Protecting a Hidden Treasure: The U.N. International Law Commission and the International Law of Transboundary Ground Water Resources

Abstract

Recently, the United Nations International Law Commission (ILC or "Commission") embarked on an effort to address the lack of treaties on groundwater usage and to consider the international law applicable to transboundary ground water resources, This undertaking follows and builds on the Commission's work on international watercourses, which culminated in 1997 in the U.N. Convention on the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses ("Watercourse Convention"). This paper reviews the work of the ILC in its present effort to codify and progressively develop the international law applicable to transboundary ground water resources. It begins with a short background of the present work and briefly considers the applicability of the 1997 Watercourse Convention to transboundary ground water resources. It then reviews the relevant issues facing the Commission and offers commentary and analysis as appropriate.