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96 / International Watercourses Law and Its Application in South Asia Development and Codification of International Watercourses Law / 97outlines state rights and duties in waters that extend from twoor more states territories. Article III provides:“if the various States disagree upon the extent oftheir rights of use, the disagreement shall be settledon the basis of equity, taking into consideration therespective needs of States, as well as any othercircumstances relevant to any particular case” 213 .Article IV states that any act of a state harmful to another stateentitles the latter to receive adequate compensation for any lossor damage incurred. Article V indicates the need to have priornotice and consultation before initiating any work onwaterways or watersheds. Such rules also stipulate thatnegotiations should be conducted in good faith in the event ofsuch works giving rise to conflict.2.9.5 Some Other InstitutionsThe codification and development of international law are theaccumulation of institutional contributions. As far as IWL isconcerned, the contribution of the ILI, ILA and ILC aresignificant. There are a few other institutions that have alsomade contributions in the area. The Asian-African LegalConsultative Committee (AALCC), which has a workingrelationship with the ILC, has adopted a Draft Proposition onthe Law of International Rivers in 1973 at its New Delhiconference. Article III envisaged:"1. Each basin state is entitled, within its territory,to reasonable and equitable shares in the beneficialuse of the waters of an international drainage basin.2.What is a reasonable and equitable share is to bedetermined in the interested basin state by213 Ibid. p. 280.considering all the relevant factors in eachparticular case.” 214It is an obvious endorsement of the Helsinki rules. The Inter-American Bar Association in its Tenth conference onNovember 19, 1957 in Buenos Aires initiated work onformulating the principles on international drainage basins andadopted five principles. In its San Jose Resolution in 1967, No1, third paragraph, states:"International waters have for America uniqueimportance to the extent that it is difficult toimagine a social and economic development andintegration of the continent without an equitableand adequate usage of such waters, in achievingwhich the law has a substantial function" 215Besides this, there are several other organizations, which havealso contributed to the development and codification of thetopic. UNEP Principles on Conservation and HarmoniousUtilization of Natural Resources Shared by Two or More States1978 is also pertinent in this area. 216 The UNGA Resolution3129 (XXVIIII) 1973, called for adequate internationalstandards to be established, for the conservation and utilisationof natural resources common to two or more states, and the cooperationamong those states to be enhanced by the exchangeof information and prior consultation. The principle was notendorsed by the UNGA as a general principle of law but itsimply acknowledged it. The principle forms a part of soft law.Apart from this, the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE)has adopted a regional Convention on the Protection and Use of214 AALCC, Report of the Fourteenth Session held in New Delhi, 10-18January (1973), pp. 7-14; also see supra note 57, p. 202. In ArticleIII(3) eleven factors are recommended.215 Supra note 57, pp 317-320.216 Supra note 66, pp 21-26.
98 / International Watercourses Law and Its Application in South Asia Development and Codification of International Watercourses Law / 99Trans-boundary Watercourses and Lakes in 1992, whichprovides for equitable utilisation, good neighbourly relationsand cooperation between the riparian states. 217 The conventioncontains 29 articles and 4 annexes. It is the first of its kind thatis consistent with the 1997 UN convention in several respects.2.10 Some UN ResolutionsUNGA Resolution 3281 (XXIX) on the Charter of EconomicRights and Duties of States was adopted in 12 December 1974.Article 3 says:“In the exploitation of natural resources shared by twoor more countries, each State must cooperate on thebasis of a system of information and priorconsultations in order to achieve optimum use of suchresources without causing damage to the legitimateinterest of others.” 218The significance of this resolution is obvious. It encourages acooperative attitude without which the objective of gainingmaximum benefits from an IWC is not realisable, and that isthe foremost requirement for the harnessing of such resources.The Water Conference, Mar del Plata 1977, was the first effortof the international community to focus attention asdeteriorating and scarce resources. The conference declaredthat:"in relation to the use, management anddevelopment of shared water resources, nationalpolicies should take into consideration the rights ofeach State sharing the resources to equitably utilizesuch resources as the means to promote bonds ofsolidarity and co-operation." 219217 Ibid. p. 345218 Supra note 57, p. 162.219 Ibid, p. 166.In this first universal deliberation on water, the Member Statesidentified problems with the resolution of such issues and itwas suggested that all problems relating to water should beresolved under the UN Charter. Every problem requires apeaceful, and fair solution as suggested by the Charter.Particular attention will be given to Article 21 of the UnitedNations Conference on Human and Environment (UNCCHE),which recommend a state's full right to use such resourceswithout disturbing others by such use. 220Subsequent to the First Water Conference, the second UNWorld Water Conference, which was held in Dublin in 1980,largely failed to yield any of the expected outcomes, as arguedby Biswas. 221 His criticism was based on the discontinuation ofany further conferences with no significant outcome and nomajor result achieved. However, he has not clearly indicatedwhat result he expected. Perhaps, he was demanding a concreteresult in resolving the numerous issues in the area and also thecreation of an adequately funded and fully functioning waterinstitution, which may be a good argument.The Second World Water Forum held in the Netherlands on 20-22 March, 2000, highlighted the scarcity of water, emergingconflicts on its use, sustainable and equitable use of it and soforth. 222 In its Ministerial Declaration no 1, the threat caused bythe lack of a secure supply of sufficient freshwater, difficultieswith its use, threat to lives due to its insufficiency and lack ofquality were discussed. In its second paragraph it spoke about220 Ibid, pp. 164-170; also see E. Fano," Brief Comments on the UnitedNations Water Conference" in A. E. Utton and L. Teclaff (eds), Waterin the Developing World, Colorado: Westview Press, 1978, pp. 267-269.221 A.K. Biswas, "Water for Sustainable Development of South andsoutheast Asia in the Twenty First Century " in A. K. Biswas & T.Hashimoto (eds), Asian International Waters: From Ganges toBrahmaputra to Mekong, Oxford: Oxford University, 1996, p. 23.222 http://www.worldwaterforum.org/index2.html ; also seewww.worldbank.org/html/extdr/extme/jdwsp03220htm.
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International WatercoursesLaw and I
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PrefaceIn this book, the author has
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