The Academy announces its inaugural launch event at CIBOS, Wuhan University, on the special occasion of the 130th anniversary celebrations of Wuhan University. This meeting brings together water-law experts to support improved transboundary water cooperation that advances the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Water Action Agenda.
Message from the
Director of the International Water Law Academy
Professor Patricia Wouters
Welcome to the September issue of the IWLA ‘News and Views’ Substack Newsletter. September is a big month for the Academy with two important meetings coming up. The Academy will participate in the International Water Resources Association (IWRA) World Water Congress, 11-15 September in Beijing, where we are hosting two special sessions on International Water Law. Then the official launch of the Academy and a Conference will take place at the China Institute of Boundary and Ocean Studies (CIBOS) at Wuhan University, China September 15-16.
At the Wuhan Conference, the Academy’s Charting a Path Initiative will provide the framework for a future research agenda and strategy in international water law at the Academy working towards the implementation of the Water Action Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. Whilst the Academy has been active in its work since 2019, our official launch was delayed due to the Covid pandemic. Now, we join the celebrations at Wuhan University in commemorating its 130th anniversary by launching the Academy this September.
This summer was busy for the Academy and our global affiliates, many of whom attended the 20th IUCN AEL Colloquium in Joensuu, Finland, July 31-August 4 and/or the World Water Week in Stockholm 20-24 August. Read on to find out more!
International Water Resources Association (IWRA) World Water Congress Beijing, 11-15 Sept 2023
The Academy will convene two special sessions on international water law at the IWRA World Water Congress under Theme # 6 – Innovation for Water Governance and Management. Hosted by the International Water Resources Association and the Ministry of Water Resources of China. This year’s theme is: “Water for All: Harmony between Humans and Nature”. Learn more: https://www.worldwatercongress.com
IWLA Special Sessions
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. (13 September - 14h -15:30)
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. (14 September – 11:30 -13h)
Following the IWRA Congress in Beijing is our BIG upcoming event in Wuhan, China is the launch of the Academy and a conference:
Charting a Path to Enhanced Transboundary Water Cooperation:
Innovative Water Law to Tackle Hard Challenges to Meet
the UN Sustainable Development Goals
China Institute of Boundary and Oceans Studies (CIBOS),
Wuhan University, 15-16 September 2023
The Academy’s Charting a Path Initiative
In 2020 the Academy introduced its initiative Charting a Path to 2030 and beyond, to examine the hard issues like climate change and to seek responses and solutions to the problems facing transboundary water management. The Wuhan meeting will explore how convergent rules of international law contribute to transboundary water cooperation and to the Water Action Agenda established at the UN Water Conference in New York in March 2023. This initiative will culminate with a collection of articles in a special issue emerging from the themes discussed at the forthcoming Academy Wuhan Conference.
Since it was established in 2019, the International Water Law Academy, continues to grow and now has a global network of close to 60 Affiliates, each with expertise relevant to transboundary water law. The Wuhan conference will take this forward through three broad cross-cutting themes: Water and Peace; Water and Climate; 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 agenda can be found on our website: https://iwla.whu.edu.cn/index.php?id=charting-a-path-to-enhanced-transboundary-water-cooperation
To register for the meeting in Wuhan:
Please download the participation form, and send it to
Ms. TIAN Yunhe: tianyunhe_whu@outlook.com; tianyunhe@whu.edu.cn
Download: Participation Form
20th Annual Colloquium of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law
Future Proofing Law in a Time of Environmental Emergency, 31 July – 4 August 2023
Several Academy Affiliates participated in three sessions on water law at the 20th Annual Colloquium held at the University of Eastern Finland (UEF) in Joensuu, Finland. Special thanks to Professor Harro Van Asselt who was a principal organiser of the IUCN AEL Colloquium and to Professor Antti Belinskij for heading up the international water law inputs.
Prof. Harro van Asselt, an Academy Global Affiliate is now starting a new position as the Hatton Professor of Climate Law at the University of Cambridge. On commencing this new role, he commented:
“I am thrilled to get started at Cambridge. As news from across the world is making crystal clear, the climate crisis is here with us already. Law will play a crucial role in devising effective and just responses to this global problem. My goal at Cambridge is to produce impactful research that can help decision-makers craft better responses to the climate problem, and to help mainstream climate change in the legal curriculum”.
We warmly congratulate Professor Van Asselt on his new position!
Prof. Antti Belinskij is Professor of Environmental and Water Law with the Centre for Climate Change, Energy and Environmental Law at the University of Eastern Finland (UEF) Law School. He is also a Research Professor at the Finnish Environment Institute Syke and is the Chair of the Finnish Society for Environmental Law. Prof. Belinskij has recently become a Global Affiliate of IWLA.
Presentations made by Academy affiliates at the Colloquium looked at various aspects of how legal frameworks address the environmental challenges of climate change and pollution. Some of the themes were how procedural and substantive rules, as well as convergence with natural resources law could provide governments and stakeholders with the legal tools to protect transboundary waters and adjacent coastal ecosystems. Presenters also looked at the role of treaties and basin organisations in the context of future challenges, as well as the status of the SDG indicator 6.5.2 on transboundary cooperation. Some papers from the Colloquium will be selected by the IUCN AEL for publication, in collaboration with Edgar Elgar Publishing.
Prof. Owen McIntyre, Dr. Yang Liu, and Dr. Chenjun Zheng,
at the 20th IUCN AEL Colloquium
University of Eastern Finland, Jeonsuu Finland
Founding Affiliates
Prof. Patricia Wouters, Director of IWLA.
Prof Owen McIntyre, University Cork College (National University of Ireland), Director of the LL.M. (Environmental & Natural Resources Law) Programme and
Co-Director of the Centre for Law & the Environment.
Prof. Alistair Rieu-Clarke, Prof. of Law, University of Northumbria, Newcastle, UK.
Dr. David J. Devlaeminck, Lecturer at the School of Law, Chongqing University, China.
Global Affiliates
Dr. Susanne Schmeier, Head of the Water Governance Department and an Associate Professor of Water Law and Diplomacy at IHE Delft.
Prof. Bjørn-Oliver Magsig, Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
Dr. Ruby Moyihan-Magsig, Lecturer/Irish Research Council Fellow at the School of Law, University College Cork, Ireland and Senior Research Fellow/Adjunct Lecturer at the New Zealand Centre for Public Law, Victoria University of Wellington.
Ms. Dale Campbell, Research and Communications at IWLA, Wuhan University, China.
ESI scholars
Ms. Zaki S. Shubber, Doctoral candidate, the Queen Mary University in London, UK.
Dr. Yang Liu, ESI Scholar, Wuhan University, China.
Chenjun Zheng, Assistant Professor, Zhejiang University, China.
Stockholm World Water Week, 20-24 August
‘Seeds of Change: Innovative Solutions for a Water-Wise World.’
https://www.worldwaterweek.org
IWLA Global Affiliates Dr. Yumiko Yasuda, Dr. Susanne Schmeier and Mr. Sylvester Matemu, made presentations and participated in panel discussions at the WWW in Stockholm and hosted each year by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI).
Dr. Yumiko Yasuda (Ph.D. University of Dundee) is the Senior network & transboundary water cooperation specialist at Global Water Partnership. She supports GWP's operations in the Asia region, and also leads GWP's thematic work on transboundary water.
Mr. Sylvester Matemu (LLM University of Dundee), from Tanzania is Executive Director of the Secretariat of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), based in Entebbe, Uganda. He is also the President of the African Network for Basin Organizations (ANBO).
Dr. Susanne Schmeier is the Head of the Water Governance Department and an Associate Professor of Water Law and Diplomacy at IHE Delft.
We would like to thank our Affiliates for their ongoing work in transboundary water law and we look forward to seeing those who can make it in Wuhan!
Communications Team:
Dale Campbell, Daniel Gilbert, Tian Yunhe
Affiliates – share your news with us for future issues of
Substack News & Views, email us at:
Daniel.IWLA@proton.me or Dale.IWLA@proton.me
Tel: 86-027-68756726
Address: Wuhan University China Institute of Boundary and Ocean Studies (CIBOS), P.R. China,
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