in academia, for example a promotion from Reader to Professor, can often seem as if it is framed by quite rigid outcomes – a paper published in a leading journal, or the size and frequency of research grants – at the expense of other skill-sets and attributes. Despite the importance of such metrics, on their own they are likely to benefit men more than women, they argue.
A broader, more inclusive approach to success and promotion, where other academic contributions, including teaching, administration and outreach work are valued, would make it easier for women to advance, and universities fulfil their potential as institutions that contribute positively to society.
Data provided by the Higher Education Statistics Agency reveal that there are four male professors for every female professor in UK universities, despite women accounting for 45% of the UK academic workforce.
Professor Dame Athene Donald, gender equality champion at the University of Cambridge, said that she and her colleagues were keen to highlight how a conventional understanding of success in academia seems to disadvantage women.
“Our experience at Cambridge, where we have recently surveyed 126 female academics and administrators on this subject, suggests that this is indeed the case.
“Women seem to value a broader spectrum of work-based competencies that do not flourish easily under the current system.
“There will always be hardcore metrics for academics, such as grants, or prizes won, and books and papers published, and they are important. But there are opportunities to reward and embed different types of success, such as teaching, outreach and departmental support; activities that lots of very talented women, and indeed men, are involved with, but are not currently a meaningful part of recognition and advancement in universities.
“If universities inhibit the progression of talented female staff, they in turn are unable to reach their full potential. And we know that universities make a huge contribution to society through research, teaching and partnerships with businesses, among many other activities.”
The survey by the University of Cambridge is part of ongoing work to improve its own gender imbalances. Each of the participants were nominated by peers as successful women, with further interviews and questions being used to understand what shaped their views around success, the barriers they faced on their way to becoming successful, and what techniques they had used to thrive.
Added 20 February 2014 | University of Cambridge, academics, Times Higher Education
Posted by Rebecca Paddick
Focusing on the case studies of China and India, the report compares the balance between centralized and decentralized management. The report includes chapters on: water and food as global priorities; India and China – similarities and contrasts; water governance in India; water governance in China; selected experiences from other countries; lessons from India, China and others; and a role for integrated water resources management (IWRM).
In the section on selected experiences from other countries, the report examines challenges faced in sub-Saharan Africa. Among conclusions, the report stresses that small-scale water management solutions are more likely to succeed when governance and institutional capacity is weak, but such solutions are unlikely to sufficiently address increased competition for scarce water resources or the threat of climate change.
19th Oct 2013
Women’s Environment and Development Desk
Tibetan Women’s Association
Central Executive Committee
Dharamshala, 176219, India
To: Environment Ministers of the Governments of Bhutan, Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, and Vietnam
cc Mrs Irina Bokuva, Director General, UNESCO
Your Excellencies,
With an increasing number of Chinese hydropower projects and water-diversion projects in Tibet, as well as water pollution from mining in Tibet, it is certain that Tibet and its ten downstream nations will face great challenges in the coming years. Therefore, we are writing to share our grave concerns about the impact of China’s policies on Asia’s regional water security, and to urge your government to join forces with other downstream nations to pressure China to enter into appropriate water-sharing agreements.
Over the last sixty years, China’s policies in Tibet have led to major environmental degradation. This includes poisoned river and groundwater through unregulated mining, drying up of wetlands and shrinking of lakes, and disrupting the fragile ecosystem at the headwaters of these rivers. This has exacerbated a serious situation, whereby meltdown from Himalayan glaciers has caused chronic flooding downstream from Tibet, including your countries.
Along with water security, we must consider the importance of food security also. For thousands of years, those in downstream nations have had access to the free flow of rivers from Tibet, bringing not only water for irrigation but rich nutrients for growing crops. To maintain food security in agriculture in the major deltas of South Asia and Southeast Asia, there must be water-sharing treaties in place to allow for free flow of water on these rivers.
Global climate change is warming the Tibetan Plateau at twice the rate of the rest of the world, and the impact of this on Asia’s water supplies is exacerbated by China’s extensive mega-dam-building programme intended to harness hydropower and divert water to mainland China. This programme threatens the safety, security, and sustainable livelihoods of more than one billion people living downstream. There must be a moratorium on China’s mega-dam building on Tibet’s rivers, which are shared by multiple nations, to prevent disastrous impact downstream.
By claiming authority over the Water Tower of Asia, China is wielding considerable power over its neighboring countries, yet it has not signed a single water sharing agreement. Following on from the initiatives of the UN International Decade for Action ‘Water For Life’ (2005-2015) and the UN International Year of Water Cooperation (2013), we urge all ten downstream nations to act now to secure your future water supplies and bring China to the negotiating table to sign appropriate international transboundary water-sharing agreements.
Yours faithfully,
Ms Dorji Kyi
Women’s Environment and Development Officer
Tibetan Women’s Association
http://tibetanwomen.org/
water, the northeast, northwest and southwest regions of China
enjoy abundant transboundary resources and pose complicated
issues. This paper deeply discusses major characteristics of
transboundary water basins in China, including that the
distribution of those basins in China is complicated; most of
those basins are poor and backward; the basic studies and works
on those are much weaker and exploitation is difficult. Then,
focused problems on transboundary waters in China are
analyzed that in international river basins, data and information
are confused; problems on border and territory are unresolved;
related studies in China is lagged behind. Finally, according to
the present situation of transboundary water in China, a few of
proper measures are proposed to address above issues in hope of
promoting regional cooperation and sustainable development for
transboundary water based on the principle of equitable and
reasonable utilization and the obligation against causing harm.
We need to make concerted efforts to resolve major difficulties to ensure stability in Asia. Stability in Asia now faces new challenges, as hotspot issues keep emerging, and both traditional and non-traditional security threats exist. The Asian countries need to increase mutual trust and work together to ensure durable peace and stability in our region.
We need to build on past success and make new progress in promoting cooperation in Asia. There are many mechanisms and initiatives for enhancing cooperation in Asia, and a lot of ideas on boosting such cooperation are being explored by various parties. What we need to do is to enhance mutual understanding, build consensus, and enrich and deepen cooperation so as to strike a balance among the interests of various parties and build mechanisms that bring benefits to all.
At over 400 pages, these Proceedings are a comprehensive collection of materials (programme, accepted abstracts, slideshow presentations, and some full papers) featured as part of the Symposium. The biographies of participants and others who contributed to the Symposium are also included
decision-makers as they seek to make sense of an increasingly complex and fast-changing world. I hope this report challenges, provokes and inspires you, and I invite you to engage – if you have not already done so – with the World Economic Forum’s Risk Response Network, which provides private and public sector leaders with a collaborative platform to build national resilience to
global risks.
Klaus Schwab,Founder and Executive Chair, WEF
It was such a pleasure and an honor to have you all on the AWF panel discussion. The exchange was rich, dynamic and quite thought-provoking.
I wanted to let you know that we received excellent feedback from our audience in Stockholm and at home, in Tunisia, which means that we might need to have a sequel at next year’s water week!
In the meantime, you may watch and share the video recording of the session, now available for viewing on the AfDB web tv site.
Part 1: AWF panel discussion: Cooperation and Hydro-Diplomacy: Successful Approaches to Optimise Transboundary Water Management
http://www.afdb.tv/?changeLangue&lang=en&k=d2cb44e811151c116d025253c852cfe9&pays=79&v=list
Part 2: AMCOW High Level Ministerial Panel + Speech from AfDB
http://www.afdb.tv/?k=8d1ae6073f306e41cbdc7486c47661d4&pays=79&v=list&lang=en
If you cannot view through Explorer – please change browser and use Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. Note that high speed internet is required to view without interruptions.
It was such a pleasure and an honor to have you all on the AWF panel discussion. The exchange was rich, dynamic and quite thought-provoking.
I wanted to let you know that we received excellent feedback from our audience in Stockholm and at home, in Tunisia, which means that we might need to have a sequel at next year’s water week!
In the meantime, you may watch and share the video recording of the session, now available for viewing on the AfDB web tv site.
Part 1: AWF panel discussion: Cooperation and Hydro-Diplomacy: Successful Approaches to Optimise Transboundary Water Management
http://www.afdb.tv/?changeLangue&lang=en&k=d2cb44e811151c116d025253c852cfe9&pays=79&v=list
Part 2: AMCOW High Level Ministerial Panel + Speech from AfDB
http://www.afdb.tv/?k=8d1ae6073f306e41cbdc7486c47661d4&pays=79&v=list&lang=en
If you cannot view through Explorer – please change browser and use Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. Note that high speed internet is required to view without interruptions.
The session explored opportunities and barriers to transboundary water cooperation across Africa, which is home to numerous international watercourses. The session was streamed live and closed with reactions from 9 Ministers of Water Resources from across Africa. The High Level Ministerial panel involving HE John Agyekum Kufuor, former President of Ghana & Chair, Sanitation & Water for All (SWA), AMCOW President, EXCO members, AUC Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture and other AMCOW Ministers to receive report on the Africa Focus seminars and adopt resolutions on transboundary water cooperation. Africa has seen an increase in transboundary cooperation over recent years, but still faces serious challenges across the continent.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldwaterweek/sets/72157635371680635/
lives in river and lake basins that comprise two or more
countries, and perhaps even more significantly, over 90
per cent lives in countries that share basins. The existing
263 transboundary2 lake and river basins cover nearly
one half of the Earth’s land surface and account for an
estimated 60 per cent of global freshwater flow. A total
of 145 States include territory within such basins, and
30 countries lie entirely within them. In addition, about
2 billion people worldwide depend on groundwater,
which includes approximately 300 transboundary
aquifer systems.