Document Type

Article

Disciplines

International Law

Abstract

Eyal Benvenisti, the Hersch Lauterpacht Professor of International Law at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, undertakes in SHARING TRANSBOUNDARY RESOURCESl to rethink the vexing challenge of how to manage transboundary freshwater resources. The problem is a compelling one. Although ours is predominantly a "water planet," freshwater comprises a mere 3% of the world's water, and most of that is inconveniently locked up in the polar ice caps.2 The rest is largely groundwater, much of it at inaccessible depths.3 Surface water--typically the most accessible source-accounts for less than one-half of 1% of the world's supply of freshwater.4 Yet even that tiny fraction would be sufficient to meet current human needs if water supplies were located where demands are greatest. But water is unevenly distributed by region, dividing the world into water-abundant and water-deprived zones. The North American Great Lakes alone account for nearly 20% of global surface freshwater, for example, while in the American Southwest, much of Australia, and across broad swaths of Asia and Africa, water is the critical limiting resource for human, animal, and plant life.

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