Scotland as a hydro-nation: global perspective: challenges and opportunities - by Professor Patricia Wouters, IHP-HELP Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science under the auspices of UNESCO, University of Dundee, Scotland.
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Scotland as a hydro-nation: global perspective: challenges and opportunities
1. Institute of Water Autumn Seminar 16 -17 Sept | Kincardine Scotland as a Hydro-NationGlobal Perspective: Challenges & Opportunities 16 Sept 2011 Prof Patricia Wouters
2. Scotland as a Hydro-Nation Scotland as a Hydro-Nation The global water challenge Scotland’s contribution: Hydro-diplomacy
3. Scotland's challenge, as a water abundant nation, is to find ways of using its water resource for economic gain from those who can pay, and for humanitarian assistance for those who need help. Scotland could greatly enhance its international branding and reputation if it were seen to be at the forefront of this field… Scotland as a Hydro-Nation
4. Scotland as a Hydro-Nation The World's First ‘Hydro-economy' Hydro-diplomacy
5. The Global Water Challenge No development without water 1.2 billion without safe drinking water and2.4 billion without sanitation 1.4 billion km3 ofwater on Earth Only a fractionreadily available wideningwater gap Growing issues of availability, access, and conflicts-of-use
9. Global water security threat C. J. Vörösmarty et al., 'Global Threats to Human Water Security and River Biodiversity', 467 Nature (2010) 7315, 555. Water Security – ‘the state of having secure access to water; the assured freedom from poverty of, or want for, water for life.’[P. Wouters, 2005] 80% of population exposed to high levels of threat to water security…
11. The UK - ready for global water wars? “Armed forces are put on standby to tackle threat of wars over water” – Across the world, they are coming: the water wars. From Israel to India, from Turkey to Botswana, arguments are going on over disputed water supplies that may soon burst into open conflict.” Mr Reid signalled Britain's armed forces would have to be prepared to tackle conflicts over dwindling resources. Military planners have already started considering the potential impact of global warming for Britain's armed forces over the next 20 to 30 years. (The Independent - 28 /02/2006) The world faces a future of “water wars”, unless action is taken to prevent international water shortages and sanitation issues escalating into conflicts, Gareth Thomas, the International Development Minister (March 2010)
12. By neglecting the interconnectivity of water issues between Central and South Asia, the U.S. approach could exacerbate regional tensions. US Senate Report – Avoiding Water Wars (Feb 2011)
13. International Waters across Asia Himalayan “Water Towers” - Large population; land-mass with 60+ transboundary waters; massive urban centres
14. Competition+ over the Nile New York Times - When the Nile Runs Dry Lester R. Brown (1 June 2011) “Affluent countries like Saudi Arabia, South Korea, China and India have descended on fertile plains across the African continent, acquiring huge tracts of land to produce wheat, rice and corn for consumption back home. .. Growing water demand, driven by population growth and foreign land and water acquisitions, are straining the Nile’s natural limits. ”
15. Dr. Mufid Shahab, Egypt’s Minister of Legal and Parliamentary Affairs say that “Egypt’s water security and its historical rights to the water of the River Nile is a matter of life and death that cannot be ignored.” Crisis on the NileOsman Mirghani (2010) Regional water security -- the Nile
16. … the Millennium Dam will not only provide benefits to Ethiopia. It will also offer mutually beneficial opportunities to Sudan and to Egypt. Indeed, one might expect these countries to be prepared to share the cost in proportion to the gains that each state will derive.” … to exercise our rights to use our own rivers is in order to fight poverty in our own country. It shows no malice to any of our neighbors. Among the concerns we factored in when we made the decision to build the Nile Dam with our own resources, was to avoid any negative consequences for our neighbors and indeed to offer positive benefits for all of them. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia (April 2011) Regional water security -- the Nile
17. The water problem is broad and systemic. Our work to deal with it must be so as well. The problem is that we have no coordinated global management authority for water in the UN system or the world at large. (Ban Ki-Moon, UN Sec.Gen) Transboundary cooperation is therefore necessary to prevent negative impacts of unilateral measures …. This makes transboundary water resources management one of the most important challenges today and in the years to come. (UN ECE, 2009) Global Water Challenge: Governance
18. Global Context = The Law of Nations “to maintain international peace and security … and ... the fundamental freedoms of all … “ UN Charter
20. Role of International Law International law is clearly much more than a simple set of rules. It is a culture in the broadest sense in that it constitutes a method of communicating claims, counter-claims, expectations and anticipations as well as providing a framework for assessing and prioritising such demands. (Shaw, 2003 )
21. " If the daunting challenges now facing the world are to be overcome, it must be in important part through the medium of rules, internationally agreed, internationally implemented and, if necessary, internationally enforced. That is what the rule of law requires in the international order. ” Lord Bingham The Rule of Law (2010) Role of Law = Rule of Law
22. Rule of law as foundation for a fair society Rule of Law as foundation for: good governance accountability certainty legality As core conditions for an effective economy and a fair society.
23. The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation Bertrand Russell Addressing Water Security: DynamicCooperation
24. “Competitionhas been shown to be useful up to a certain point and no further, but cooperation, which is the thing we must strive for today, begins where competition leaves off. ” Franklin D Roosevelt General obligation to cooperate - Watercourse States shall cooperate on the basis of sovereign equality, territorial integrity, mutual benefit and good faith in order to attain optimal utilization and adequate protection of an international watercourse (Art. 8, UNWC) Dynamic Cooperation: Duty to cooperate
25. Southern Africa Water - Working Together On River Management Angola - irrigation for development, Namibia - clean drinking water & sanitation Botswana - Okavango Delta for tourism. Cooperation on the Okavango (March 2011)
26. Dynamic Cooperation: state practice Asia, Europe march ever closer By Claire Rosemberg (AFP) – 7 June 2011 GODOLLO, Hungary — From nuclear safety to climate change and growth, 46 nations from Asia and Europe wound up two days of talks Tuesday pledging to tighten the bonds between 60 per cent of the planet's people. .. "We are all inter-dependent," said Hungary's Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi. "All parties agreed on the deepening of this cooperation” … "Food, water, energy and climate security are interconnected and inseparable. These four elements underpin global security, prosperity and equity.” (ASEM groups the EU, the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China, Japan, South Korea, India, Pakistan, Mongolia, Australia, New Zealand and Russia -- four billion people representing over 60 per cent of world trade.)
27. Dynamic Cooperation: USA foreign policy We should view every regional watershed or aquifer as an opportunity for stronger international cooperation. Access to reliable supplies of clean water is a matter of human security. It’s also a matter of national security. There could be huge political and economic benefits from regional water diplomacy. Water is actually a test case for preventive diplomacy. 5 streams of action Capacity development (local, national, regional) Elevate diplomatic efforts and we need to better coordinate them Mobilizing financialsupport Harness the power of science and technology Broadening the scope of our partnerships
28. International water security framework Int’l / Global Political Economic Societal Environmental Regional Disciplinary Interface National Human Scale
29. Water Security: Legal Analytical Framework WSAF: Legal framework Informed by science Dynamic What? Why? Who?
30. Competing Security Challenges| the FEW Nexus 0.9 bn lack access to safe water 2.4 bn lack access toimproved sanitation 30-50% in demand by 2030 1.5 bn without accessto electricity 2.5 bnwithout access to modern forms of energy 40% in demand by 2030 1 bn suffer from hunger 40% in demand by 2030
31. Water | Competing (in)securities Water Security: “the availability of an acceptable quantity and quality of water for health, livelihoods, ecosystems and production, coupled with an acceptable level of water-related risks to people, environment and economies” [Grey and Sadoff 2007] Food Security: “when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life” [WHO 1996] Energy Security:“the uninterrupted physical availability [of energy] at a price which is affordable, while respecting environment concerns” [IEA 2011]
32. Chaos by connection? Interdependenciesand linkages between water and everything else Sustainable solutions require coordinated interdisciplinary response Water law as a platform for cooperation. Risk Response Network of the World Economic Forum, Global Risks 2011 : Sixth Edn(World Economic Forum 2011) at 2.
While the focus of the UnitedStates is appropriately directed toward Afghanistan and Pakistan, it is important to recognize that our water-related activities in the region are almost exclusively confined within the borders of these two countries. We pay too little attention to the waters shared by their Indian and Central Asian neighbors—Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan.
50+ countries across ‘Asia’Some of the poorest and most densely populated parts of the worldHimalayan water towers feed significant transboundary rivers in the regionConnected up challenges: water insecurity (UNESCAP)
Growing water demand, driven by population growth and foreign land and water acquisitions, are straining the Nile’s natural limits. Avoiding dangerous conflicts over water will require three transnational initiatives. First, governments must address the population threat head-on by ensuring that all women have access to family planning services and by providing education for girls in the region. Second, countries must adopt more water-efficient irrigation technologies and plant less water-intensive crops.
The real wildcard for political and social unrest in the Middle East over the next twenty years is not war, terrorism or revolution—it is water. Conventional security threats dominate public debate and government thinking, but water is a true game-changer in Middle Eastern politics. General Anthony Zinni, former Commander in Chief, U.S. Central Command (2010)
Speech (2 April 2011) The speech made by MP MelesZenawi of Ethiopia at the official commencement of the Millennium Dam project. . Among the concerns we factored in when we made the decision to build the Nile Dam with our own resources, was to avoid any negative consequences for our neighbors and indeed to offer positive benefits for all of them.Ethiopia believes implementing the project in the next five to ten years is critical in addressing its severe energy shortages and assisting the country in realising its desire to become a major electricity exporter in the region.Ethiopia projects that power exports could rake in $407-million annually, much more than what it earns from exports of coffee, the country’s major foreign currency earner.The planned move by Ethiopia to use the Nile’s waters has been given impetus by a decision by Burundi to sign the Nile Basin Cooperative Framework, which would pave the way for the equitable sharing of the Nile’s waters by the eight countries the river crosses.The treaty – which has now been signed by Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi – will end Egypt’s historical control over the Nile.-Dr. Mufid Shahab, Egypt’s Minister of Legal and Parliamentary Affairs say that “Egypt’s water security and its historical rights to the water of the River Nile is a matter of life and death that cannot be ignored.”Crisis on the Nile - Osman Mirghani (2010)--The real wildcard for political and social unrest in the Middle East over the next twenty years is not war, terrorism or revolution—it is water. Conventional security threats dominate public debate and government thinking, but water is a true game-changer in Middle Eastern politics. General Anthony Zinni, former Commander in Chief, U.S. Central Command (2010)
International water law finds its foundation within the rules of public international law, and thus is intertwined with those ideals contained in the UN Charter -- maintaining international peace and security, enhancing regional cooperation, preventing threats to the peace, and advancing the fundamental freedoms of all (UN Charter). International watercourses law provides a framework for managing the sustainability of transboundary waters that cross national borders and has evolved through a combination of customary law (state practice) and the codification and progressive development efforts undertaken by the UN, non-governmental organisations, private institutions, national and international judicial decisions, and the resolutions and recommendations of international organizations.Water law serves three key functions:• It defines and identifies the legal rights and obligations tied to water use (broadly defined) and provides the prescriptive parameters for resource development and management;• It provides tools for ensuring the continuous integrity of the regime– that is, through monitoring and assessment of compliance and implementation, dispute prevention, and settlement;• It allows for modifications of the existing regime, in order to be able to adapt to changing needs and circumstances.
The maintenance, development and promotion of the rule of law is of fundamental importance for the human dignity and well-being of people everywhere. It provides the foundations for good governance, accountability, certainty and legality which are core conditions for an effective economy and a fair society. Its relevance extends across a wide range in the affairs of people and states and should be a defining value in all societies.-[that] all persons and authorities within the state, whether public or private, should be bound by and entitled to the benefit of laws publicly and prospectively promulgated and publicly administered by the courts."
(I) The law must be accessible, intelligible, clear and predictable; (2) Questions of legal right and liability should be resolved by application of the law and not the exercise of discretion; (3) The laws of the land should apply equally to all, save to the extent that objective differences justify differentiation; (4) Ministers and public officers at all levels must exercise the powers conferred on them in good faith, fairly, for the purpose for which the powers were conferred, without exceeding the limits of such powers and not unreasonably; (5) The law must afford adequate protection of fundamental human rights; (6) Means must be provided for resolving, without prohibitive cost or inordinate delay, bona fide civil disputes which the parties themselves are unable to resolve; (7) adjudicative procedures provided by the state should be fair; and (8) The rule of law requires compliance by the state with its obligations international law as in national law.Lord Bingham – Rule of Law 2010
Art. 8 UNWC1.Watercourse States shall cooperate on the basis of sovereign equality, territorial integrity, mutual benefit and good faith in order to attain optimal utilization and adequate protection of an international watercourse.2. In determining the manner of such cooperation, watercourse States may consider the establishment of joint mechanisms or commissions, as deemed necessary by them, to facilitate cooperation on relevant measures and procedures in the light of experience gained through cooperation in existing joint mechanisms and commissions in various regions.
A unique process of community consultation underlies planning."The point is to develop a common understanding of the conditions in the basin as a whole," says Chonguiça (OKACOM).There will be trade-offs in this process