Can reporting enhance transboundary water cooperation? Early insights from the Water Convention and the Sustainable Development Goals reporting exercise

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12344
• Author: Alistair Rieu‐Clarke
• Published date: 01 November 2020
• Date: 01 November 2020

RECIEL. 2020;29:361–371.  

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  361wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/reel

1 | INTRODUCTION

International l aw concerning transbo undary rivers, l akes and aqui-

fers has experienced significant developments in recent years.1

Arguably th e most significant of th ese developments ha s been the

entry into force of t he Convention on the Law of t he Non-

navigational Uses of International Watercourses (Watercourses

Convention);2 and the opening of the Conve ntion on the Protection

and Use of Transboundar y Watercourses and Int ernational Lakes

(Water Convention) to a ll United Nations (UN) mem ber States –

which became e ffective as of March 2016.3

A further not able milestone has be en the incorporation of t rans-

boundary w ater cooperation into th e Sustainable Devel opment

Goals (SDGs).4 Through the 2030 Age nda for Sustainabl e

Development , countries have committed to achie ve 17 interrelated

goals, which include ensuring the availability and sustainable man-

agement of water and s anitation for all by 2030.5 W hat is most sig-

nificant from a t ransboundary waters pe rspective is that th e SDGs

mark the stron gest political comm itment at the global leve l of the

importance of transboundary water cooperation. In accordance with

SDG target 6. 5, countries have collec tively called upon e ach other

 1See, e.g., SC M cCaffrey, ‘In ternational Wat er Cooperatio n in the 21st Centu ry: Recent

Developme nts in the Law of Int ernational Wate rcourses’ (2014) 23 R eview of Europea n,

Comparati ve and Internat ional Environm ental Law 4; P Woute rs, ‘Internat ional Law of

Watercourse s: New Dimensio ns’ (2010) 3 Collec ted Courses of t he Xiamen Acad emy of

International Law 347.

 2Convention on t he Law of the Non- navigational Us es of Internati onal Watercours es

(adopted 21 May 1997, enter ed into force 17 Augus t 2014) (1997) 36 ILM 700

(Watercourses Convention).

 3Convention on t he Protectio n and Use of Transboun dary Watercou rses and

Internatio nal Lakes (adop ted 17 March 1992, enter ed into force 6 Oct ober 1996) 1936

UNTS 269 (Water Co nvention).

 4UNGA ‘Transf orming Our World : The 2030 Agen da for Sustain able Developm ent’ UN

Doc A/RES 70/1 (25 S eptember 2015) .

 5ibid.

Received: 18 Febr uary 2020 

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  Accepted: 4 May 2020

DOI: 10 .1111/reel .12344

SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE

Can reporting enhance transboundary water cooperation?

Early insights from the Water Convention and the Sustainable

Development Goals reporting exercise

Alistair Rieu-Clarke

This is an open ac cess article und er the terms of the Crea tive Commons Attr ibution License, w hich permits use , distribution an d reproduction i n any medium,

provided the o riginal work is prop erly cited.

© 2020 The Autho rs. Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law published by John W iley & Sons Ltd

Correspondence

Email: alistair.rieu-clarke@northumbria.ac.uk Abstract

A notable mileston e in transboundary wa ter cooperation has been the i ncorpora-

tion of reporting b oth under the Sustainable Developm ent Goals (SDGs) framework

and the Convention on th e Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourse s and

International Lake s. Much can be gained from review ing the initial reporting exe rcise,

which took place in 2017 and 2018. The f irst reporting exerci se has demonstrated

that, while progre ss has been made in the last deca des, the need to strengt hen coop-

eration over transb oundary rivers, lakes and aquifer s is clearly evident. Additionally,

the experience of th e first reporting exer cise suggests that, alt hough some adjust-

ments might be made , reporting can play a valuable rol e in advancing transboundar y

water cooperation in t he years to come.