4
1 Introduction
be undertaken taking into account administrative structures, political circumstances,
cultural conditions, etc. for their influence on basin state behaviour. Following the
established terminology of the relevant literature these legal and non-legal factors
will be referred to collectively as “transboundary water governance”. Consequently,
in this context water law will be referred to as a sublet of water governance that comprises legally binding norms. Given the inter-disciplinary character of the research
questions, this study will also borrow the applicable terminology of other disciplines
such as international relations, resilience or system science.
The geographical focus of this study is confined to international river systems
shared fully or partly by the member states of the European Union. This implies
two important limitations. First, not all transboundary movements of water will be
covered, only those taking place as a result of the hydrological cycle in natural (or
man-made) catchment areas. Consequently, the impact of the import or export of
water as a stand-alone commodity (through pipelines or in bottles) or as a component of other commodities (in foods or drinks) on international relations will not
be analysed. Also, the (otherwise critical) issue of transboundary aquifers will be
addressed only as an ancillary subject. This is due to the fact that the bulk of the
regulatory regimes studied have been designed from a clear surface water perspective. As a result, the rules governing transboundary groundwater management are
either very general in nature or very narrow in terms of geographical coverage. These
conditions significantly constrain the scope for generalisation as opposed to the case
of surface water. Second, the below analysis will not cover European rivers basins
that lay entirely outside the European Union (Volga, Dnepr, Dniester, etc.). Thus,
the term “Europe” and “European Union” will not be used interchangeably: Europe
will refer to the European continent, while the European Union will denote the territory of the European Union or the EU as supranational legal and political entity.
In turn, “European water law” will be used to encompass four regulatory layers of
transboundary water governance: (i) the treaty framework of the United Nations
Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), (ii) the European Union’s sui generis
legislative framework as well as (iii) multilateral and (iv) bilateral water treaties to
which at least one EU member state is a party. Although these regulatory regimes
do not form a comprehensive corpus of law, they nonetheless have to be applied by
national water managers in their entirety even against occasional internal collisions.
This study comprises four parts.
Part I provides a summary of the general questions of transboundary water governance, including the geography, the theories, the laws and institutions of transboundary water cooperation. Part I closes with a detailed analysis of the challenges
posed by the Antrophocene to co-riparian relations and introduces the notions of
water security and hydropolitical resilience.
Following an exposition of the geography and hydrology of shared river basins in
the European Union, Part II contains an introduction to the specific European model
of transboundary water governance. This includes the detailed description of all four
layers of European water law as well as a critical analysis of the interaction among
them.
1 Introduction
be undertaken taking into account administrative structures, political circumstances,
cultural conditions, etc. for their influence on basin state behaviour. Following the
established terminology of the relevant literature these legal and non-legal factors
will be referred to collectively as “transboundary water governance”. Consequently,
in this context water law will be referred to as a sublet of water governance that comprises legally binding norms. Given the inter-disciplinary character of the research
questions, this study will also borrow the applicable terminology of other disciplines
such as international relations, resilience or system science.
The geographical focus of this study is confined to international river systems
shared fully or partly by the member states of the European Union. This implies
two important limitations. First, not all transboundary movements of water will be
covered, only those taking place as a result of the hydrological cycle in natural (or
man-made) catchment areas. Consequently, the impact of the import or export of
water as a stand-alone commodity (through pipelines or in bottles) or as a component of other commodities (in foods or drinks) on international relations will not
be analysed. Also, the (otherwise critical) issue of transboundary aquifers will be
addressed only as an ancillary subject. This is due to the fact that the bulk of the
regulatory regimes studied have been designed from a clear surface water perspective. As a result, the rules governing transboundary groundwater management are
either very general in nature or very narrow in terms of geographical coverage. These
conditions significantly constrain the scope for generalisation as opposed to the case
of surface water. Second, the below analysis will not cover European rivers basins
that lay entirely outside the European Union (Volga, Dnepr, Dniester, etc.). Thus,
the term “Europe” and “European Union” will not be used interchangeably: Europe
will refer to the European continent, while the European Union will denote the territory of the European Union or the EU as supranational legal and political entity.
In turn, “European water law” will be used to encompass four regulatory layers of
transboundary water governance: (i) the treaty framework of the United Nations
Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), (ii) the European Union’s sui generis
legislative framework as well as (iii) multilateral and (iv) bilateral water treaties to
which at least one EU member state is a party. Although these regulatory regimes
do not form a comprehensive corpus of law, they nonetheless have to be applied by
national water managers in their entirety even against occasional internal collisions.
This study comprises four parts.
Part I provides a summary of the general questions of transboundary water governance, including the geography, the theories, the laws and institutions of transboundary water cooperation. Part I closes with a detailed analysis of the challenges
posed by the Antrophocene to co-riparian relations and introduces the notions of
water security and hydropolitical resilience.
Following an exposition of the geography and hydrology of shared river basins in
the European Union, Part II contains an introduction to the specific European model
of transboundary water governance. This includes the detailed description of all four
layers of European water law as well as a critical analysis of the interaction among
them.