Wednesday October 21st 2009

1-2 pm , Fenner School Hancock Seminar Room, 6th floor (take stairs from 5th floor lift), W.K. Hancock West building (#43) - west entrance, ANU

The UN Watercourses Convention: in force by 2011, but will Australia ratify in the interests of better climate change adaptation?

Ms Flavia Loures LL.M, WWF International (assisted by Jamie Pittock, Fenner School of Environment & Society, ANU)

Abstract

The 1997 UN Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses ("Watercourses Convention") would codify international law governing the management of 263 river basins shared by two or more countries. It is the "Kyoto Protocol" for rivers. Shared river basin cover 45% of the Earth's land area and are home to 40% of the world's population. The presentation will introduce the convention, highlighting its importance in the context of climate change, and outline the progress of the global initiative to bring this treaty into force. In the UN General Assembly 103 nations voted for the Convention in 1997 and 3 against. Despite its vote in favour Australia is yet to ratify. The presentation will summarize the arguments of Australian governments to date on the Convention and the case for ratification.

Bio

Ms Flavia Loures is the Senior Programme Officer, International Law & Policy, Freshwater Program, WWF International, and leader of the "The UN Watercourses Convention: in force by 2011" campaign. She holds a J.D. from the University of Parana, in Brazil and received her LL.M, Summa Cum Laude, in environmental law, with focus on international groundwater law, from Vermont Law School, USA in 2006. She has been working with environmental law and policy for the past eight years, first as an environmental attorney and environmental law professor in Brazil, and currently with WWF, the global conservation organization, based in the United States. Her focus is on the codification and development of international water law, on the promotion of improved global and regional freshwater governance, and on the implementation of water-related international conventions. Among other activities, she leads WWF's global initiative to bring into force the UN Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses and to strengthen the role of international law in supporting cooperation among basin states in several regions and basins.

Mr Jamie Pittock is a WWF Research Associate of WWF International and a PhD candidate of the Fenner School of  Environment and Society at the ANU.

The Seminar will be held in Fenner School's Hancock Seminar Room, 6th floor (take stairs from 5th floor lift), west entrance where the lifts are located, of W.K. Hancock building (#43), Acton, Australian National University, Canberra

The seminar will start at 13:00 and finish at 14:00