Legally binding mechanisms: arbitration and adjudication

If a dispute is submitted to arbitration or litigation (adjudication) the ad hoc or permanent judicial body renders an award or judgement that determines the rights and obligations of the parties in a definitive and binding manner.

International water law does not provide for the mandatory arbitration or adjudication of transboundary water disputes, even though the Berlin Rules call upon “States or international organizations involved […] to agree to submit their dispute to an ad hoc or permanent arbitral tribunal, or to a competent international court.”¹⁸²

It means, that a dispute can only be heard by a judicial body on the basis of the express consent of the parties. However, the individual or general consent of the parties to the dispute to arbitration or adjudication also implies a commitment to accept any resulting award or judgement as final and binding.

Arbitration is a more flexible, yet less transparent, mechanism of legally binding dispute settlement. It gives a broad freedom to parties to appoint arbitrators (or one arbitrator only), to choose the governing law of the case and the language of the procedure. As a general rule, hearings are private and arbitral awards are kept confidential.

Adjudication by a permanent court (typically the International Court of Justice) is more rigid, but also more transparent than arbitration. Here, parties have no say in the composition of the panel of judges or the procedure to be followed. Yet, they benefit from the certainty of a neutral, orderly and principled dispute settlement procedure as well as a high rate of compliance due to an enhanced visibility of the case¹⁸³.

181 Art. 33.2, UN Watercourses Convention, Art. 72.3, Berlin Rules (International Law Association: The Berlin Rules on Water Resources, 21 August 2004)

182 Art 73.1, Berlin Rules

183 RIEU-CLARKE, Alistair, MOYNIHAN, Ruby and MAGSIG, BjØrn-Oliver (2012) p. 249.

55

SOURCES

ADELPHI (2014): The Rise of Hydro-Diplomacy - Strengthening foreign policy for transboundary waters, Climate Diplomacy Report, Berlin

BARANYAI, Gábor and BARTUS, Gábor (2016): Anatomy of a deadlock: a systemic analysis of why the Gabčíkovo–Nagymaros dam dispute is still unresolved, Water Policy 18 pp. 39-49

BAUMGARTNER, Thomas and PAHL-WOSTL, Claudia (2013): UN-Water and its Role in Global Water Governance, Ecology and Society 18 pp. 9-19

BOISSON DE CHAZOURNES (2013a): Fresh Water in International Law, Oxford, Oxford University Press

BOISSON DE CHAZOURNES, Laurence (2013b): Dispute Settlement Procedures and Fresh Water:

Multiplicity and Diversity at Stake. In BOSCHIERO, Nerina et al. (Eds.): International Courts and the Development of International Law, The Hague, TCM Asser, pp.109-120

DEL CASTILLO LABORDE, Lilian (2015): The UNECE Water Convention from a Latin American Perspective. In TANZI, Attila et al. (Eds.): The UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes – Its Contribution to International Water Cooperation, Leiden, Boston, Brill Nijhoff, pp. 435-450

DELLI PRISCOLI, Jerome and WOLF, Aaron T. (2009): Managing and Transforming Water Conflicts, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press

DE STEFANO, Lucia, DUNCAN, James, DINAR, Shlomi, STAHL, Kerstin, Strzepek, Kenneth M.

and WOLF,Aaron T. (2010): Mapping the Resilience of International River Basins to Future Climate Change-Induced Water Variability, World Bank Water Sector Board Discussion Paper Series, Paper No. 15., Washington D.C., The World Bank

DE STEFANO, Lucia, DUNCAN, James, DINAR, Shlomi, STAHL, Kerstin, Strzepek, Kenneth M.

and WOLF,Aaron T. (2012): Climate change and the institutional resilience of international river basins, Journal of Peace Research 49:1 pp. 193-209

DINAR, Shlomi (2008): International Water Treaties – Negotiation and cooperation along transboundary rivers, London, Routledge

DINAR, Shlomi, KATZ, David, DE STEFANO, Lucia and BLANKESPOOR, Brian (2014): Climate Change, Conflict, and Cooperation – Global Analysis of the Resilience of International River

56

Treaties to Increased Water Variability, Policy Research Working Paper 6916, Washington D.C., The World Bank

DOMBROWSKY, Ines (2009): Revisiting the potential for benefit sharing in the management of transboundary rivers, Water Policy 11 pp. 125-140

ELHANCE, Arun (1999): Hydropolitics in the 3rd World: Conflict and Cooperation in International River Basins, Washington D.C., United States Institute of Peace Press

FISCHER, Günther, HIZSNYIK, Eva, TRAMBEREND, Sylvia and WIBERG, David (2015): Towards indicators for water security – A global hydro-economic classification of water challenges, IIASA Interim Report, Laxenburg, International Institute of Applied Systems Analyis

GARRICK, Dustin, ANDERSON, George R.M., CONNELL, Daniel and PITTOCK, Jamie (Eds.) (2013): Federal rivers: managing water in multi-layered political systems, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar Publishing

GIORDANO, Mark et al. (2014): A review of the evolution and state of transboundary freshwater treaties, Int Environ Agreements 14 pp. 245-264

JIMÉNEZ CISNEROS, Blanca E.,OKI,T.,ARNELL,N.W.,BENITO,G., COGLEY,J.G.,DÖLL,P., JIANG,T. andMWAKALILA,S.S. (2014): Freshwater resources. In FIELD, C.B. et al. (Eds.):

Climate Change: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects.

Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press

LAMMERS, Johan G. (2014): The Helsinki Water Convention: A New Implementation Mechanism and Committee, Environmental Policy and Law 44/1-2 pp. 117-224

MENKEL-MEADOW, Carrie (2004): From Legal Disputes to Conflict Resolution and Human Problem Solving: Legal Dispute Resolution in a Multidisciplinary Context, J. Legal Educ. 54, pp. 7-29

MERREY, Douglas J. (2009): African models for transnational river basin organisations in Africa: An unexplored dimension, Water Alternatives 2(2) pp. 183‐204

MILMAN, Anita, BUNCLARK, Lisa, CONWAY, Declan and ADGER, Neil W. (2012): Adaptive Capacity of Transboundary Basins in the Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Sahel, Tyndall Working Paper 151, Norwich, University of East Anglia

MNOOKIN, Robert H. (2004): Strategic Barriers to Dispute Resolution: a Comparison of Bilateral and Multilaral Negotiations, 8 Harv. Negot. L. Rev. pp 1-16.

57

NEIR, Alyssa M., KLISE, Geoffrey T. and CAMPANA, Michael E. (2009): The concept of vulnerability as applied to North America. In UNEP: Hydropolitical Vulnerability and Resilience along International Waters – North America, Nairobi, pp. 17-22

NEWTON,Joshua (2014): “Water, Water Everywhere, Nor any Drop to Drink”: An Exploration of the Lack of a Formal Global Water Governance Regime, PhD Thesis, Medford, Tufts University, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy

NORMAN, Emma S., COHEN, Alice and BAKKER, Karen (2015): The Water Convention from a North American perspective. In TANZI, Attila et al. (Eds.): The UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes – Its Contribution to International Water Cooperation, Leiden, Boston, Brill Nijhoff, pp. 423-434

PETERSEN-PERLMAN, Jacob D., VEILLEUX, Jennifer C. and WOLF, Aaron T. (2017):

International water conflict and cooperation: challenges and opportunities, Water International

RIEU-CLARKE, Alistair, MOYNIHAN, Ruby and MAGSIG, BjØrn-Oliver (2012): UN Watercourses Convention - User’s Guide, Dundee, University of Dundee

ROCKSTRÖM,Johan, STEFFEN, W., NOONE, K. , PERSSON, Å., CHAPIN III, F. S., LAMBIN, E., LENTON, T. M., SCHEFFER, M., FOLKE, C., SCHELLNHUBER, H., NYKVIST, B., DE WIT, C. A., HUGHES, T., VAN DER LEEUW, S., RODHE, H., SÖRLIN, S., SNYDER, P. K., COSTANZA, R., SVEDIN, U., FALKENMARK, M., KARLBERG, L., CORELL, R. W., FABRY, V. J., HANSEN, J., WALKER,B.,LIVERMAN,D.,RICHARDSON,K.,CRUTZEN,P. and FOLEY, J. (2009): Planetary Boundaries: Exploring the Safe Operating Space for Humanity, Ecology and Society 14(2) pp.

32-65

SADOFF, Claudia W. et al. (2015): Securing Water, Sustaining Growth: Report of the GWP/OECD Task Force on Water Security and Sustainable Growth, Oxford, University of Oxford

SALMAN, Salman M. A. (2009): The World Bank Policy for Projects on International Waterways: An Historical and Legal Analysis, Law, Justice and Development Series, Washington D.C., The World Bank

SCHMEIER, Suzanne (2013): Governing International Watercourses - River Basin Organizations and the sustainable governance of internationally shared rivers and lakes, London, Routledge

SCHREUER, Christoph (2008): What is a legal dispute? In BUFFARD, I. et al. (eds.): International Law between Universalism and Fragmentation. Leiden, Boston, Brill, pp. 959-980

58

SHAMIR, Yona (2003): Alternative Dispute Resolution Approaches and their Application, Paris, UNESCO

SHAW, Malcolm N. (2003): International Law, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press

STEFFEN, Will, BROADGATE, Wendy, DEUTSCH, Lisa, GAFFNEY, Owen and LUDWIG, Cornelia (2015): The trajectory of the Anthropocene: The Great Acceleration, The Anthropocene Review 2(1) pp. 81–98

STRATEGIC FORESIGHT GROUP (2011): Himalayan Solutions: Co-operation and Security in River Basins, Mumbai

STRATEGIC FORESIGHT GROUP (2015): Water Cooperation Quotient, Mumbai

SUBRAMANIAN, Ashok, BROWN, Bridget and WOLF, Aaron T. (2014): Understanding and overcoming risks to cooperation along transboundary rivers, Water Policy 16 pp. 824-843

TANZI Attila and KOLLIOPOULOS, Alexandros (2015): The No-Harm Rule. In TANZI, Attila et al. (Eds.): The UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes – Its Contribution to International Water Cooperation, Leiden, Boston, Brill Nijhoff, pp. 133-145

TURTON, Anthony (2008): The Southern African Hydropolitical Complex. In VARIS, Olli, TORTAJADA, Cecilia and BISWAS, Asit K. (Eds.): Management of Transboundary Rivers and Lakes, Berlin, Heidelberg, Springer, pp. 21-80

UNECE (2011): Strengthening Water Management and Transboundary Water Cooperation in Central Asia: The Role of UNECE Environmental Conventions, Geneva

UNEP (2005): Hydropolitical Vulnerability and Resilience along International Waters – Africa, Nairobi; UNEP (2007a): Hydropolitical Vulnerability and Resilience along International Waters – Latin America and the Caribbean, Nairobi

UNEP (2007b): Compliance Mechanisms under Selected Multilateral Environmental Agreements, Nairobi

UNEP (2009a): Hydropolitical Vulnerability and Resilience along International Waters – Asia, Nairobi

UNEP (2009b): Hydropolitical Vulnerability and Resilience along International Waters – Europe, Nairobi

59

UNEP (2009c): Hydropolitical Vulnerability and Resilience along International Waters – North America, Nairobi

UN-WATER (2013): Water Security and the Global Water Agenda: A UN-Water Analytical Brief, Hamilton, Ontario, UNU

VÖRÖSMARTY, Charles J, GREEN, Pamela, SALISBURY, Joseph and LAMMERS, Richard B.

(2000): Global Water Resources: Vulnerability from Climate Change and Population Growth, Science 289 pp. 284-288

US NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE COUNCIL (2012a): Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds, Washington D.C.

US NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE COUNCIL (2012b): Global Water Security, Intelligence Community Assessment, Washington D.C.

WOLF,Aaron T., NATHARIUS,Jeffrey A., DANIELSON,Jeffrey J., WARD,Brian S. and PENDER, Jan K. (1999): International river basins of the world, International Journal of Water Resources Development, 15:4, pp. 387–427

WOLF, Aaron T. (2009): Hydropolitical vulnerability and resilience. In: UNEP: Hydropolitical Vulnerability and Resilience along International Waters – Europe, Nairobi, pp. 1-16

WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM (2011): Water Security: The Water-Food-Energy-Climate Nexus, Washington D.C., Island Press

WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM (2015): Global Risks 2015, 10^th Edition, Geneva

WRC plc (2012): International Coordination (Part V). In WRC plc: Comparative Study of Pressures and Measures in the Major River Basin Management Plans, pp. 145-176

WWAP (United Nations World Water Assessment Programme) (2012): The United Nations World Water Development Report 4: Managing Water under Uncertainty and Risk, Paris, UNESCO

WWAP (United Nations World Water Assessment Programme) (2015): The United Nations World Water Development Report 2015: Water for a Sustainable World, Paris, UNESCO

60

ZALASIEWICZ, Jan, WILLAMS, Mark, STEFFEN, Will and CRUTZEN, Paul (2010): The New World of the Anthropocene, Environ. Sci. Technol. 44 pp. 2228-2231

ZEITOUN, Mark and WARNER, Jeroen (2006): Hydro-hegemony – a framework for analysis of trans-boundary water conflicts, Water Policy 8 pp. 435–460

In document INTRODUCTION TO HYDRODIPLOMACY AND CONFICT RESOLUTION (Pldal 55-61)