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13 Rev. Eur. Comp. & Int'l Envtl. L. [iii] (2004)

handle is hein.journals/reel13 and id is 1 raw text is: RECIEL 13 (1) 2004. ISSN 0962 8797 Editorial International attention to freshwater issues has been significant over the past several years. The 1977 United Nations Water Conference in Mar del Plata, Argentina, inspired the development of national water resource assessments, and the prioritization of safe drinking water and sanitation services in national plans and programmes. The International Conference on Water and the Environment in Dublin in 1992 gave input to the United Nations Convention on Environ- ment and Development, noting that water should be recognized as an economic good, and that water devel- opment and management should be based on a parti- cipatory approach. Chapter 18 of Agenda 21 addressed, inter alia, water and urban development, water for sustainable food production and rural development, drinking water supply and sanitation, integrated water resources development and management, water resources assessment, and the protection of water resources, water quality and aquatic ecosystems. In 1998, Ministers met in Paris at the Water and Sustainable Development Conference and made com- mitments on the integration of the development, man- agement and protection of water resources, funding, and knowledge, training and information exchange. Strategic approaches to freshwater management was the sectoral theme of the sixth session of the Com- mission on Sustainable Development (CSD), which discussed information and data for decision making, capacity building, funding, technology transfer, and follow up and assessment. Delegates at the Second World Water Forum in The Hague in 2000 focused on providing basic water needs, protecting ecosystems, sharing water resources, man- aging risks, and valuing and governing water wisely. More recently, the Millennium Development Goals' (MDGs) targets seek to halve the proportion of people in the world without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015. In 2001, the International Conference on Freshwater met in Bonn to review progress since the Dublin Conference and, inter alia, provide input to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), focusing on issues including governance, funding and capacity building. Like the MDG targets on water, the WSSD's Johannes- burg Plan of Implementation calls for halving, by 2015, the proportion of people who are unable to reach or to afford safe drinking water but also commits States to, inter alia, the development of integrated water resources management and water efficiency plans by 2005, and ecosystem protection. The UN Secretary- General's WEHAB initiative on water, energy, health, agriculture and biodiversity presented in the run-up to the WSSD also set water issues as a priority. The year 2003 was the International Year of Fresh- water. At the Third World Water Forum in March, themes included water and poverty, water supply, sanita- tion, hygiene and water pollution, integrated water resources management and basin management, and water and governance. Water will also be one of the foci of discussions at CSD-12 in April 2004 where the CSD will review progress on the implementation of water, sanitation and human settlements commitments arising from Agenda 21 and the WSSD. At CSD-13 in 2005, States will focus on policy making in the areas identified in the review during CSD-12. Despite all this work, the UN estimates that 1.2 billion people live without access to freshwater, 2.4 billion people lack proper sanitation and 3 million people die annually from diseases caused by unsafe water. This issue of RECIEL focuses on the issues of freshwater and wetlands in international law, addressing matters related to the application of the ecosystem approach in international instruments on water, the possibility of the development of a human right to water, the effective- ness of the EU Water Framework Directive, and the allocation of water for river and wetland ecosystems. In his article, Owen McIntyre analyses the application of the ecosystem approach to the protection of interna- tional watercourses. Reviewing State practice and the work of the International Law Commission in relation to the 1997 UN Convention on the Law on the Non- Navigational Uses of International Watercourses, he finds a recent shift in emphasis in that many recent international instruments on the use and protection of international watercourses now contain 'purely' environmental obligations, including provisions that require the adoption of an ecosystem-oriented approach. Jona Razzaque reviews the case for making access to water a recognized international human right. She out- lines commitments under international and regional conventions and judicial decisions on the right to water, addresses issues related to the commodification of water and the potential impact of the General Agreement on Trade in Services on water resources, and examines the influence of corporations and financial institutions on the development of the water sector and water- related services. Razzaque finds that although there @ Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2004, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Maiden, MA 02148, USA. Ill

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