Media Release
July 11 2007
Water sharing rules
Deciding
how water is shared – who gets it and how much – is a problem with which
Australians are becoming very familiar.
A leading international academic says solutions to at least some of Australia’s water sharing problems may already exist in rules ratified by the International Law Association in 2004.
Professor Joseph Dellapenna from Pennsylvania’s Villanova University drafted the new international water standards now known as the Berlin Rules on Water Resources.
“The rules bring together traditional international water law, international environmental law, international human rights and the laws of war as a mechanism to deal with the evolving challenges on water resources in the 21st century,” Prof Dellapenna said.
Prof Dellapenna is in Adelaide undertaking research with UniSA’s Centre for Comparative Water Policies and Laws (CWPL), funded under the International Liaison Programme through the International Centre of Excellence in Water Resources Management (ICE WaRM).
Prof Dellapenna will be the keynote speaker at next week’s seminar Standards in International Water Law: Relevance to Australia, presented by ICE WaRM.
In his presentation, Prof Dellapenna will introduce the new international standards and offer insights into how they can be applied in Australia.
The other speakers are CWPL Director, Professor Jennifer McKay on Achieving Environmentally Sustainable Development (ESD) in Australia: Institutions and Laws, and visiting Fulbright scholar Sara Hughes on Institutional Change, Social Discourse, and Water Resources: Relating urban systems to the environment.
“Prof Dellapenna is widely regarded as a leading national and international expert on water law,” Prof McKay said. “It’s a coup to have him at UniSA and what he has to say on international water standards is important here - to governments and the community alike.”
Prof Dellapenna is available for interview from July 15
What
Standards in International Water Law: Relevance to Australia
ICE WaRM Seminar Series
When
3-5pm, Thursday July 19
Venue
The Australian Asia Water Centre,
Level 4, 77 Grenfell St, Adelaide
Registration email
shastwell@icewarm.com.au or phone 8236 5207
Contact for interview
-
Prof Jennifer McKay office (08) 8302 0887 mobile 0408 897 521 email jennifer.mckay@unisa.edu.au
Media contact
-
Vincent Ciccarello office (08) 8302 0578 mobile 0434 603 457
email vincent.ciccarello@unisa.edu.au