Zerhdoud, Badr --- "The economic management of water resources : the case of the investor–State disputes in the context of concession contracts" [2018] ELECD 1236; in Tignino, Mara; Bréthaut, Christian (eds), "Research Handbook on Freshwater Law and International Relations" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2018) 31

Book Title: Research Handbook on Freshwater Law and International Relations

Editor(s): Tignino, Mara; Bréthaut, Christian

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN: 9781785360640

Section: Chapter 2

Section Title: The economic management of water resources : the case of the investor–State disputes in the context of concession contracts

Author(s): Zerhdoud, Badr

Number of pages: 37

Abstract/Description:

The 1992 International Conference on Water and the Environment issued the Dublin Principles. For the very first time, water was not only considered as a public good essential for human survival but also as a resource collected in the nature and involving human action, through infrastructures and capital. This fact entails the inevitable issue of pricing and market mechanisms. Moreover, a 1993 World Bank report (‘Adjustment of integrated water resources’) went further by calling for a substantial increase of water prices and the privatization of the management in water services in the developing countries. The identified phenomenon combined with the explosion of the number of bilateral investment treaties (BITs) significantly boosted the number of cases before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) related to water concessions. Accordingly, this paper will address the economic management of water and particularly the water concession contracts through investor-State arbitration.