Fitzmaurice, Malgosia --- "The Relationship between the Law of International Watercourses and Sustainable Development" [2010] ELECD 616; in Fitzmaurice, Malgosia; Ong, M. David; Merkouris, Panos (eds), "Research Handbook on International Environmental Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010)

Book Title: Research Handbook on International Environmental Law

Editor(s): Fitzmaurice, Malgosia; Ong, M. David; Merkouris, Panos

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847201249

Section: Chapter 28

Section Title: The Relationship between the Law of International Watercourses and Sustainable Development

Author(s): Fitzmaurice, Malgosia

Number of pages: 32

Extract:

28 The relationship between the law of international
watercourses and sustainable development
Malgosia Fitzmaurice



General issues
1. Introduction
The present chapter will focus mainly on the application of the concept of sustainable devel-
opment to international watercourses rather than on definitional issues of the concept, as this
has been elaborated in the chapter by Duncan French on `Sustainable Development'. Only a
working definition of sustainable development will be adopted, to constitute a theoretical
basis on which the present chapter will be based.
The application of this concept to international watercourses follows general international
environmental law and the law of natural recourses. The task at hand is not an easy one, as
the concept of sustainable development is notoriously vague and ill-defined (see Boyle and
Freestone, 1999: 1­18; Lowe, 1999: 19­39; Segger and Khalfan, 2004; Cordonier and
Weeramantry, 2005; French, 2005; Gillespie, 2001; Ørebech et al., 2005). There are,
however, certain elements of sustainable development which can be identified, although, it
may be said that the list differs depending on the author's viewpoint. The most straight-
forward approach is that based on the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and
Development. The following elements may be drawn from this Declaration: integration of
environmental protection and economic development; sustainable utilisation and conserva-
tion of natural resources; intergenerational equity; intra-generational equity; the polluter-pays
principle; procedural elements (access to environmental information; public participation and
environmental justice).1 The language in which the Declaration was couched is very general
and ...