Synopses & Reviews
Fresh Water and International Law analyzes the impacts of the international economic and legal framework on domestic fresh water resource management and protection. It discusses the effects water services liberalization have on human rights obligations relating to water supply, and provides an overview of the settlement of water-related disputes. Are governments free to decide whether or not to export water resources? Can foreign investors sue host states for adopting measures to control water pollution? Can international trade rules be used to reduce or eliminate water related subsidies? Do rules on the liberalization of water services affect domestic and international human rights obligations relating to water supply? How do the procedural rights of states, individuals, affected communities and investors affect decisions regarding the right to drinking water, the rights of investors to exploit water resources, and the rights of governments to protect their lakes, rivers and groundwater?
About the Author
Edith Brown Weiss is Francis Cabell Brown Professor of International Law at Georgetown University, Washington DC.
Laurence Boisson de Chazournes is Head of the Department of Public International Law and International Organisation in the Faculty of Law at the University of Geneva.
Nathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder is a Managing Attorney at the Geneva Office of the Centre for International Environmental Law.
Table of Contents
List of Tables and Figures
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
Introduction
Part 1 Trade of Freshwater: Geopolitics, Law and Economics
1. Cooperation or Confrontation: Sustainable Water Use in an International Context, Urs Luterbacher and Ellen Wiegandt
2. Water Transfers: A Means to Achieve Sustainable Water Use, Daniel Tarlock
3. Water Transfers and International Trade Law, Edith Brown Weiss
Part 2 Water Services, the GATS and Related Issues
4. The Basic Right to Water, Stephen C. McCaffrey
5. Water Services and the WTO, Mereille Cossy
6. GATS and its Impact on Private Sector Participation in Water Services, Elizabeth Tuerk, Aaron Ostrovsky and Robert Speed
7. Economics of Waters Services and the Right to Water, Henri Smets
Part 3 Water Subsidies and Agriculture
8. Ground Water Regulation and Water Crisis Rhetoric: Syria as a Case Study, Ronald Jaubert and Mohamed Al-Dbiyet
9. Water, Agriculture and Subsidies in the International Trading System, Nathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder
Part 4 Water and Investment
10. Water-Related Investment: A European Perspective, Andreas Ziegler
11. International Investment Rules and Water: Learning from the NAFTA Experience, Nathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder and Edith Brown Weiss
12. Water Concession and Protection of Foreign Investments Under International Law, Serge Pannatier and Olivier Ducrey
13. Local Communities and Water Investments, Philippe Cullet and Alix Gowlland
Part 5 Resolution of Water Disputes, with Special Emphasis on Economic Issues
14. Water and Economics: Trends in Dispute Settlement Procedures and Practice, Laurence Boisson de Chazournes
15. Transparency, Public Participation and Amicus Curiae in Water Disputes, Makane Moise Mbengue and Mara Tignino
Appendix A: General Comment No 15, The right to water (Articles 11 and 12 of the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights)
Appendix B: The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1947, as amended (extracts)
Appendix C: The General Agreement on Trade in Services (extracts)
Appendix D: 1993 Statement by the Governments of Canada, Mexico and the United States
Appendix E: International Joint Commission, Protection of the Waters of the Great Lakes: Final Report to the Governments of Canada and the United States, February 22, 2000 (extracts)
Appendix F: Chapter 11 of NAFTA (extracts)
Appendix G: Bibliography
Appendix H: Selected Websites
Index