The Water Crisis and New Regional and International Legal Frameworks

Extensive water shortages and the lack of access to water resources result in poor economic development and national security threats worldwide. The scope and complexity of water challenges are beyond national and regional boundaries, and thus it cannot be fully addressed by national or regional policies. Over the past sixty years, efforts have been made to address these challenges. Initial steps were mainly based on the development of large-scale physical infrastructures, such as dams and reservoirs, to reproduce new water resources but were not enough to address the continuing problems of water management. In this paper, while addressing some of the significant global water challenges and critical deficiencies in global water resource management, new, regional and international legal frameworks to address these challenges have been identified. Considering the common legal frameworks, governments can take adequate steps to improve global water management and address significant water challenges in the 21st century.