The Duty to Notify Planned Measures under International Watercourse Law and the Nile Basin Cooperative Framework Agreement

Abstract

The duty to notify
planned measure
s is on
e of the obligations imposed up
on
riparian
states
planni
ng
to perform activities that
may have a significant
adverse
effect upon other watercourse s
tates
. Although
the
duty
is found in
the UN
Watercourse Convention and other watercourse agreements,
there
is no consensus as to the details of this rule and its st
atus
under
international
watercourse
law
. Among the main points of contention are
whether this
obligation is a
customary
international law
obligation
and
whether its non-
observance
would
lead
to
the strict
liability
of the state
concerned.
Taking
into acco
unt the divergent
approaches of articulation of
this duty under the UN Watercourse Convention and the Cooperative
Framework Agreement over the Nile, there exist disagreement
s as to the
contents of this duty.
This has its own impact on the proper implementation
of this duty by watercourse states.
In this article the
writer
will
mainly
investigate
the essence and normative
basis
of
the
duty
to inform planned
measures
as enshrined under the
se instruments.
The writer will mainly
employ a doctrinal analysis
in a
ddressing the above
mentioned issues and
bases the scrutiny on the relevant
sources of international law