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17 Ecology L.Q. 741 (1990)
Adapting to Climate Change: A Study of International Rivers and Their Legal Arrangements

handle is hein.journals/eclawq17 and id is 755 raw text is: Adapting to Climate Change: A Study
of International Rivers and Their
Legal Arrangements*
Gretta Goldenman**
INTRODUCTION
As environmental problems increase in complexity and magnitude,
nations are grappling with the legal and institutional arrangements
needed to protect and manage natural resources. While local and na-
tional institutions may be adequate to address localized problems, re-
sources   shared    by   two   or   more    nations   require  international
arrangements if they are to be managed and protected for the long term.
One of the major challenges ahead for the international community
will be to develop the principles, procedures, and institutions for manag-
ing and protecting shared resources, such as watercourse systems, at the
same time that the Earth adapts to climate change. If atmospheric car-
bon dioxide levels double by the year 2050, as scientists predict, the aver-
age surface temperature of the Earth could increase by two to nine
degrees Fahrenheit.' As global temperatures rise, overall global rainfall
is expected to increase.2 While scientists do not yet know precisely when
Copyright © 1990 by ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY
* An earlier draft of this Comment received first prize in the 1990 Ellis J. Harmon
Environmental Law Writing Competition.
** Legal Consultant, Commission of the European Communities, Directorate on the En-
vironment, Brussels, Belgium; J.D. 1990, School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California
at Berkeley; M.P.P. 1989, Graduate School of Public Policy, University of California at Berke-
ley; B.A. 1966, Pacific Lutheran University. The author acknowledges with thanks the sup-
port of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security.
1. Stevens, With Cloudy Crystal Balls Scientists Race to Assess Global Warming N.Y.
Times, Feb. 7, 1989, at Cl, col. 1. At 1985 and 1987 conferences sponsored by the World
Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP), scientists predicted an average warming from between 1.5 to 4.5 degrees Celsius
before 2050 A.D. Houghton & Woodwell, Global Climatic Change, Sci. AM., Apr. 1989, at
36, 43.
2. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) predicts a 7-
15% increase in average global precipitation. AAAS PANEL ON CLIMATIC VARIABILITY, CLI-
MATE CHANGE AND THE PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT OF U.S. WATER RESOURCES:
SUMMARY (1988) (Paul E. Waggoner & Roger R. Revelle, chairs) [hereinafter AAAS PANEL
SUMMARY], reprinted in Implications of Global Warming for Nat. Resources: Oversight Hear-
ings Before the Subcomm. on Water and Power Resources of the Comm. on Interior and Insular
Aff., 100th Cong., 2nd Sess. 568 (1988) [hereinafter Hearings].

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