International law and transboundary aquifers by Francesco Sindico Published by Edward Elgar, 2021;30:416–417 pp., £80.00 hardback.

• Published date: 01 November 2021
• Author: Laura Movilla Pateiro
• Date: 01 November 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12398

DOI: 10 .1111/reel .12398

INTERNATIONAL LAW AND TRANSBOUNDARY AQUIFERS by

Francesco Sindico

Published by Edward Elgar, 2020, 208 pp., £80.00 hardback.

Transboundary a quifers are res ources of enormo us quantitativ e

and qualitati ve importan ce for humanity a nd the planet, a lthough

they are still po orly research ed. Internatio nal legal regulat ion of

such aquifers is s till not yet well developed as compa red to surface

water, although it gai ned momentum with the ado ption of the Draft

Articles o n the Law of Transboundary Aquife rs by the International

Law Commission ( ILC) in 2008. But what has happ ened since then?

Sindico’s book anal yses the evolutio n and current st ate of this

emerging inter national legal r egime and reflec ts on its fut ure. The

author does so t hrough a very pr actical an d useful approa ch, as

the structure of the book— divided into seven chapters— is cleverly

constructe d around a hypothetical scena rio in which two countries

sharing a trans boundary aquifer look for p olitical and legal tools to

manage and protec t it jointly.

Chapter 1 introd uces this hypothe tical scenario i n which two

countries discove r that they share a transbounda ry aquifer and be-

come intereste d in identifying relevant i nternational rules and pr ac-

tices that could he lp them use and protect it in a m utually beneficial

way, including determining which international rules are mandatory

and which may be cons idered mere guidance. From t here, the struc-

ture of the book fol lows the relevant policy a nswers to this scenario

and, in doing so, al so considers the e xtent to which th e emerging

international l aw of transbound ary aquifer s reflects cu stomary in-

ternational law, wit h a particular focus on th e ILC’s Draft Article s.

Building on the d ictum that ‘you can not regulate what you do not

know’, Chapter 2 intro duces the science surro unding transbounda ry

aquifers in a ver y clear and understanda ble way. By using the defi-

nitions from the I LC’s Draft Ar ticles as a star ting point, the author

explains what an a quifer is, and clarifies concep ts such as confined

and unconfined aquifers, recharging and non- recharging aquifers,

and recharge and discharge zones. Sindico further explains what

a transbound ary aquifer is a nd explores th e relationship be tween

transbound ary aquifer s and climate change a s well as sustaina ble

development. These explanations reveal the complexity of this invis-

ible resource an d demonstrate how the ILC’s Draf t Articles provide

a narrow and oversim plified defi nition of transb oundary aqu ifers

by focusing only on t he location of th e geological st orage element

of the aquifer, thereby ‘leading to some possible challenges when

it comes to the mana gement of transbo undary aqu ifers’ (at 20).

Climate change is de picted as both a threat and an oppo rtunity for

groundwater aq uifers, as good t ransboundar y aquifer govern ance

can make ecosys tems more resilie nt in terms of climate cha nge

adaptation po licies, and dep leted aquifer s can be used for ca rbon

capture and st orage and geothermal ener gy production. Th e author

also acknowledges the important role that transboundary aquifers

may play in the implementation of the Sustainable Development

Goals (SDGs), as ‘sever al of the targets withi n SDG 6 [on clean water

and sanitati on for all] speak direc tly to groundwater’ (at 26). Be sides,

the indicator fo r SDG 6.5 on water re sources manage ment, which

measures the pr oportion of th e transbound ary basin area w ith an

operational agreement for water cooperation, provides countries

with a framework of action for transboundary aquifer cooperation.

Chapter 3 explor es the emergen ce of an internationa l law of

transbound ary aquifers, that is to s ay, all relevant instruments av ail-

able for aquifer St ates in their sea rch to manage a speci fic trans-

boundary a quifer. The author ad dresses earl y scholarly ef forts,

including the 1986 Se oul Rules on Intern ational Groun dwaters ad-

opted by the Intern ational Law As sociation and th e 1989 Bellagio

Draft Treaty Con cerning the Use of Transbo undary Gro undwaters.

Sindico then st udies the— l imited— cover age provided by the United

Nations Conventio n on the Non- Navigat ional Uses of International

Watercourses; th e work of the ILC leading to the Dr aft Articles; and

the coverage provid ed by the 1992 Convention on t he Protection

and Use of Transboundar y Watercourse s and Internation al Lakes

adopted in the con text of the UN Economic Commis sion for Europe

(UNECE), which was o pen for global rat ifications in 2 013; as well

as the rules prov ided by the 2012 UNECE Mo del Provisions on

Transboundary G roundwaters . The analysis of th ese legal inst ru-

ments focuse s primarily on their definit ions of transboundary aq ui-

fers and their s cope of applicat ion. The author co ncludes that t his

plethora of international legal instruments ‘reveals the emergence

of a discrete field of i nternational law a pplicable to tr ansboundar y

aquifers. In ot her words, the past 25 years have dem onstrated that

international l aw is not silent when it comes to the manage ment of

transbound ary aquifer s, but that a norma tive maze has gradu ally

been develope d by the international commu nity’ (at 54– 55).

Chapter 4 focuse s on the normative c ontent of the ILC’s Draf t

Articles , which the autho r describes as ‘a com plex maze of sub-

stantive and p rocedural obli gations’ (at 106) that State s can apply

to use and protec t a transbounda ry aquifer in a w ay that benefit s

all affected St ates. With this purpose i n mind, Sindico examines the

content of the obligations of equitable and reasonable utilization of

resources and t he obligation not t o cause signific ant harm, as well

as the legal relat ionship that conn ects these t wo obligation s. The

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