Mr. Greenop’s article examines the United Nation’s work on the progressive development of international law through the Draft Articles, considering the history and development of the principles contained therein. Mr. Greenop focuses in particular on the overlap with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non- Navigational Uses of International Watercourses, the limited State practice in the area of shared groundwater law and the possible future form of the Draft Articles. He also considers the important work of other international institutions which have supported the International Law Commission’s efforts.
Mr. Greenop concludes that the United Nation’s work on the Draft Articles has provided an important step forward in helping to make this invisible resource visible in international law by identifying a framework of guiding legal principles. The article has been prepared in anticipation of the 2022 UN World Water Day on ‘Groundwater: Making the Invisible Visible’ and the International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre Groundwater Summit on 22–23 March 2022. The topic of shared groundwater resources will be considered next at the Seventy-Seventh Session of the UN General Assembly in 2022.
