Fresh Water and International Economic Law

Fresh water resources are at the same time ecological, economic, social, and cultural goods and must be managed accordingly. However, efforts to manage these resources are complicated by tensions arising from possible clashes between the regimes favouring privatization, trade and investment liberalization, and domestic and international regimes governing water resources, environmental protection and human rights. The relationships between the international economicand legal framework on the one hand and fresh water resource management and protection on the other, are complex and multifaceted.This book addresses the key interdisciplinary issues that increasingly confront policy makers, tribunals, arbitration bodies and other institutions. It focuses primarily on law, but also includes perspectives from economics, political science and other disciplines. It examines such questions as are governments free to decide whether or not to export water resources? Can foreign investors sue host states for adopting measures to control water pollution? Can international trade rules be used toreduce or eliminate water related subsidies? Do rules on the liberalization of water services affect domestic and international human rights obligations relating to water supply? More generally, how do the procedural rights of states, individuals, affected communities and investors affect decisionsregarding the right to drinking water, the rights of investors to exploit water resources, and the rights of governments to protect their lakes, rivers and groundwater?

A superb analysis of water as an issue in international trade. This carefully-edited volume examines a central, yet little studied, emerging topic in international economic law—the law of fresh water trade. Every important facet is given attention by well-researched essays written by a leading or soon to be better-known scholars. No other book even begins to cover this ground. All of the studies are relevant for thinking through the complex implications of World Trade Organization rules for transborder commerce in water. The book gives due attention to the rules for goods, services, and subsidies, and also explores trends in bilateral and regional trade agreements. As controversies about water become more important over the coming years, this volume is sure to remain the essential first reference for regulators and scholars., ...goes beyond more traditional, restricted, understandings of legal aspects related to water. Its conclusions will be a most valid contribution to discussion concerning the development of international economic law. It should unreservedly become an obligatory source of reference for administrators, regulators, practitioners and scholars.

Edith Brown Weiss is Francis Cabell Brown Professor of International Law at Georgetown University, Washington DC.Laurence Boisson de Chazournes is Head of the Department of Public International Law and International Organisation in the Faculty of Law at the University of Geneva.Nathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder is a Managing Attorney at the Geneva Office of the Centre for International Environmental Law.