Papers by Gabriel Eckstein
Introduction: The ebb and flow of law and governance for transboundary aquifers and groundwater resources
Strengthening Cooperation over Transboundary Groundwater Resources
Strengthening Cooperation over Transboundary Groundwater Resources
AJIL Unbound
and Amu Darya, and Tigris and Euphrates rivers, to name just the most prominent examples among th... more and Amu Darya, and Tigris and Euphrates rivers, to name just the most prominent examples among the world's more than three hundred shared watercourses. Nor is there any reason to think tensions will subside in the future. In many parts of the world, demand for freshwater already exceeds accessible supplies. 1 Water use globally has more than tripled since the 1950s, growing at more than double the rate of population growth over the same time period. 2 Over the next thirty years, global demand is expected to increase by another 20 to 30 percent. 3 These basic realities heighten the potential for disagreements and conflicts between riparian states. Such disputes can escalate into larger regional conflicts. In the Aral Sea Basin, the discord between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan over the Rogun Dam has raised concerns over broader regional destabilization and even interstate violence. Disagreement over the Xayaburi Hydropower Project (XHP) on the Mekong River, albeit contested with less rhetoric than the Rogun confrontation, has made many observers fear for the stability and the economic development of mainland Southeast Asia. And recent confrontations between Afghanistan and Iran have led to the outbreak of local violence and occasionally strained relations between the two states in an already fragile region. Despite mounting tensions among states, armed conflicts over transboundary freshwater have remained relatively limited to date. Yet growing water needs and dwindling supplies, climate change, shifting developmental and environmental priorities, and other concerns are straining cross-border hydro relations. Whether disagreements over shared freshwater resources will continue to be resolved peacefully will depend, in part, on the viability, durability, and flexibility of international law to prevent and resolve such disputes. This symposium examines the role and relevance of international water law (IWL) for peacefully resolving disputes over transboundary freshwater resources. Taken together, the essays provide an impressive breadth of approaches, from close examination of contemporary disputes over transboundary freshwater resources to the interpretation and application of specific IWL norms and principles. We are fortunate, as well, to feature the perspectives of scholars from Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America.
Water Resources Research, Mar 1, 2020
Over the last decade, transboundary aquifers traversing the Mexico-Texas border have generated gr... more Over the last decade, transboundary aquifers traversing the Mexico-Texas border have generated growing interest of federal institutions on the Mexico side and state and federal institutions on the Texas side. Notwithstanding this, binational efforts to understand, assess, and manage shared groundwater resources remain limited and politically sensitive. On the Mexico side, long-standing centralized groundwater governance structures have created institutional barriers at the local level to the expansion of knowledge and cooperation over these transboundary resources. On the Texas side, property rights related to groundwater resources limit the scope of options available for cooperative management of cross-border aquifers. This paper examines stakeholders' perspectives on the borderland between Mexico and Texas through 44 surveys and personal interviews. Findings show that stakeholders appear to support a binational groundwater agreement as a means for assuring the sound long-term management of transboundary groundwater resources in the border region; however, the majority of stakeholders also suggest that short-term local or regional arrangements may be preferable over binational agreements as local/regional approaches may be more achievable or realistic. Second, participants identified leadership and individual personalities as key factors for success at the local level but noted that such influence had limited sustainability and limited regional-systemic effects. Third, the stakeholders indicated that water quality, rather than water quantity, is the main driver of transboundary cooperation efforts in the region. Fourth, participants suggested that failures and successes in groundwater cooperation efforts are based more on fear and political lobbying than on understanding of scientific facts.
Reflections on the 50th anniversary of the International Water Resources Association (IWRA)
Water International
Texas A&M Law Review
Tension among competing interests is nothing new in environmental law. Even among the most tenaci... more Tension among competing interests is nothing new in environmental law. Even among the most tenacious adversaries, the ability to find common ground can serve as an impetus to further the aims of both industry and environmental proponents. Broadly speaking, advocates of the oil and gas industry prefer few restraints, if any, on exploration, development, and production. Comparatively, champions of biological and ecological preservation favor regulatory protections to conserve these interests. Cutting across these often disparate objectives, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) presents a not-so-obvious opportunity for both sides to receive a share of the pie through cooperation and forward planning. This Paper proffers the notion that where concerns over the survival of a species may impede oil and gas activities, proactive cooperation, planning, and compromise within the ESA process can present both industry and environmentalists with a winning outcome. The Paper first provides backgroun...
Letter from the IWRA President
Water International
Aquifers Shared Between Mexico and the United States: Management Perspectives and Their Transboundary Nature
Ground water, Jul 10, 2017
Totally 36 aquifers have been identified along the Mexico-U.S. border. Of these, only 16 have ade... more Totally 36 aquifers have been identified along the Mexico-U.S. border. Of these, only 16 have adequate data to provide a reasonable level of confidence to categorize them as transboundary. Limited and/or contrasting data over the other aquifers in the region reflects the void in transboundary groundwater management and assessment mechanisms throughout much of the Mexico-U.S. border. This paper identifies management mechanisms, structures, and institutional prioritization related to transboundary aquifers shared between Mexico and the United States. It also evaluates the differences in the transboundary nature of these aquifers, and how their combined hydrological and geographical considerations interrelate with local and regional social, economic, political, and even scale dimensions to create complex management challenges.
Hydogeological Perspective of Status of Ground Water Resources Under the UN Watercourse Convention
Human Rights Brief, 1994
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Washington College of Law Journals... more This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Washington College of Law Journals & Law Reviews at Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Human Rights Brief by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law. For more information, please contact fbrown@wcl.american.edu. ... Recommended Citation Eckstein, Gabriel. "Commission Special Rapporteur Grossman Investigates Women's Rights.: Human Rights Brief 2, no. 1 (1994): 7.
Nonrenewable Aquifers and International Law: Considerations for Managing a Critical Depleting Resource
A non-recharging aquifer is an aquifer with insignificant or no source of contemporary recharge. ... more A non-recharging aquifer is an aquifer with insignificant or no source of contemporary recharge. It is an aquifer that is detached from the hydrologic cycle and any water found within the aquifer is non-renewable. By definition, such aquifers cannot be utilized sustainably as any withdrawal eventually will exhaust the resource.
Hydrologic Reality: International Water Law and Transboundary Ground-Water Resources
conference on “Water: Dispute Prevention and Development.” American University Center for the Global South, Oct 12, 1998
This presentation was inspired by a conference I recently attended at which I spoke on ground-wat... more This presentation was inspired by a conference I recently attended at which I spoke on ground-water resources and international water law in the context of the International Court of Justice's Danube Dam Case. Although the conference-combined XXVIII-th Congress of the International Association of Hydrogeologists and Annual Meeting of the American Institute of Hydrology-was a scientific gathering of hydrologists, hydrogeologists, engineers, and other scientists from around the world, one of the sessions was dedicated solely to ...
Gambling With Groundwater-Physical, Chemical, and Biological Aspects of Aquifer-Stream Relations, 1998
International water law is generally applied to disputes between states concerning surface bodies... more International water law is generally applied to disputes between states concerning surface bodies of water crossing international bordera Disputes and policy-making over transboundary groundwater resources, however, have traditionally been determined on an ad hoc basis or based on regional custom. This disparate treatment stems primarily from the misunderstood nature of groundwater and its relationship to surface water among government officials, policy-makers, jurists, and others. The result often has been ...
Journal of Hydrology, 2016
The transboundary nature of water dividing Mexico and the United States (U.S.) transforms the ent... more The transboundary nature of water dividing Mexico and the United States (U.S.) transforms the entire border region into an instrument of cooperation, a source of conflict, a national security issue, and an environmental concern. Reasonable data collection and research analysis have been conducted for surface waters by joint governmental institutions and non-governmental bodies. However, with the exception of the U.S. Transboundary Assessment Act Program (TAAP) (focusing on the Hueco Bolson, Mesilla Bolson, San Pedro and Santa Cruz aquifers), there is no comparable research, institutional development, or assessment of transboundary groundwater issues on the frontier. Moreover, data collection and methodologies vary between the two countries, there is no broadly accepted definition of the transboundary nature of an aquifer, and available legal and policy frameworks are constrained by non-hydrological considerations. Hence, there is a conceptual and institutional void regarding transboundary groundwater resources between Mexico and the U.S. The purpose of this paper is to bridge this void and characterize transboundary aquifers on the Mexico-US border. It reviews existing international frameworks for identifying hydrological and social criteria that characterize an aquifer as transboundary. It then assesses data from both countries to propose where and which aquifers could be considered transboundary. Finally, the paper proposes an agenda for assessing Mexico-US transboundary aquifers as a means for improving groundwater management in the border region.
Water Policy, 2015
From the Editor-in-Chief, Dr Jerome Delli Priscoli: This is the second part of a research report ... more From the Editor-in-Chief, Dr Jerome Delli Priscoli: This is the second part of a research report on opinions of prominent international water lawyers from each continent on the potential impacts of the 1997 UN Convention on the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses. The first part of the report was published in Water Policy 16(6).
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Papers by Gabriel Eckstein