Focus - Water law reforms

Welcome to IELRC.ORG

The International Environmental Law Research Centre is an independent research organisation focusing on international and comparative environmental law issues, with a particular emphasis on India and East Africa.

The aim of the IELRC is to contribute to the establishment of legal and institutional frameworks which foster sustainable environmental management in developing countries in an equitable international context...    [ read more ]

Latest news on IELRC.ORG

Consultation on Water Rights, Equity and Water Law Reforms in India on 19 April 2008 at the Indian Council of Social Science Research [read more]

Publication of the translation of Philippe Cullet's Intellectual Property Protection and Sustainable Development in Hindi [read more]

Intellectual Property v. Human Rights?, Side event on 13 March, Palais des Nations, Geneva
- Programme
- Presentation by P. Cullet

Call for interns - New Delhi [read more]

IELRC contributes to the Sixth Session of the UN Human Rights Council:

• Written Statement on the Right to Water [read more]
• Oral Intervention on the Right to Water [read more]

Publication of the book: The Sardar Sarovar Dam Project: Selected Documents edited by P. Cullet, published by Ashgate

• Further information and table of contents available here
• Read the first chapter (pdf) [read more]

24/7, ‘Privatisation’ and Water Reform:Insights from Hubli-Dharwad

A variety of water reforms are being undertaken in different parts of the country. This paper discusses a project in the twin cities of Hubli-Dharwad in north Karnataka, a pilot for 24/7 functioning as well as for the institutional and other changes required for private sector participation in urban areas. Three specific aspects of the project are discussed - the need and feasibility of the concept of 24/7, institutional relations and equity. The experience to date indicates that critical concerns along all three fronts remain, and need to be engaged with more carefully before institutionalizing processes that would be difficult to reverse in the future.

Liability and Redress for Human-Induced Global Warming - Towards an International Regime

This paper is divided in three sections. The first outlines some of the issues that arise in the context of the development of a liability regime and the principles that should inform its development. The second section looks at the different legal responses that can be proposed to global warming damages as well as existing liability rules proposed in the case of other international environmental problems which may constitute a possible models for developing a liability and redress regime for global warming. The third section gives some pointers for the development of a legal framework in the case of climate change.

Human Rights and Intellectual Property Protection in the TRIPS Era

Human rights and intellectual property protection are two distinct fields that have largely evolved separately. Their relationship needs to be re-examined for a number of reasons. First, the impacts of intellectual property rights on the realization of human rights such as the right to health have become much more visible following the adoption of the TRIPS Agreement. Second, the increasing importance of intellectual property rights has led to the need for clarifying the scope of human rights provisions protecting individual contributions to knowledge. Third, a number of new challenges need to be addressed concerning contributions to knowledge, which cannot effectively be protected under existing intellectual property rights regimes. This article examines the different aspects of the relationship between intellectual property rights, human rights, and science and technology related provisions in human rights treaties. It analyzes existing knowledge protection-related provisions in human rights treaties. It also examines some of the impacts of existing intellectual property rights regimes on the realization of human rights. Further, it analyzes the recently adopted General Comment 17 on Article 15(1)c of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and proposes an alternative broader reading of this provision focusing on traditional knowledge.

The Sardar Sarovar Dam Project: An Overview

The Sardar Sarovar Project has been one of the most debated development projects of the past several decades at both an international level and within India itself. Cullet's volume brings together all the key documents relating to the project: including those pertaining to World Bank loans, the judicial pronouncements of the Supreme Court and documents relating to specific local level issues - in particular environment and rehabilitation. The work includes an introductory section focusing on the history of the project, the involvement of the different actors, the impacts on the local population, and a general analysis of the controversy surrounding it. In providing an easily accessible source for all the main documents relating to this landmark project, this compilation will be a valuable resource for researchers and policy-makers working in the areas of International Environmental Law and International Development Law.