s.6 Harmful Conditions and Emergency Situations, Ch.14 Prevention and Mitigation of Harmful Conditions and Emergency Situations (Articles 27 and 28)

Subject(s):

Climate change — Canals — Lakes — Rivers — Pollution

This chapter analyses Article 27, which requires States to take measures to prevent or mitigate harmful conditions that may be a result of both natural causes (for example, floods and droughts) or human conduct, and Article 28, which governs emergency situations that cause—or pose an imminent threat of causing—serious harm to watercourse States or other States. The chapter first considers the evolution and meaning of obligations to prevent and mitigate harmful conditions and emergencies before discussing the scope, customary value, and normative impact of Articles 27 and 28 as well as their relations with other articles in the UN Watercourses Convention. It also examines a number of issues which have been identified with Articles 27 and 28, including their failure to comprehensively account for human-induced climate change impacts on emergency situations, and natural disasters.