6 June 2023 Newsletter

Message from the Director of IWLA, Professor Patricia Wouters

The China issue – we invite you to join us in Wuhan. This year has been filled with activity for the Academy and its Affiliates - including participation at the United Nations (UN) Water Conference and contributing to the development of the Water Action Agenda (WAA). Looking forward, the IWLA and its global Affiliate network are very active with ongoing research and on the ground activities to implement the WAA to help to accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. IWLA’s innovative ‘Charting a Path Initiative’ (CAPI) contributes to these goals on many levels. The Academy’s Emerging Scholars Initiative (ESI), which supports young scholars in their research and skills development has been very successful under the leadership of Dr David Devlaeminck with monthly group meetings aimed at supporting new research and publications. A collection of ESI articles will be published in a special issue of the Journal of Water Law, to be launched at the Academy’s inaugural international water law conference in Wuhan, China Institute of Boundary and Oceans Studies (CIBOS), this September.

The Academy will participate in several high-level meetings:

· the 20th Annual Colloquium of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Academy of Environmental Law, 31 July – 4 August 2023, University of Eastern Finland (UEF) Joensuu, Finland and online.

· World Water Week 2023, 20-24 August 2023, Stockholm International Water Institute, Stockholm Sweden and online.

· International Water Resources Association, (IWRA) World Water Congress, 11 - 15 September 2023, Beijing, China.

Come to Wuhan, China!

The above meetings are all in addition to our BIG upcoming event, the inaugural international water law conference to be convened in Wuhan by the Academy in September 2023 – the result of hard work, dedication, and teamwork by so many Academy scholars across the world:

Charting a Path to Enhanced Transboundary Water Cooperation:
Innovative Water Law to Tackle Hard Challenges and to Meet the UN SDGs

CIBOS, Wuhan University, 15-17 September 2023.

We welcome you to join us in Wuhan for this Academy special event! More details can be found about the conference in this newsletter (and on our website) so read on!

Wuhan Conference: Visa and Travel

The Academy will host the conference on the beautiful Wuhan university campus.

For the convenience of logistics, the university will reserve rooms for the participants as a group. We will provide details closer to the date.

International participants will need a letter of invitation to obtain a visa; for the letter of invitation please contact Ms. Tian Yunhe: tianyunhe_whu@outlook.com

You can also inform her of your participation so that she can reserve enough rooms at the hotel (hotel to be confirmed). Please let us know if you need assistance with hotel costs.

As the university closes on July 20th for the summer holidays it is advisable to request your letter of invitation before this date. Please contact your local Chinese embassy for the requirements in your country and the visa application form.

If you are attending the IWRA Congress in Beijing, there are flights daily to Wuhan from about $300 (USD). High speed trains take about 4 hours and may range in price from $89 for a second-class seat to $280 for business class. Seats can be booked on various travel websites, for example Travel China Guide.

Tripadvisor provides information regarding both Wuhan University and Things to do in Wuhan.

The Academy’s ‘Charting a Path’ Initiative

2022 marked the 25th anniversary of the 1997 Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses (Watercourses Convention), and the 30th anniversary of the 1992 Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention). In a rapidly changing world, they face challenges such as climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss and population pressure. To examine these challenges, the Academy hosted a high-level panel discussion March 17, 2022, chaired by Dr Christina Leb, Senior Counsel of the World Bank, with 4 panellists and 3 discussants from different regions – Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. The session revealed a number of difficult challenges, with participants offering some important insights on how to address these. Why not read the discussion on the Academy website?

The Academy has set itself the challenge of Charting a Path to 2030 and beyond, including as a primary topic, exploring how rules of international law “converge” in contributing to more effective transboundary water cooperation. All of this with a view to supporting the Water Action Agenda established at the UN Water Conference (New York, March 2023). CAPI will culminate with a collection of scholarship emerging from the themes discussed at the forthcoming Academy Wuhan conference, to be published in a forthcoming special issue.

Launch Event of the Academy

International Water Law Academy
Charting a Path to Enhanced Transboundary Water Cooperation:

Innovative Water Law to Tackle Hard Challenges and Meet the UN SDGs
CIBOS, Wuhan University, 15-17 September 2023

The Academy announces its inaugural launch event at CIBOS, Wuhan University, on the special occasion of the 130-year anniversary celebrations of Wuhan University.

The Academy’s global meeting will bring together world-renowned water-law experts with the aim of supporting improved transboundary water cooperation in meaningful ways that contribute to the UN SDGs Water Action Agenda.

Charting a Path Initiative - Looking forward with purpose

The International Water Law Academy, established in 2019, continues to grow and now has a global network of close to 60 Affiliates from around the world, each with expertise relevant to supporting improved transboundary water cooperation, anchored in water law. In 2020, the Academy introduced its ‘CAPI’ as a catalyst to crystallise the hard issues in this field and to seek possible responses to address contemporary transboundary water issues through water law. The Wuhan conference will take this forward through three broad cross-cutting themes: (i) Water and Peace; (ii) Water and Climate; (iii) Water and Sustainable Development. The Wuhan Conference offers a unique platform for the emergence and consolidation of scholarship based on the outcomes of the discussions, to be published in an SSCI journal as a special issue. The conference will be hybrid (with remote participation) so as to include wide engagement in this special event.

Day 1 – Global Launch of the International Water Law Academy, Wuhan University

· Friday, September 15th – Arrival and Registration.

· Official Launch of the IWLA featuring Inaugural Lecture by Professor Patricia Wouters, Wuhan University: “New Waves in International Water Law - Communities, Cooperation, and Integrated Water Law”.

· Welcome Reception and Dinner.

Day 2 – Charting a Path to Enhanced Transboundary Water Cooperation, Crystallising the Academy’s contribution to the UN SDG Water Action Agenda

· Saturday, September 16th - The Academy’s commitment to the Water Action Agenda; Charting a Path to enhanced transboundary water cooperation.

· Discussions on the three cross-cutting themes – Water and Peace, Water and Climate, Water and Sustainable Development.

· Setting a research agenda: Charting a Path to 2030 and Beyond.

· Launch of the Emerging Scholars Special Issue of the Journal of Water Law.

· Academy Community of Scholars Gala Closing Dinner.

Building on Beijing

The Academy will also host two Special Sessions at the International Water Resources Association (IWRA) - World Water Congress, September 11-15, 2023, Beijing, China, where a number of Affiliates will be participating.

The Academy will convene two special sessions on international water law topics at the IWRA World Water Congress under Theme # 6 – Innovation for Water Governance and Management and each session features Academy Affiliates:

1. Implementing effective transboundary water cooperation – the integral role of Water Law – an innovative integrated approach to meet the UN SDGs (chaired by Prof Patricia Wouters).

2. Charting a Path to 2030 and Beyond: exploring how convergent rules of international law contribute to enhanced transboundary water cooperation” (chaired by Dr David Devlaeminck).

Special Session 1 - Implementing effective transboundary water cooperation – the integral role of Water Law – an innovative integrated approach to meet the UN SDGs
Chaired by Prof Patricia Wouters

Speakers (IWLA Staff and Affiliates):

· Prof Patricia Wouters will set the scene for this Special Session. The panel of speakers will offer expert insights into how the difficult challenges of implementation of transboundary water cooperation can be addressed by international, transnational, and national water law. The context includes the contemporary challenges posed by global climate change, the aims of the UN SDGs,and the complex regulatory regimes involved in effective implementation.

· Prof Sergei Vinogradov, Professor of the Academy, Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy, University of Dundee (Scotland, UK) - The Rules of International Law that govern transboundary waters – overview of the implementation framework.

· Prof Alistair Rieu-Clarke, Northumbria University, Newcastle - Implementation and monitoring of transboundary water cooperation – the important role of reporting under SDG 6.5.2 – how we use this tool to enhance implementation.

· Prof Chen Huiping, School of Law, Xiamen University – International economic law and transboundary water resources implementing the right to water.

· Andrew Allan, Senior Lecturer at the School of Law, University of Dundee - National Water Law challenges to implementing transboundary water cooperation – the important role of adaptive frameworks.

· Dr DinaraZiganshina, Deputy Director at the Scientific Information Centre of Interstate Commission for Water Coordination (SIC ICWC) in Central Asia - A regional case study on national water law challenges in implementing transboundary water cooperation: Central Asia.

This special session explores the role of water law in transboundary water cooperation - joined up with relevant transnational and national water law regulatory regimes. The session will look at ‘transformative change’ in the design of the international water law framework in order to address implementation issues linked across regulatory regimes. How are the complex challenges of global climate change, national economic crises and competing needs dealt with in a transboundary water context? How are the uses of surface and groundwater managed given the low number of legal instruments in this area? The session will focus on these issues and present an innovative and integrated transboundary water regulatory framework, aiming for integration across sectors and layers of regulation, to meet the UN SDGs in the area of transboundary water cooperation.

Special Session 2 – Charting a Path to 2030 and Beyond: exploring how convergent rules of international law contribute to enhanced transboundary water cooperation
Chaired by Dr David Devlaeminck
Speakers (IWLA Staff and Affiliates):

· Dr David J Devlaeminck, Associate Professor, School of Law, Chongqing University. David will chair this session.

· Prof Patricia Wouters, Director, International Water Law Academy, Wuhan University.

· Prof Owen McIntyre, Professor at the School of Law, University College Cork, National University of Ireland.

· Prof Kong Lingjie, Professor of International Law and Associate Dean for Research and International Cooperation, CIBOS, IWLA, Wuhan University.

· Dr Ana Maria Daza-Clark, Lecturer in International Law, University of Edinburgh, Law School.

· Dr Bernadette Araba Adjei, Deputy Director of the Legal and Monitoring, Department of the Water Resources Commission of Ghana.

The peaceful management of transboundary water requires efforts from different branches of international law in the face of complex challenges. This special session identifies rules in various fields such as biodiversity, climate change, trade, human rights, and investment, that contribute to transboundary water cooperation, especially in the context of the UN SDGs. Given the low number of international water law agreements and the challenges of climate change, economic problems and changing international relations, international water law is considered in this broader context. ‘Convergence’ illustrates the interaction between different areas of law and offers a unique opportunity to identify the relevant rules of international law that can enrich transboundary water cooperation and develop international water law. The Academy has four broad research interest areas, and two major initiatives:

1. Climate Change, Environment and Natural Resources Law.

2. Multi-Level Water Resources Governance.

3. International Economic Law and Water Resources Management.

4. The System of International Law.

5. Emerging Scholars Initiative

6. Charting a Path Initiative.

Updated Bibliography on China Research

China is arguably one of the most important riparian States, primarily upstream on transboundary water resources with 14 immediate neighbours and three States further downstream. In its central position in Asia, it is important to understand China’s approach to transboundary water governance.

Dr David J Devlaeminck, Associate Professor, School of Law, Chongqing University and Founding Affiliate of the IWLA, has maintained a Bibliography of Research on China’s Transboundary Water Law and Policy since 2018, and recently released the 2023 update. Get a head start on your research on China’s transboundary water law and policy! A full copy can be found here.

We welcome your contributions!

Please send your own news and views along to Dale dale.iwla@proton.meand Daniel daniel.iwla@proton.me, so that we can share your contributions across our Academy community! Here is a photo of our recent meeting (see photo below) in Dundee, UK, where we discussed our Academy’s forward-looking strategy, which will include targeted engagement with key stakeholders. From left to right: Sergei Vinogradov, Ana Maria Daza-Clark, Dale Campbell, Patricia Wouters, Daniel Gilbert and Andrew Allan.

Watch this space for more news about our Academy’s planned International Water Law conference, taking place in June 2024, and to be convened at the University of Edinburgh, with Dr Ana Maria Daza-Clark hosting. See you soon in Wuhan, China, then back in Scotland next year!