DSA Scotland Mini Conference
14 October 2011, University of Aberdeen
DSA / University of Aberdeen / CISD
Transboundary
Aquifers: the
International
Community’s Quest to
Manage
Dr Francesco Sindico
Lecturer in International Law
Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral
Law and Policy (University of Dundee)
Outline
Context
 Transboundary Aquifers: what are they and
why is it important to regulate
 Development perspective (an attempt…)

Context: Past and Future
Research
Past research
 Project at the University of Surrey
 Seminar “Transboundary Aquifers and International
Law: The Experience of the Guarani Aquifer System”
(31/08/2010)
 Special issue of the International Community Law
Review
 International conference “The Management of the
Guarani Aquifer System: An Example of Cooperation”
(21-23.09.2011)

Future research
 UoD pump prime funding on Groundwater / Energy
nexus

Transboundary Aquifers

18 October 2011
UN/RES/63/124 “Decides to include
in the provisional agenda of its sixtysixth session an item entitled “The
law of transboundary aquifers” with a
view to examining, inter alia, the
question of the form that might be
given to the draft articles”

Transboundary Aquifers

Draft Articles
International Law Commission
 2002 – 2008
 Collaboration between lawyers and scientists

Transboundary Aquifers

What is an aquifer?
“a permeable water
bearing geological
formation underlain by a
less permeable layer and
the water contained in the
saturated zone of the
formation”, UN ILC Draft
Articles, art. 2a).
Transboundary Aquifers



What is an aquifer?
Underground geological formation
(container / the rock)
Natural resources stored underground
in the container (groundwater)
Transboundary Aquifers





Uses and Challenges
Extraction of water
Extraction of heat (energy)
Extraction of minerals
Storage and disposal of any
substance (CCS)



Overexploitation
Competition over different
uses
Pollution
Transboundary Aquifers

Relevance
Transboundary Aquifers





Relevance
Transboundary surface watersheds 
more than 400 worldwide
(international rivers, lakes, etc…)

similar number of bilateral and
multilateral treaties

overarching 1997 UN
Watercourses Convention


273 TBA have been identified
(ISARM 2009) but very few have
been “partly” regulated
Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System
(Chad, Egypt, Libya and Sudan)
North Western Sahara Aquifer
System (Algeria, Libya and Tunisia)
French-Swiss Geneva Aquifer
Guarani Aquifer System
Transboundary Aquifers

The future [form] of the UNILC Draft
Articles (2011…)

An international conference for the negotiation of
a global Convention on the law of transboundary
aquifers [hard law]
General Assembly Resolution that “takes note” of
the UNILC Draft Articles on the law of
transboundary aquifers [soft law]
General Assembly Resolution that adopts a
“Declaration” regarding principles applicable to
the management of transboundary aquifers [soft
law]
To consider the format of the UNILC Draft Articles
once more practice is analysed



Transboundary Aquifers
What are they?
 Sponge (rock and water)

Why is it important to regulate?
 Vital for global water security

Transboundary Aquifers: a
development perspective (an
attempt…)
Groundwater vital for the well being of communities
 If groundwater is found beneath a border within a TBA,
cooperation between those communities is paramount

Transboundary Aquifers: a
development perspective (an
attempt…)
Legal frameworks can frame such a cooperation in
order to foster joint management
 But, at the end of the day it is a political matter, which
needs to be informed by good science
(policy/science/law linkage, which leads to a positive
development outcome)

Development
Science
Law
Policy
Dr Francesco Sindico
Lecturer in International Law,
CEPMLP
f.sindico@dundee.ac.uk