Sustainable Development and Management of Water Resources: A Legal Framework for the Mediterranean

The book is the outcome of the 1st MESDEL International Colloquium on "Sustainable Development and Water Management in the Mediterranean Region", held on December 11-12, 1998, in Rome and Naples. The Colloquium dealt with Mediterranean co-operation efforts for fostering sustainable development in the region, touching onto the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, the Barcelona Convention system and actions for securing integrated management and development of water resources. Security of water and recrudescence of drought and desertification phenomena throughout the Mediterranean area call for adequate international co-operative legal regimes, based on the principles of "no-harm" and "equitable apportionment", and modern legislation at the national level able to secure sustainable management and rational patterns of consumption. This is the only way to ensure the effectiveness of the right to sustainable development and to water as a fundamental human right.