Europe - UNEP

Tour boat on canal in Brugge, Belgium. Photo credit: Roger Admiral.
incidents or accidents and emergency
measures are taken
• technical intervention that is liable to
considerably affect the Rhine ecosystem
is subject to prior consent.
The 2002 Sava Framework Agreement
adopts a similar goal of sustainable water
management under Article 2. Following the goal
of sustainable water management contracting
parties are obligated to ensure sufficient water
quality and quantity for the preservation,
protection, and improvement of the aquatic
environment. Interestingly, Article 1 of the 1998
Luso-Spanish Agreement, which precedes the
Sava Agreement, goes one step further by
providing a definition of sustainable use as
being, “the use that allows the present
generations to satisfy their needs without
compromising the possibility of future generations
satisfying their own needs.” Under Article 15 of
the Luso-Spanish agreement, the parties mutually
recognise their right to the sustainable use of the
water resources in the Luso-Spanish river basins
and their “duty to protect them, as well as to
apply, in their territory, measures for the
prevention, elimination, mitigation and control of
transboundary impacts.”
4.3 PROCEDURAL RULES AND
MECHANISMS FOR DISPUTE
AVOIDANCE AND COMPLIANCE
Procedural rules and mechanisms provide the
means by which substantive rules are
implemented and changes in a transboundary
water regime are both recognised and reconciled
with existing uses. A range of procedural rules
and mechanisms relevant to transboundary water
resources exist in Europe. This section identifies
the major trends in procedural rules and
mechanisms throughout Europe, focusing on the
exchange of information, prior notification, and
consultation of planned activities, environmental
impact assessments, monitoring and reporting,
public participation, and compliance strategies.
Chapter 4. Major Trends in Conflict and Cooperation — 49