The Challenge to lnternational Law: Water Defying Sovereignty or Sovereignty Defying Reality?

Intemational water law remains driven by the jealous guarding of sovereignty over water, and defined by a conception of water as a resource to be used and allocated, and as separable from lhe surrounding environment. To meet the "challenges of the water", international water law must address the reality of interdependence, arnong riparian states and beyond, in its full complexity. International environmental law and international water law must become integrated to treat water for what it is: a component of the environrnent. From this integration, in turn, must emerge a concept of sovereignty that reflects rather than defies environmental reality. It will be argued that such a concept of sovereignty must be shaped by principIes promoting ecosystem orientation and sustainable development. This paper will sketch the limitations of the classical law of intemational watercourses. To explore whether a more appropriate conception of sovereignty over water is developing, it will then survey recent developments, including the 1997 United Nations Convention on the Law of Non-Navigational Uses of Inlernational Water courses and lhe 1997 decision of the Intemational Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Gabcikovo-Nagyrmaros case. The focus of the paper is on the law of shared freshwater resources. However, brief reference will be made to the interface between freshwater resources and oceans.