An Interpretation of the 1997 UN Watercourses Convention in the Context of Climate Change: Some Reflections

This paper considers whether climate change falls within the scope of the 1997 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses (UN Watercourses Convention). General principles of treaty interpretation are used to examine various environmental obligations concerning the protection and preservation of ecosystems and the marine environment, pollution, harmful conditions, and emergency situations. While similar analyses have been conducted in relation to other treaties such as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, this paper represents a novel analysis with respect to the UN Watercourses Convention. This paper concludes that climate change may be implied into three obligations: the obligation to protect and preserve the ecosystems of international watercourses, the obligation to protect and preserve the marine environment, and the obligation to prevent or mitigate harmful conditions.