MUSIC [MUSIC] Hello. So, in this sequence, we are going to talk about protection of the environment and the management and protection of international watercourses. The first thing we need to know is that the protection of the environment becomes increasingly important in the management and protection of international watercourses. You will see this when we look later at watercourse agreements intended to protect the environment and their specific rules. We also need to acknowledge that the principles of customary international law play an increasingly important role. Take the principle of prevention, the principle to carry out an environmental impact assessment or indeed the precautionary principle. These principles have a legal status in customary international law and can be used to interpret basin protection agreements. In parallel, there is an aspect which, in my opinion, has been neglected for a long time and which has great importance, and this is the whole body of work that deals with the multilateral environmental protection agreements. The tendency is to separate water law from environmental law. And when you consider the conventions linked to environmental protection, you soon realise that they play an important role in the promotion and management of international watercourses. Let us look at the 1971 Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance as an example. It was not originally conceived as a convention that deals with water but over time, it became clear that wetlands play an extremely important role in water management. Consider their function as pollution filters, enabling access to drinking water. Take the city of New York as an example. It is fed by wetlands in the north of the State of New York. Wetlands also play an extremely important role in flood control as they retain water and then naturally release any overflow water. So you see, these are important functions and the States Parties to this convention increasingly take part in what we call water management. There is another important convention, it is the Convention on Biological Diversity. Biological diversity refers to the protection of species, to the protection of ecosystems. Well, if you think about it, a river is an ecosystem or may even have several ecosystems. And what we see is that these ecosystems include habitats which are important for aquatic species. These habitats are often vulnerable, often badly protected, and as a result, the aquatic species throughout the world, are also vulnerable, they could disappear, they are in danger. And so here, the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity have attempted to develop links between biodiversity and the management of international watercourses. Other examples include the Convention to Combat Desertification with the need for reforestation. We know that trees, well, the roots of the trees hold water, and that soil plays an extremely important role in protecting a watercourse and as a result, the Convention on Desertification plays an important role. And then finally there is the convention, the agreements, on the climate change regime. A later sequence will be dedicated to climate change. But think about the effects of climate change the fact the climate will change, that river flows will vary, that access to water will become difficult, that melting of snow and ice will cause floods. And then consider the need to adapt as a result of climate change. Alongside these conventions, you also have regional conventions, which play an important role in public participation or in carrying out transboundary impact studies. Here I am thinking of the 1998 Aarhus Convention on Public Participation or the 1991 Espoo Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context. I refer to these as « spaces of dialogue » and they have been neglected in water protection and I believe that these Conventions linked to environmental protection, well, they should receive more attention. There are two aspects, two features that play an important role and that could play an even more important role. One feature is the institutional mechanisms and these institutional mechanisms, which enable States Parties through subsidiary bodies to meet and decide how to best manage a habitat, an ecosystem, a space and, as such, a connection with international watercourses. And another significant feature is the fact that these international watercourses have specific compliance procedures known as non-compliance procedures. There are even complaints procedures in place for non-State actors. And if you look at the decisions that these bodies have made, such as the bodies dealing with the 1991 Espoo Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context or the 1998 Aarhus Convention on Public Participation, well, you will see examples of complaints from non-State actors or States, relating to the protection or management of international watercourses. So you see, a whole dialogue space, a whole conventional space exists which contributes to the protection of the environment. And I will end by saying that, too often, water issues are separated from environmental protection issues but ultimately we need to remember that water comes from nature, it is a phenomenon of nature and it must be protected as an element of nature. Thank you.