UN Watercourses Convention Symposium - Call for Papers

Friday, December 23, 2011

UNWC Global Initiative Symposium

Co-organised by IHP-HELP Centre for Water Law, Policy & Science (under
the auspices of UNESCO), University of Dundee and WWF

The 1997 UN Watercourses Convention – What Relevance in the 21st
Century?

5th-8th June 2012, University of Dundee, Scotland, UK

Call for Papers

In 1994 the UN General Assembly made the decision to elaborate a global
framework instrument on the law of the non-navigational uses of
international watercourses (UN General Assembly Resolution 49/52).  The
resultant Convention was adopted in 1997 by more than 100 nations. Since
the Convention's adoption over 14 years ago, there has been a
heightened recognition of the numerous challenges humanity faces in
securing water for all, and a widespread acceptance that governance
plays a key role.  However, the legal architecture for international
watercourses remains fragmented, and the UNWC has not yet entered into
force.

In recent years, a coalition of institutions under the general rubric
of the UNWC Global Initiative has come together to examine the
underlying reasons why the UNWC has not yet entered into force.
Additionally, the UNWC Global Initiative has sought to further knowledge
and understanding of the relevance of the UNWC in addressing the
contemporary pressures on the world's freshwater resources. As part of
the activities of the UNWC Global Initiative, the IHP-HELP Centre for
Water Law, Policy & Science in collaboration with WWF will be organising
a global symposium on the UNWC between 5th and 8th of June 2011.   The
aim of the symposium is to gather together a wide and diverse range of
experts from academia, government, international organisations, civil
society, etc, to debate the existing and potential relevance of this
global framework instrument.

Towards this endeavour the convenors of the symposium are inviting
experts to submit papers on a range of topics related to the UNWC.

Further details are available at
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/media/dundeewebsite/water/documents/2012_Dundee_Watercourses_Convention-Call_for_Papers.pdf