Justices and public prosecutors gather at the WWF8 and issue a Declaration on Water Justice
More than fifty senior justices – from the ordinary courts and from specialized environmental courts or chambers – and public prosecutors from forty-one countries around the world assembled in Brasilia, 19-21 March, for a Conference on Water Justice https://www.iucn.org/commissions/world-commission-environmental-law/events/brasilia-declaration-judges-water-justice-adopted-8th-world-water-forum-19-21-march-2018 organized under the umbrella of the Judicial and Prosecutors Sub-process of the Political Process at the 8th World Water Forum (Brasilia, 19-23 March 2018), and issued a “Declaration on Water Justice”. The Sub-process, the Conference and the Declaration that issued from it were the joint initiative of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL), UN-Environment, and the Organization of American States (OAS), under the leadership of IUCN/WCEL. The Declaration on Water Justice springs from widespread concern among the judiciary and public prosecutors for the state of water resources on the planet in the face of, in particular and among other threats, climate change. Its aim is to (a) sensitize and educate fellow justices and public prosecutors around the world to the complexities of rendering justice in the matter of water resources, in the larger context of the environmental rule of law, by (b) offering ten “principles”, derived from contemporary water law and environmental law, that seek to capture and unravel such complexities, and to offer a reference template for substantive and procedural justice in regard to water-related disputes. The ten principles are preceded by a number of recitals that provide the context, also by reference to a number of illustrious precedents in the field of environmental law and governance, climate change, and water governance. AIDA members O. McIntyre and S. Burchi had a major role in the crafting of the Declaration. The text of the Declaration is available – for the moment in English only – at https://www.iucn.org/sites/dev/files/content/documents/brasilia_declaration_of_judges_on_water_justice_21_march_2018_final_as_approved_0.pdf. Translation into other languages is in progress.