s.9 The UN Watercourses Convention and Instruments Dealing with the Management and Protection of Fresh Water Resources, Ch.19 The Interplay between the UN Watercourses Convention and the Law on Transboundary Aquifers (Article 2)

Subject(s):

Natural resources — Canals — Lakes — Rivers — Boundaries

This chapter examines the relationship between the UN Watercourses Convention and the law on transboundary aquifers (Article 2), focusing in particular on the 2008 Draft Articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers (Draft Articles). It first explains how groundwater has been addressed in the works leading to the UN Watercourses Convention and in the UN Watercourses Convention itself, paying attention to the debates before the International Law Commission (ILC) and the ILC Resolution on Confined Groundwater, before discussing the Draft Articles and their relation to the UN Watercourses Convention. The chapter also considers the work of the ILC on shared natural resources and the scope of the Draft Articles, as well as alignment and points of departure between the ILC and the UN Watercourses Convention with regard to the Draft Articles. Finally, it describes a normative package approach to the UN Watercourses Convention and the law of transboundary aquifers.