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

Abstract

The duty to notify planned measures is one of the obligations imposed upon riparian states planning to perform activities that may have a significant adverse effect upon other watercourse states. 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 status 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 account the divergent approaches of articulation of this duty under the UN Watercourse Convention and the Cooperative Framework Agreement over the Nile, there exist disagreements 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 these instruments. The writer will mainly employ a doctrinal analysis in addressing the abovementioned issues and bases the scrutiny on the relevant sources of international law.