(BY HUGO)
Colleague Mova Al Afghani has recently uploaded on SSRN a paper on «The Potential Role of the Human Right to Water in the Management of Indonesia’s Water Resources». The paper argues that:
«there are gaps in the Indonesian legal framework in securing transparency, access to information, participation, access to justice and the procedure in recognizing customary rights in water resources management. Without adequate access to these procedural rights, vulnerable, marginalized and financially weaker groups will be left out from water resources management and will not be able to secure their entitlements. The Human Right to Water has potentials for filling such gap by reforming the implementing regulation of the Water Resources Law and enhancing the possibility to obtain legal recourse.»
A very interesting read, notably for the scope of the legal provisions considered in the analysis, as it provides an integrated legal perspective on the challenges and problems at ground level related to water for domestic consumption. Also interesting is section 5 on the role of the human right to water, and particularly subsection 5.b on the human right to water vs. cultural and customary rights, as well as subsection 5.f on the transposition of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Indonesia.
One question that might be discussed a bit more is related to the interaction between the human right to water and other human rights. Reading the paper, it sometimes feels like the human right to water is constituted of a bundle of ‘substantive’ and ‘procedural’ rights (ex: see p.4 last §, as well as subsection 5.b on Right(s) to participation, transparency and access to information). Are these rights constituent human rights included under a human right to water? Are they considered as autonomous human rights? Is this an illustration of the doctrine of indivisible, inter-related and inter-dependent human rights?
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Ontario aims at becoming the leading clean water jurisdiction in North America
(BY HUGO)
On 29 November 2010, royal assent was given to the Ontario Water Opportunities and Water Conservation Act.
The purpose of the Act is: 1) to foster innovative water, wastewater and stormwater technologies, services and practices in the private and public sectors; 2) to create opportunities for economic development and clean-technology jobs in Ontario; 3) to conserve and sustain water resources for present and future generations.
The Act establishes the Water Technology Acceleration Project corporation to: 1) assist Ontario’s water and wastewater sectors by increasing their capacity to develop, test, demonstrate and commercialize innovative technologies and services for the treatment and management of water and wastewater; 2) assist Ontario’s water and wastewater sectors by increasing their capacity to expand their business opportunities nationally and internationally; 3) provide a forum for governments, the private sector and academic institutions to exchange information and ideas on how to make Ontario a leading jurisdiction in the development and commercialization of innovative technologies and services for the treatment and management of waterand wastewater.
Finally, the Act also: 1) requires that certain municipalities prepare, approve and submit municipal water sustainability plans for municipal water services, municipal wastewater services and municipal stormwater services under their jurisdiction; 2) authorises the making of regulations requiring public agencies including municipalities and ministries to prepare water conservation plans in order to achieve water conservation targets.
Two interesting indications on the direction of the development aimed at in the Act:
- The preamble states that «Ontario has already shown leadership by banning bulk transfers of water out of Ontario’s water basins and in safeguarding public water supplies from source to tap. A new way of thinking about conserving our water resources is needed in Ontario, one that builds on the critical linkages between economic prosperity and long-term environmental sustainability.»
- Subsection 1(2) states that «For greater certainty, the purposes of this Act do not include the privatization of publicly owned water, wastewater and stormwater services.»
This gives a good indication that Ontario intends to develop its water sector through high added value initiatives that have strong inter-sectoral traction effects: high tech, research and development and capacity building through education rather than primary extraction and profit funnelling to shareholders. Sounds nice.
A complete description of the Act is provided here by the Ontario Environmental Registry.
On 29 November 2010, royal assent was given to the Ontario Water Opportunities and Water Conservation Act.
The purpose of the Act is: 1) to foster innovative water, wastewater and stormwater technologies, services and practices in the private and public sectors; 2) to create opportunities for economic development and clean-technology jobs in Ontario; 3) to conserve and sustain water resources for present and future generations.
The Act establishes the Water Technology Acceleration Project corporation to: 1) assist Ontario’s water and wastewater sectors by increasing their capacity to develop, test, demonstrate and commercialize innovative technologies and services for the treatment and management of water and wastewater; 2) assist Ontario’s water and wastewater sectors by increasing their capacity to expand their business opportunities nationally and internationally; 3) provide a forum for governments, the private sector and academic institutions to exchange information and ideas on how to make Ontario a leading jurisdiction in the development and commercialization of innovative technologies and services for the treatment and management of waterand wastewater.
Finally, the Act also: 1) requires that certain municipalities prepare, approve and submit municipal water sustainability plans for municipal water services, municipal wastewater services and municipal stormwater services under their jurisdiction; 2) authorises the making of regulations requiring public agencies including municipalities and ministries to prepare water conservation plans in order to achieve water conservation targets.
Two interesting indications on the direction of the development aimed at in the Act:
- The preamble states that «Ontario has already shown leadership by banning bulk transfers of water out of Ontario’s water basins and in safeguarding public water supplies from source to tap. A new way of thinking about conserving our water resources is needed in Ontario, one that builds on the critical linkages between economic prosperity and long-term environmental sustainability.»
- Subsection 1(2) states that «For greater certainty, the purposes of this Act do not include the privatization of publicly owned water, wastewater and stormwater services.»
This gives a good indication that Ontario intends to develop its water sector through high added value initiatives that have strong inter-sectoral traction effects: high tech, research and development and capacity building through education rather than primary extraction and profit funnelling to shareholders. Sounds nice.
A complete description of the Act is provided here by the Ontario Environmental Registry.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Asian Carp litigation: preliminary injuction dismissed - again
(BY HUGO)
Another loss in a long series of lost battles: Steve Kellman reports for the Circle of Blue that a preliminary injunction to close the locks on the Chicago Canal to prevent Asian Carp entry in the Great Lakes has been rejected - again.
It's particularly interesting to see how the court attacks scientific evidence based on the eDNA tests because this method does not provide certainty as to the establishment of viable Carp communities beyond the Canal locks (see notably p.44 & ff. of the decision).
At an abstract level, there could be a parallel with the processes related to discrediting scientific evidence on human induced climate change. Prevention and precaution appear completely immaterial. We need to hit a wall at full speed to realise there's a problem and take action. We can only cross our fingers and hope the crash is not fatal.
Another loss in a long series of lost battles: Steve Kellman reports for the Circle of Blue that a preliminary injunction to close the locks on the Chicago Canal to prevent Asian Carp entry in the Great Lakes has been rejected - again.
It's particularly interesting to see how the court attacks scientific evidence based on the eDNA tests because this method does not provide certainty as to the establishment of viable Carp communities beyond the Canal locks (see notably p.44 & ff. of the decision).
At an abstract level, there could be a parallel with the processes related to discrediting scientific evidence on human induced climate change. Prevention and precaution appear completely immaterial. We need to hit a wall at full speed to realise there's a problem and take action. We can only cross our fingers and hope the crash is not fatal.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Water, death and human rights
(BY HUGO)
A quote on the human right to water from a Canadian icon, found by chance:
«Go three days without water and you don't have any human rights. Why? Because you're dead.» Margaret Atwood, Observer Magazine, 28 November 2010, p.18 (online here)
Is this a justification for the human right to water? A fortiori, does the same justification apply to air? Should there be a human right to air? Is the emergence of new human rights absolutely good? Does it denote a more profound problem? On these issues, two interesting thoughts may further the reflection initiated here. According to Radha D’SOUZA, «Liberal Theory, Human Rights and Water-Justice: Back to Square One?» (2008) 1 Law, Social Justice & Global Development Journal at 9:
«What is missed by political theorists canvassing for human rights as a means of mitigating the problems of privatisation in the wake of ‘globalisation’ is the fact that the struggle for new rights come with recognition of new market prerogatives. The human right to water arises because water is brought into a private property regime in which it was not included before. What is at stake here is the entrenchment of water as part of a property regime.» [Here, property must not be understood as the legal artefact stricto sensu, as it refers to a political conception of social and economic regimes.] (link)
According to Costas DOUZINAS, «The End(s) of Human Rights» (2002) 26 Melbourne University Law Review 445 at 459:
«Both universal morality and cultural identity express different aspects of human experience. Their comparison in the abstract is futile and the differences between the two are not pronounced. When a state adopts ‘universal’ human rights, it will interpret and apply them, if at all, according to local procedures and moral principles, making the universal the handmaiden of the particular. The reverse is also true: even those legal systems which jealously guard traditional rights and cultural practices against the encroachment of the universal are already contaminated by it. All rights and principles, even if parochial in their content, share the universalising impetus of their form. In this sense, rights carry the seed of dissolution of community and the only defence is to resist the idea of rights altogether – something impossible in the global capitalist world.»
A quote on the human right to water from a Canadian icon, found by chance:
«Go three days without water and you don't have any human rights. Why? Because you're dead.» Margaret Atwood, Observer Magazine, 28 November 2010, p.18 (online here)
Is this a justification for the human right to water? A fortiori, does the same justification apply to air? Should there be a human right to air? Is the emergence of new human rights absolutely good? Does it denote a more profound problem? On these issues, two interesting thoughts may further the reflection initiated here. According to Radha D’SOUZA, «Liberal Theory, Human Rights and Water-Justice: Back to Square One?» (2008) 1 Law, Social Justice & Global Development Journal at 9:
«What is missed by political theorists canvassing for human rights as a means of mitigating the problems of privatisation in the wake of ‘globalisation’ is the fact that the struggle for new rights come with recognition of new market prerogatives. The human right to water arises because water is brought into a private property regime in which it was not included before. What is at stake here is the entrenchment of water as part of a property regime.» [Here, property must not be understood as the legal artefact stricto sensu, as it refers to a political conception of social and economic regimes.] (link)
According to Costas DOUZINAS, «The End(s) of Human Rights» (2002) 26 Melbourne University Law Review 445 at 459:
«Both universal morality and cultural identity express different aspects of human experience. Their comparison in the abstract is futile and the differences between the two are not pronounced. When a state adopts ‘universal’ human rights, it will interpret and apply them, if at all, according to local procedures and moral principles, making the universal the handmaiden of the particular. The reverse is also true: even those legal systems which jealously guard traditional rights and cultural practices against the encroachment of the universal are already contaminated by it. All rights and principles, even if parochial in their content, share the universalising impetus of their form. In this sense, rights carry the seed of dissolution of community and the only defence is to resist the idea of rights altogether – something impossible in the global capitalist world.»
Friday, December 3, 2010
Confirmation of agreement on the management of Lake Champlain
(BY HUGO)
A cooperation agreement on environmental matters regarding the management of Lake Champlain between New York, Vermont and Québec (the Agreement - French version here), signed in March 2010, was confirmed by governmental decree 918-2010 on 3 November 2010.
The Agreement is the latest in a series of agreements between the parties that date back to 1988. In 1990, the American Congress passed the Lake Champlain Special Designation Act (Public Law 101-596) leading to the creation of the Lake Champlain Basin Program, which is now implemented through the Opportunities for Action: An Evolving Plan for the Future of the Lake Champlain Basin (the French version of the Plan, dated 2003, provides details about related institutional and legal frameworks).
The Agreement confirms the role of the Lake Champlain Steering Committee in the cooperative management of the basin. The Steering Committee is notably mandated to implement the Plan and foster interactions between regulation and management programmes related to the monitoring of Lake Champlain (see section 2.6). The Agreement and the Plan recognise the ecosystem approach to basin management.
A cooperation agreement on environmental matters regarding the management of Lake Champlain between New York, Vermont and Québec (the Agreement - French version here), signed in March 2010, was confirmed by governmental decree 918-2010 on 3 November 2010.
The Agreement is the latest in a series of agreements between the parties that date back to 1988. In 1990, the American Congress passed the Lake Champlain Special Designation Act (Public Law 101-596) leading to the creation of the Lake Champlain Basin Program, which is now implemented through the Opportunities for Action: An Evolving Plan for the Future of the Lake Champlain Basin (the French version of the Plan, dated 2003, provides details about related institutional and legal frameworks).
The Agreement confirms the role of the Lake Champlain Steering Committee in the cooperative management of the basin. The Steering Committee is notably mandated to implement the Plan and foster interactions between regulation and management programmes related to the monitoring of Lake Champlain (see section 2.6). The Agreement and the Plan recognise the ecosystem approach to basin management.
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