The Ramsar Convention and general international water law: Complementary and mutually supportive regimes

This Chapter explores synergies between the management and conservation regime for wetlands under Ramsar and rules of international law on the utilisation and environmental protection of shared international water resources. These regimes overlap significantly, especially with the emergence of a general requirement under international water law for states to protect related natural ecosystems. It identifies how these regimes can complement each other and recommends additional steps to enhance such complementarity. The Chapter examines key elements of each regime producing overlap and complementarity, while mapping the respective scope of application of each regime, in terms of the environmental features protected, their geographical coverage, and the states bound by each. It explores the emergence of the requirement for ecosystems protection and the related ‘ecosystem approach’ adopted under each regime to identify how each can complement the other, focusing particularly on examples of where inter-state cooperation on wetlands has proven less problematic than cooperation on shared water resources. Throughout, the Chapter focuses on the role of detailed guidance developed under Ramsar in informing the rather vague ecosystems protection obligations arising in international water law.