‘WATER LAW AS ENVIRONMENTAL LAW’
SPECIAL ISSUE OF THE CHINESE JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAW
In association with a Sino-European Conference ‘Water Law as Environmental Law’ in early 2022
Organized by the Research Institute of Environmental Law (RIEL) of Wuhan University
and Ghent University
Otto SPIJKERS and QIN Tianbao, Research Institute of Environmental Law, Wuhan University (RIEL)
Ben BOER, University of Sydney, and RIEL
Colin MACKIE, University of Leeds
Frank MAES and Luc LAVRYSEN, Ghent University
INTRODUCTION:
The sustainable utilization of the world’s freshwater resources is essential for human survival. In many parts of the world, freshwater has been available in sufficient quality and quantity for centuries, and thus the legal regulation and governance of freshwater resources was not an issue for many countries. Due to environmental degradation and the negative impact of climate change, this is no longer the case for an increasing percentage of the world’s population. Humans continue to engage in environmentally harmful activities that threaten the quality and quantity of available freshwater resources. This has led to increasing water insecurity, characterised by insecure access to and supply
of sustainable, affordable, potable freshwater. Unsustainable agriculture and inappropriate production and consumption patterns are drivers of water insecurity. In addition, the links between freshwater problems and the marine environment must be recognized, particularly those relating to river and coastal pollution, as well as aquaculture.
Because there is no alternative resource that can replace freshwater, except perhaps through costly desalinization of saltwater, there is reason for significant alarm. Poor freshwater resources management poses a great threat to sustainable development. If managed reasonably and equitably (understood as referring both to intra- and intergenerational equity), freshwater resources can continue to serve as a fundamental element of the world’s sustainable development.
In the case of transboundary freshwater resources – i.e., freshwater resources shared by two or more States – individual States often focus on their own current population and their economic development. Because of water shortages, downstream riparian countries are facing increasing pressure with respect to the very survival of their people, as well as major restrictions on economic development. There exist overlapping and competing claims to the use of one and the same freshwater resource. In this transnational competition for water, the rights and interests of people residing beyond the State’s territory, the rights and interests of future generations, the rights and interests of minority groups, and the rights and interests of the river itself and its ecosystem, are often neglected. Concepts such as ‘global solidarity, and a ‘community of shared future’, might be explored, as alternative conceptual frameworks for more equitable and reasonable solutions of transnational water law issues.
THE SPECIAL ISSUE
This special issue of the Chinese Journal of Environmental Law aims to deal with water law as part of the broad area of environmental law. It seeks to bring together a collection of articles that look at different aspects of this ‘green’ and ‘blue’ approach to international, transnational, regional, and domestic water law. Issues traditionally regulated by water law, such as water allocation, all have environmental implications. Environmental problems that water law seeks to address include water pollution, waste of water, water scarcity and drought, damage to aquatic biodiversity and freshwater ecosystems, coastal ecosystems, and flood-risk management. All these problems are transboundary, i.e., they do not ‘respect’ national borders.
The special issue thus seeks to bring together theoretical, doctrinal, empirical, and practical analyses addressing international, transnational, regional, transboundary, and domestic environmental problems – with a particular focus on water and the issue areas and fields of law relating to freshwater resources. It therewith intends to contribute to identifying international, transnational, regional, and domestic legal approaches to negotiating and implementing effective governance strategies for shared water resources and the actors and sectors that depend on them.
PROPOSED TOPICS
- Water law in the context of global climate change
- Water law and its role in climate litigation
- Water law and biodiversity
- Water law and the protection and management of shared wetlands
- Water law and marine environmental protection (land and river sources-to-sea)
- Water law and the sustainable development goals (sdgs)
- Regional water law, involving selected countries, for example, in southeast asia, north-
eastern asia, south asia, west asia, europe and the african continent - Water law and global solidarity (hydro-solidarity, ‘a community of shared future’)
- Water law and the rights-of-rivers approach
- Sustainable human right to water
PROVISIONAL TIMETABLE (subject to change):
Deadline for submission of abstracts is 31 July 2021
Selection made from received abstracts: August 2021
Deadline for submission of first drafts of papers: 31 December 2021
Deadline for submission of final articles: 28 February 2022
Sino-European Workshop in Wuhan: Easter break April 2022 (precise dates to be
announced)
Publication of special issue: June 2022
CONTACT DETAILS
Please email your abstract proposal before 31 July 2021 to Otto Spijkers at [email protected].
Feel free to contact Professor Spijkers for any questions you may have. Otto Spijkers is Professor at
the China Institute of Boundary and Ocean Studies (CIBOS, http://www.cibos.whu.edu.cn/) and
Research Institute of Environmental Law (RIEL, http://en.riel.whu.edu.cn/) of Wuhan University, as
well as Founding Staff Member of its International Water Law Academy (IWLA,
https://iwla.whu.edu.cn/). He is Managing Editor of the Chinese Journal of Environmental Law (CJEL,
https://brill.com/view/journals/cjel/cjel-overview.xml).
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QQkUuZnLxrweZfREr9cK3WxJqSi_5sWw/view
