Roundtable discussion
The ‘Renaissance Dam’ dispute: the state of transboundary water law in the face of climate insecurity
Wednesday 25 November 2020, 3pm GMT (via Zoom)
The Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, once operational, will be the largest hydroelectric powerplant in Africa. It is also the source of a long-standing dispute between Ethiopia and the two downstream states that rely heavily on water from the Nile, Egypt and Sudan. The UN Security Council, the US and the African Union have made attempts to reconcile the conflicting interests of the three states. However, none of the diplomatic efforts thus far have managed to resolve the difficult legal and political issues of transboundary water governance that are heightened by the pressure of climate change on water resources in the region.
By engaging with recent developments in the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam dispute, the panellists in this roundtable will discuss the extent to which international law is able to address transboundary water disputes and to enable international cooperation in this area, given growing scarcity of water, and climate vulnerability worldwide.
We are delighted to host a distinguished panel of experts:
- Prof. Zeray Yihdego, Professor, University of Aberdeen (UK), Editor-in-Chief, Ethiopian Yearbook of International Law, also the editor of ‘The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and the Nile Basin: Implications for Transboundary Water Cooperation’ (Routledge, 2017).
- Dr Justine Bendel, Lecturer in Law, University of Exeter (UK), also the author of ‘Litigating International Environmental Disputes’ (Edward Elgar, forthcoming).
- Dr Bjørn-Oliver Magsig, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law of Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand), also the author of ‘International water law and the quest for common security’ (Routledge, 2015).
- Dr Annalisa Savaresi, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Law, University of Stirling (UK), Director for Europe for the Global Network on Human Rights and the Environment, and the author of numerous publications on international climate change law and rights-based approaches to environmental law.
The discussion will be moderated by Dr Giedre Jokubauskaite, Glasgow Centre for International Law and Security. The second part of the roundtable will include a Q&A session with the audience.
The event, as before, will be held via Zoom, so please register on Eventbrite – https://bit.ly/2Ilou6A
Zoom log-in details will be sent with your registration confirmation.