Mbengue, Makane Moïse; Odili, Nwamaka --- "The environmental management of water resources: what impact on the characterization of fresh water in international law?" [2018] ELECD 1237; in Tignino, Mara; Bréthaut, Christian (eds), "Research Handbook on Freshwater Law and International Relations" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2018) 68

Book Title: Research Handbook on Freshwater Law and International Relations

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

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN: 9781785360640

Section: Chapter 3

Section Title: The environmental management of water resources: what impact on the characterization of fresh water in international law?

Author(s): Mbengue, Makane Moïse; Odili, Nwamaka

Number of pages: 28

Abstract/Description:

Early treaties and instruments relating to fresh water emphasised navigation and economic uses of water, without attention to environmental considerations. For example, the Act of Vienna sustained the principle of free navigation of rivers and canals in Europe without providing for the protection of the river basins involved. Fresh water was considered only as a major means of commercial activities and navigation. However, rapid urbanisation and population growth produce adverse impacts on the environment and river basins, and also increase the burdens necessary to protect fragile ecosystems of shared watercourses. In this manner, pollution became the first important focus in the protection of fresh water, as seen in regimes established both before and after the adoption of the 1966 Helsinki Rules on the Uses of the Waters of International Rivers. Yet the concept of the protection of the marine environment is broader than the obligation to avoid pollution, and more recent treaties have realised a correlation between land-based activities and the status of freshwater ecosystems.