Launch Event of the Academy

The International Water Law Academy will officially launch its programme:

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 the Centre for International Boundary and Ocean Studies (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.

Come to Wuhan, China!

We invite you to join us in Wuhan for 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:

We welcome you to join us in Wuhan for this Academy special event!

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 25^th anniversary of the 1997 Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses (Watercourses Convention), and the 30^th 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.

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.

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.

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

· Friday, September 15^th – 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 16^{th -} 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.