Law and Transboundary Freshwaters Symposium

International law related to transboundary freshwater serves three basic functions: it defines and identifies the legal entitlements and rights and obligations tied to water use, providing the prescriptive parameters for its development; it provides a framework for ensuring the continuous integrity of the regime, i.e. through monitoring, regulation, compliance, stakeholder participation, dispute avoidance and settlement; and it allows for rational modifications of the existing regime, in order to be able to adapt to the constantly changing needs and circumstances.

The purpose of the symposium will be to explore these three functions of international law within the context of existing and potential challenges faced by transboundary basins (rivers, lakes and aquifers) throughout the world. The symposium will benefit from the collective knowledge and expertise of world-renowned speakers that have a proven ability to combine their extensive theoretical understanding with practical insights gained from working within a wide variety of ‘real world'.