Water security: A litmus test for international law

• Published date: 01 April 2020
• Author: Bjørn‐Oliver Magsig
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12328
• Date: 01 April 2020

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  RECIEL. 2020;29:44–55.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/reel

1 | INTRODUCTION

Few challenges have t he potential to create more fr iction within and

between State s than the allocat ion and utilization of w ater, as the

world’s freshwater resources are increasingly squeezed by rapidly

growing demand , mismanagement and t he impacts of clima te

change. Alread y a quarter of the worl d’s population lives in St ates

which face ‘extremely high’ water stress.1 The World Bank predic ts

that water scarc ity will act as a risk m ultiplier, fuelling cyc les of re-

source-driven co nflict and migrat ion, especially in a lready wa-

ter-stressed regions where agriculture is of critical socio-economic

importance.2 The various simmering water-related conflicts around

the world – like the difficult relationship between Egypt and Ethiopia

on the Nile,3 th e dispute over a more equitab le distribution of water

in the Middle East,4 the challeng ing situation in the Ar al Sea basin5 or

the highly contentious region of Himalayan Asia6 – stand testamen t

to the fact that t he international commun ity is a long way from solv-

ing the complex wa ter crisis.

 1World Resource s Institute, ‘ Updated Globa l Water Risk Atlas Re veals Top Water-

stressed Countries and States’ (6 August 2019) wri.org/news/2019/08/

relea se-updat ed-globa l-water -risk-atlas -revea ls-top-water -stres sed-count ries-and-

states>; to acce ss the Aqueduc t Water Risk Atlas v isit .

 2World Bank, High and Dry: Cli mate Change, Wate r, and the Economy (Wo rld Bank Group

2016) 19.

 3MM Abseno, ‘ The Influence of t he UN Watercours es Convention on t he Developme nt

of a Treaty Regime in t he Nile River Ba sin’ (2013) 38 Water Inte rnational 192; Y Zh ang et

al, ‘Ethiopi a’s Grand Renaiss ance Dam: Impli cations for Dow nstream Ripa rian Countrie s’

(2015) 141 Journal of Wat er Resources Pl anning and Mana gement 050150 02_1.

 4CJ Fröhlich , ‘Security a nd Discourse: T he Israeli–Pal estinian Water C onflict’ (201 2) 12

Conflict , Security an d Development 123 ; E Weinthal, N Zawa hri and J Sowers,

‘Securit izing Water, Climate, a nd Migration in I srael, Jorda n, and Syria’ (2015) 1 5

International Environmental Agreeme nts: Politics, Law and Economics 293.

 5D Ziganshina , Promoting Transbo undary Water Se curity in the Ara l Sea Basin throu gh

International Law (Brill/Nijhoff 2014).

 6RG Wirsing, D C Stoll and C Jaspar ro, International Conflict over Water Resources in

Himalayan Asia (Palgrave Macm illan 2013); BO Mag sig, ‘Water Secu rity in Himala yan

Asia: Firs t Stirrings of Reg ional Cooper ation?’ (2015) 40 Wat er Internatio nal 342.

Received: 1 Novem ber 2019 

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  Revised: 5 March 20 20 

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  Accepted: 15 March 2 020

DOI: 10 .1111/reel .12328

SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE

Water security: A litmus test for international law

Bjørn-Oliver Magsig

© 2020 John Wile y & Sons Ltd, 9600 Gars ington Road, Oxf ord OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main St reet, Malden, M A 02148, USA.

Correspondence

Email: bjornoliver.magsig@vuw.ac.nz While water securit y is now being discussed at the highest po litical level, the debate

on how the concept shoul d actually be implemented to improve the ma nagement of

our transbounda ry freshwater resources is still in i ts infancy. Further, the absence of

law in much of this debate impe des efforts to utilize water se curity as a change agent

for international water l aw and diplomacy – an unsati sfactory situat ion threatening

global stabilit y and international security. This ar ticle demonstrates that a fresh co n-

ceptualization of water se curity is not only requir ed to bring about the despe rately

needed change in the u nderlying perception s of sovereignty, but that it is also pos-

sible. However, this will only work if inte rnational law plays its par t in turning the

buzzword into a meani ngful concept. By supp orting the contempor ary underst and-

ing of water security t hrough strength ening normative developme nts regarding the

concepts of common conce rn and cooperative sovereign ty, these concepts of inter-

national law could simult aneously be better e mployed to tackle other inc reasingly

complex global challenges.