As global climate change threatens to change radically both the political and physical climate with regard to water issues, so a reassessment of some of the fundamental principles of international water law is emerging. One of the most important principles being reassessed is the sovereign equality of states. This volume brings together more than thirty leading international water and legal specialists to explore the development and changing relationship between water, state sovereignty and international law. Offering fresh insights into one of the most pressing issues in global water policy, Sovereignty and International Water Law will form an essential reference for water professionals, legal specialists and policy makers alike.

Major changes in policy and management , across the entire agricultural production chain, will be needed to ensure the best use of available water resources in meeting growing demands for food and other agricultural products. This new volume in the successful History of Water Series focuses on the African continent to address this key issue. Humanity has its roots in Africa and many of our food systems developed there. All types of agricultural production are present and the sheer size of the continent offers wide ecological variation from extreme desert to dense rainforest. Drawing together leading international contributors from a wide variety of disciplines Water and Food offers new insights into the evolution of food systems, from early hunter gatherers to the global challenges of the modern world.

This book traces the development of international water law that has come to privilege and the water utilisation rights of sovereign states over the environment. It argues that existing mechanisms in international law can be applied to improve environmental protection.

This book presents a novel examination of transboundary water governance, drawing on global case studies and applying new theoretical approaches. Excessive consumption and degradation of natural resources can either heighten the risks of conflicts or encourage cooperation within and among countries, and this is particularly pertinent to the governance of water. This book fills a lacuna by providing an interdisciplinary examination of transboundary water governance, presenting a range of novel and emerging theoretical approaches. Acknowledging that issues vary across different regions, the book provides a global view from South and Central America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, with the case studies offering civil society and public managers concrete situations that indicate difficulties and successes in water sharing between bordering countries. The volume highlights the links between natural resources, political geography, international politics, and development, with chapters delving into the role of paradiplomacy, the challenges of climate change adaptation, and the interconnections between aquifers and international development. With rising demand for water in the face of climate change, this book aims to stimulate further theoretical, conceptual, and methodological debate in the field of transboundary water governance to ensure peaceful and fair access to shared water resources. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of water resource governance from a wide variety of disciplines, including geography, international relations, global development, and law. It will also be of interest to professionals and policymakers working on natural resource governance and international cooperation.

This book explores how compliance with international environmental law has changed over time, offering a critical analysis of its current shifting patterns. Beginning with an overview of compliance with international environmental law, the book goes on to explore in detail: compliance in the different legal regimes instituted by Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs), the addition of new subjects of international law, the legal relations between developed and developing countries, and the emergence of new compliance mechanisms in global environmental law. The analysis takes two key developments into consideration: the evolution in forms of compliance and non-state involvement in compliance with international environmental law. In the final section, three case studies are provided to demonstrate how these changes have occurred in selected areas: climate change, biodiversity and water resources. Throughout the book, topics are illustrated with extracts from specific international environmental law jurisprudence and relevant international environmental law instruments. In doing so, the book offers a comprehensive analysis of compliance with international environmental law, providing original insights and following a clear and systematic structure supported by reference to the sources. This book will be of interest to professionals, academics and students working in the field of compliance with international environmental law.

In The Community of Interest Approach in International Water Law, Julie Gjørtz Howden identifies the normative elements of the community of interest approach, and how the approach provides a legal framework for common management of international watercourses.

Heavy metal and metalloid contamination of groundwater and surface water ecosystems involves important policy-related and ethical issues besides its more well-known scientific aspects. Heavy Metal and Metalloid Contamination of Surface and Underground Water: Environmental, Policy, and Ethical Issues has brought these three dimensions under a single volume. The book presents an updated status of the nature and extent of heavy metal and metalloid contamination of water and discuss its future implications. In Section I, the book provides a state-of-the-art review of research findings on entry, storage, and release, human health risks, and the uptake and accumulation by freshwater biota and the toxic effects experienced by them. The book also provides information on the bioremediation of heavy metals and metalloids, and the possible effects of climate change on their distribution and toxicity. Section II of the book throws light on the policies and legislations adopted in several countries to deal with the vexed issue of metal contamination of waters in both historical and current perspectives. Special emphasis has been given to the contamination of drinking water and its attendant implications for human health. The book also treats the relevance and applications of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), which forms the backbone of the water policies of several countries. In Section III, discussions focus on ethical issues rising out of heavy metal and metalloid contamination of water, and on the different ethical approaches and principles in both indigenous and other societies. Features: A systematic overview of the major facets of heavy metal and metalloid contamination of water Compilation and analysis of the latest research in the subject area Ample case studies in all chapters that highlight specific problems Review of policy and legislation for the control of heavy metal pollution of water Water ethics in indigenous societies This book will be a vital resource for students and research scholars in the field of environmental science, ecotoxicology, and pollution studies.

As global climate change threatens to change radically both the political and physical climate with regard to water issues, so a reassessment of some of the fundamental principles of international water law is emerging. One of the most important principles being reassessed is the sovereign equality of states. This volume brings together more than thirty leading international water and legal specialists to explore the development and changing relationship between water, state sovereignty and international law. Offering fresh insights into one of the most pressing issues in global water policy, Sovereignty and International Water Law will form an essential reference for water professionals, legal specialists and policy makers alike.

The Research Handbook on International Water Law surveys the field of the law of shared freshwater resources. In some thirty chapters, it covers subjects ranging from the general principles operative in the field and international groundwater law to the human right to water and whether international water law is prepared to cope with climate disruption. The authors are internationally recognized experts in the field, most with years of experience. The Research Handbook is edited by three scholars and practitioners whose publications and work deal with the law of international watercourses.

Despite the central importance that water has held for civilizations both ancient and modern, its social significance has made surprisingly little impact on our contemporary understanding of human history and development. Dominant interpretations of the relationship between society and nature have remained water blind. In Water and Society historian and leading water expert Terje Tvedt argues for a change that acknowledges the significant role played by water in societal development. Reflecting his expertise as a geographer, historian and a political scientist, and drawing on his wide experience of water issues around the world, Terje Tvedt s Water and Society provides a long overdue reappraisal of the relationship between water and society, one that gives water its rightful place as central to any true understanding of human history and development."