SCELG in Southern Africa
Between 28 and 30 November 2016 SCELG Director, Dr Francesco Sindico and Ms Stephanie Hawkins, contributed to the 2nd Regional Meeting on Tools for the Sustainable Management of Transboundary Aquifers in Johannesburg, South Africa. The meeting was organised in the framework of the GGRETA and RESILIM projects.
The Stampriet and other Transboundary Aquifers
The meeting was convened to discuss the ongoing work of the above-mentioned projects in two transboundary aquifers (TBAs): the Stampriet for GGRETA and the Ramotswa for the RESILIM. Both of them are in Southern Africa, a region in which some 20 TBAs have been identified, but were no ad-hoc TBA legal agreement/arrangement is yet present. The meeting brought together over 80 participants with representative from every Southern African Development Community (SADC) country. Dr Sindico coordinated and delivered a one day training on International Water Law with a particular emphasis on the potential role of the UNILC Draft Articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers in the context of future TBA agreements. This training is framed in SCELG’s ongoing collaboration with UNESCO-IHP that has led to training also in Central America and collaboration in the field of TBAs and sustainable development.
It was a pleasure to collaborate with UNESCO-IHP in such an important event. The fact that the meeting brought together not only policy makers and stakeholders from the countries of the Stampriet and the Ramotswa, but from all angles of the SADC region, is very promising. TBA cooperation seems to be maturing in the region and SCELG is keen to continue playing an active role side by side with its global partners, such as UNESCO-IHP.” - Francesco Sindico
Dr Sindico is the Programme Director of the Strathclyde LLM in Climate & Energy Law and has been working on the law of transboundary aquifers both in his research and in his more policy oriented work. Together with Ms Stephanie Hawkins he has published an article comparing TBA legal frameworks in the Guarani Aquifer System and in the SADC.
