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The need for flexibility in freshwater treaty regimes
Author(s) -
McCaffrey Stephen C
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
natural resources forum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.646
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1477-8947
pISSN - 0165-0203
DOI - 10.1111/1477-8947.00050
Subject(s) - riparian zone , flexibility (engineering) , treaty , population , climate change , drainage basin , natural resource economics , business , international waters , population growth , resizing , geography , environmental planning , environmental resource management , international trade , environmental science , economics , political science , ecology , european union , law , biology , habitat , management , demography , cartography , sociology
Shrinking freshwater supplies pose particular threats in international drainage basins, which serve some 40% of the global population and account for around 60% of the world’s river flows. The use and management of these basins are increasingly governed by treaties between the riparian states. While the rules of international law, properly understood, are sufficiently flexible to permit adaptation to changing conditions such as development, population growth and climate change, treaties are essentially rigid instruments that are modifiable only under certain limited conditions. Countries should take this fact into account in designing the regimes to govern their shared freshwater resources, including joint management institutions.