International Law for a Water-Scarce World

The fresh water crisis is the new environmental crisis of the 21st century. By 2050, 993 million people are projected to live in cities with perennial water shortages; 3.1 billion will confront seasonal water shortages within their urban areas. The traditional legal principles upon which existing water management is based are likely to be insufficient to deal with the water problems that loom from projected climate change, population growth, food production, increased industrialization, and ecosystem needs.

Edith Brown Weiss is the Francis Cabell Brown Professor International Law at Georgetown Law and former President of the American Society of International Law. She has been involved in water resources for several decades, taught water law at Princeton University, and served on the US National Research Council’s Water Science and Technology Board and the NRC Committee on Sustainable Water Supplies in the Middle East. She is the recipient of many international awards, including the Manley O. Hudson Medal from the ASIL the Elizabeth Haub Medal from the IUCN and the Free University of Brussels, and an honorary doctorate from Heidelberg University in Germany. She is the author of In Fairness to Future Generations, among other books.