Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2012
Abstract
This essay argues that fresh water, its availability and use, should now be recognized as ‘a common concern of humankind’, much as climate change was recognized as a ‘common concern of humankind’ in the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and conservation of biodiversity was recognized as a ‘common concern of humankind’ in the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity. This would respond to the many linkages between what happens in one area with the demand for and the supply of fresh water in other areas. It would take into account the scientific characteristics of the hydrological cycle, address the growing commodification of water in the form of transboundary water markets and virtual water transfers through food production and trade, and respect the efforts to identify a human right to water.
Publication Citation
1 Transnatl. Environmental Law 153-168 (2012)
Scholarly Commons Citation
Brown Weiss, Edith, "The Coming Water Crisis: A Common Concern of Mankind" (2012). Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works. 1671.
https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/1671