Oxford LibGuides: Environmental Law: Water & Watercourses

Water, Watercourses & Dams

Brill Research Perspectives in International Water Law
Remote access requires Oxford SSO
Water policy : official journal of the World Water Council
Remote access requires Oxford SSO

Subject search terms to use in SOLO
Water rights (International law)
Right to water

Water security
Water resources development -- Law and legislation

Water-supply -- Law and legislation
Water-supply -- Developing countries -- International cooperation

Watershed management -- Law and legislation

Water quality management -- Law and legislation

Elgar encyclopedia of environmental law by Series editor: Michael Faure
Call Number: Holders of an Oxford SSO can read this online via title link
ISBN: 9781786436986
Publication Date: 12 volumes, published between 2016-2023
Publication Date: 12 volumes, published between 2016-2023
Volume X: Water Law
Liquid Relations: contested water rights and legal complexity by Dik Roth
Call Number: Holders of an Oxford SSO can read this via title link
ISBN: 9780813536743
Publication Date: 2005
Print copy available in Social Science Library
K3496.LIQ
Water Justice by Rutgerd Boelens (Editor); Tom Perreault (Editor); Jeroen Vos (Editor); Margreet Zwarteveen (Editor)
Call Number: Internat 610 B670.5a
ISBN: 1107179084
Publication Date: 2018

Groundwater in International Law: Compilation of Treaties and other Legal Instruments
International Water Law Project Blog
"Created and directed by Gabriel Eckstein, the mission of the International Water Law Project (IWLP) is to serve as the premier resource on the Internet for international water law and policy issues. Its purpose is to educate and provide relevant resources to the public and to facilitate cooperation over the world’s fresh water resources. As the subject evolves and develops, the IWLP will continue to update its pages and databases. We welcome and appreciate contributions and submissions including new publications, URLs, news stories, cases, corrections, and comments."
UN Human Rights to Water and Sanitation
UN Water-Coordinating the UN's Work on Water and Sanitation
UNU: Institute for Water, Environment and Health
Official website: see Publications, & Research sections
Waterlex 2010-2020 [ARCHIVE website]
WaterLex was an international non-governmental organization (NGO) and thinktank, setup as a not-for-profit association under Swiss Law. It enjoyed UN ECOSOC and Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) consultative status, as well UN Water and Global Water Partnership (GWP) Partner status. It was a member of the UNECE expert group on equitable access to safe drinking water, and of the UNDP Global Water Solidarity platform and the Swiss Water Partnership (SWP). WaterLex also enjoyed governmental support, confirmed by ambassadors to the UN who were supporting the organization as members.
World Water Council
"The World Water Council is an international multistakeholder platform organization whose mission is to mobilize action on critical water issues at all levels, including the highest decision-making level, by engaging people in debate and challenging conventional thinking. The Council focuses on the political dimensions of water security, adaptation and sustainability."

Subject searches to use in SOLO:
International rivers
Water rights (International law)
Transboundary pollution -- Law and legislation
Water resources development -- International cooperation
Water resources development -- Law and legislation

The Law of International Watercourses by Stephen C. McCaffrey
Call Number: Holders of an Oxford SSO can read this book online via title link
ISBN: 9780198736929
Publication Date: 3rd edn 2019
Print copy is at Internat 630 M122a3
The UN Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses by Laurence Boisson de Chazournes (Editor); Makane Moïse Mbengue (Editor); Mara Tignino (Editor); Komlan Sangbana (Editor); Jason Rudall (Editor)
Call Number: Holders of an Oxford SSO can read this book online via title link
ISBN: 0198778767
Publication Date: 2019
Print copy is at Internat 630 B684c
The Law of the River: transboundary river basin management and multi-level approaches to water quantity management by Cathy Suykens
Call Number: Internat 610 S967.5a
ISBN: 1780686315
Publication Date: 2018

Convention and Statute on the Regime of Navigable Waterways of International Concern (1922)
Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (1992)
aka Water Convention. The UNECE-WHO/Europe Protocol on Water and Health aims to protect human health by better water management and by reducing water-related diseases. The Protocol provides a framework to translate into practice the human rights to water and sanitation and to implement SDG 6.

Initially negotiated as a regional instrument, it has been amended to become universally available. As of March 2016, all Member States can accede to the Convention.
Protocol on Water & Health to the 1992 Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (1999)
Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses 1997
UN Watercourses Convention
Lecture in UN's Audio-Visual Lecture series by Stephen C. McCaffrey
UN Watercourses Convention: Online User's Guide
UNECE: Water Convention
EU Water Framework Directive - integrated river basin management for Europe
International Rivers
Since 1985, International Rivers has been at the heart of the global struggle to protect rivers and the rights of communities that depend on them.

We work with an international network of dam-affected people, grassroots organizations, environmentalists, human rights advocates and others who are committed to stopping destructive river projects and promoting better options.

We seek a world where healthy rivers and the rights of local communities are valued and protected. We envision a world where water and energy needs are met without degrading nature or increasing poverty, and where people have the right to participate in decisions that affect their lives.

Rights and Legal Personality for Water/Rivers

Victorian Environmental Water Holder (Australia - via legislation) (public entity created to hold water rights etc)
Whanganui (NZ - via legislation)
Ganges and Yamuna (India - State of Uttarakhand via court decision 2017)
Amazon Ecosystem (Colombia - Supreme Court: STC 4360-2018))

Universal Declaration of River Rights (Draft)
https://www.earthlawcenter.org/river-rights/
Mohd. Salim v. State of Uttarakhand & others
Writ Petition (PIL) No.126 of 2014 (20/03/2017)
High Court of Uttarakhand at Nainital (India). ON EuropeanRights website "European Observer on fundamental right's respect"
Charter of Rights for the Sussex River Ouse
The charter follows the decision, two years ago, to give the Ouse legal personhood. In February 2023, LDC passed a rights of river motion, which committed them to exploring the creation of a ‘Rights of River Declaration for the River Ouse.’ Since then, LDC have been working with lawyers, experts, members of local communities and local wildlife and environmental charities to produce the charter.
Amazon Ecosystem (Colombia - Supreme Court: STC 4360-2018))
English summary of case with a pdf of the decision (in Spanish) available as free download. On website of ESCR-Net "over 280 social movements, NGOs and advocates across 75 countries— “seek to build a global movement to make human rights and social justice a reality for all.”
The Rights of Nature: Reconsidered (Peter Burdon)
Open Access article (2010) 49 Australian Humanities Review 69
Rights of Nature: Timeline
Free resource. Maintained by Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) of US ("nearly 200 municipalities across the U.S. have enacted CELDF-drafted Community Rights laws which ban practices – including fracking, factory farming, sewage sludging of farmland, and water privatization – that violate the rights of people, communities and nature.")

Dams and development : a new framework for decision-making
World Commission on Dams was "a global multi-stakeholder body" supported by the World Bank and the World Conservation Union (IUCN). 1998-2000

Subject searches to use in SOLO

Dams -- Government policy
Dams -- Law and legislation
Hydroelectric power plants -- Finance
Hydroelectric power plants -- Law and legislation
Dams -- Government policy
Hydroelectric power plants -- Finance
Hydroelectric power plants -- Law and legislation

Evolution of Dam Policies by Waltina Scheumann (Editor); Oliver Hensengerth (Editor)
Call Number: Holders of an Oxford SSO can read this book online via title link
ISBN: 9783642234026
Publication Date: 2014-03-26
Print copy in Bodleian SSL at TC540.EVO 2014 if preferred

Topics on pages in this guide

Animal law, welfare and rights
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Biodiversity, Sustainable Development, Agroecology
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Climate change, Emissions Trading & Taxing
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Energy law
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Environmental crime & ecocide
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European Union and the environment
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Green crime, ecocide
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Impact assessment
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Marine environment & pollution
This link takes you to a page in our guide to international law of the sea.
United Nations & UNEP
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War & the environment
This link takes you to a page in the Bodleian online guide for the law of war
Water, Watercourses & Dams
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