Water as a Vehicle for Inter-state Cooperation: A Legal Perspective

In the first part of this paper the role of the core principles in three different scenarios will be discussed. The first is a setting where a shared watercourse, but no specific treaty exists; the second, where a treaty is in the process of being negotiated; and the third where an agreement over the shared resource is in force. The second par t of the paper will look in detail at the normative content of each principle, its reflection in specific watercourse agreements and its implementation by joint bodies. Both parts will show that the contribution of the law is neither simply formal, adding a legal varnish to a negotiated deal, nor that it provides just “bindingness” at the end of an exclusively politic al process. On the contrary, the law imposes upon states material and procedural right s and duties that limit states’ unfetter ed sovereignty to do as they alone wish with the part of an international watercourse that falls with in their territory. International water law is designed in a way as to lead to mutually acceptable solutions in situations of conflicting interests and even to bring about cooperation in a number of ways.