s.5 Protection, Preservation, and Management, Ch.12 Regulation (Article 25)

Subject(s):

Canals — Lakes — Rivers — International law and international relations

This chapter discusses Article 25, which governs the regulation of international watercourses. Article 25 of the UN Watercourses Convention sets forth the basic obligation of regulation, the duty of equitable participation as it applies to regulation, and a definition of the key term ‘regulation’. It requires watercourse States to cooperate in addressing needs or opportunities to regulate river flows and to share the related costs and benefits in an equitable manner. The chapter first considers the International Law Commission’s (ILC) deliberations on flow regulation provisions leading up to the adoption of the Convention before analysing the extent to which the approach adopted in the Convention reflects State practice, the scope and normative dimensions of Article 25, its relationship with other articles within the Convention, and its importance in the context of international law and international water law.