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Tignino, Mara; Bréthaut, Christian --- "Introduction: an interdisciplinary inquiry into the relationship between fresh water, the rule of law and international relations" [2018] ELECD 1234; in Tignino, Mara; Bréthaut, Christian (eds), "Research Handbook on Freshwater Law and International Relations" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2018) xix

Book Title: Research Handbook on Freshwater Law and International Relations

Editor(s): Tignino, Mara; Bréthaut, Christian

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN: 9781785360640

Section Title: Introduction: an interdisciplinary inquiry into the relationship between fresh water, the rule of law and international relations

Author(s): Tignino, Mara; Bréthaut, Christian

Number of pages: 10

Extract:

Introduction: an interdisciplinary inquiry into the relationship between fresh water, the rule of law and international relations Mara Tignino and Christian Bréthaut
Only a small quantity of fresh water ­ around 2.53 per cent of total water availability ­ can be used for human needs (be they drinking water, irrigation, industrial purposes, etc.). Moreover, a significant portion of this fresh water is locked in ice or relates to groundwater resources. Some of those resources, those that have insufficient sources of recharge, can become non-renewable resources and risk being exhausted. As a scarce resource, water therefore has a high potential for triggering and crystalizing conflicts among users. This feature will become increasingly important as water scarcity is intensified by rapid environmental changes such as climate change and accompanied by uncertain impacts.1 Since the 1990s, studies on the relationship between fresh water, the rule of law and international relations have developed in different directions. On the one hand, the number of institutional and legal frameworks ­ intended in their broad meaning as the `rule of law' ­ has been significantly expanded. Fresh water law today includes a number of agreements at the universal, regional and basin levels.2 On the other hand, social sciences provide numerous theoretical frameworks through which to examine the interactions over shared
1 In 2014, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) emphasized: `In many regions, changing precipitation or melting snow and ice are altering hydrological systems, affecting water resources in terms of quantity and quality. Glaciers continue ...