Seminar on legal framework of water management - IBT39E

Context 

Existing legal regimes for water resource management often fail to meet present day challenges, as they were conceived at a time when water was considered an inexhaustible natural resource. To achieve the Millennium Development Goal N° 7, which aims to halve by 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe water and improved sanitation services, transition economy and developing countries need to revise existing policies,  develop appropriate regulatory frameworks, and improve governance for Integrated Water Resource Development and Management (IWRDM).  

Content and objectives 

Starting from specific problems in selected countries, IDLO’s two-week seminar will examine key principles of IWRDM, which should have effective legal frameworks, as well as solid institutions at the national and local levels, accountable to end-users. It will also analyze how integrated institutional structures, regulatory mechanisms and market-oriented incentives could contribute to the sustainable use of water resources.

The seminar will address: (i) the particular legal status of water as a fundamental resource for human life, agriculture and social and economic sustainable development; (ii) different methods of water resource management, with a particular focus on management by municipalities, public-private partnerships and private sector management; (iii) water governance: the role, responsibilities and relationship between public authorities, operators, consumers/users and civil society; (iv) regional aspects of water law implementation: information and monitoring obligations.

By the end of the seminar, participants will be provided with practical tools to deal with: the application of international legal principles for access to safe water, for production through desalinization, storage, distribution and water productivity in the agricultural sector, for the use of wastewater and recycling of water. They will also be able to describe legislative approaches to water pollution prevention and the role of subsidiary legislation; water pollution control mechanisms; groundwater development and preservation; irrigation water development and drainage of lands.  

Participants