Session on transboundary aquifers at the 43rd Congress of the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH), Montpellier, France, 25-29 September, 2016

The 43rd Congress of the IAH, to be held at Montpellier, France, on 25-29 September, 2016, will devote its Session 7.05 to the topic “The Challenges for Transboundary aquifer management”.

In 2016, the UN General Assembly is due to decide the fate of the UN International Law Commissions’ Draft Articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers following the repeated postponing the decision. The Draft Articles, in whose development the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) took the scientific lead, represent arguably the most authoritative international legal instrument that specifically addresses the governance of aquifers. It is becoming imperative to ensure that there is adequate regulation over transboundary aquifers, as their integrity and surrounding ecosystems are threatened by over exploitation, land-use changes and pollution. The science behind these drivers needs to be made more explicit and prominent.

This session of the IAH Congress, in its 60th Anniversary year, calls for papers from the science, the law and social science fields, to come together and provide the background and the justification that could be submitted to the UN General Assembly in Nov 2016 on how the Draft Articles can be turned into a legally binding international instrument.

The session will be co-convened by Alice Aureli (Chief Groundwater Section, UNESCO-ISARM, a.aureli@unesco.org), Neno Kukuric (Director IGRAC, neno.kukuric@un-igrac.org), Karen Villholth (IWMI, S Africa, k.villhotlh@cgiar.org), Gabriel Eckstein (Prof of Law, Texas A&M University, gabrieleckstein@law.tamu.edu).

More details on the Congress can be retrieved from: http://www.60iah2016.org/en/ .

For the submission of abstracts, go to http://www.60iah2016.org/en/abstract-submission-guideline