Upreti, Trilochan, International Watercourses Law and Its Application ...

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.