About the Platform

Law is a commitment to a water secure, equitable, and vibrant community. Law is how we know that sanitation services are safe, that drinking water is reliable to drink, and that water resources are being equitably and sustainably protected and managed to meet communities’ current and future needs. Water security is an actionable vision for safeguarding an availability of water sufficient to sustain lives and livelihoods and protect against threats to and from water. Without vision, without a coordinated plan we are leaving the security of our most vital resource to chance.

This Platform was created with three purposes in mind: 1. to display the indispensable role and critical impact of law on achieving water security, 2. to elevate the transparency of the laws and policies adopted to advance water security, and 3. to create the forum for evolution and collaboration in legal thinking. This Platform is a living platform. We invite you to engage with it.

Where we’ve covered so far.

We have big plans, and this is just the start. Over the next three years we plan to cover Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia. Water security is too critical to wait.

Blue countries indicate Water Security and Sanitation
Green countries indicate only Sanitation

Methodology

This Platform is the product of over 100 researchers, tens of thousands of pages reviewed, and countless hours. Our purpose was to create as comprehensive an evidence and resource base for advancing the law necessary to achieve water security. Our vision for Water Security covers ten (10) nexuses, including Agriculture; Energy; Infrastructure; Natural Resources and Services; Natural and Manmade Disasters; Sanitation, Drinking Water, Health and Hygiene; The Global Economy; Peace and Conflict; National Security; and Governance. These nexuses represent humanity’s complex and nuanced relationship with and dependence on water.

The Platform is organized around the six necessary elements of “water security law”. These six elements include: Equity and Non-discrimination; Responsibility; Contamination Prevention; Resource Management and Use; Enforcement; and Penalties. Through these elements we capture what must be in the law in order for countries to achieve water security. For more information, visit our Methodology Page.

Lawyers in Training Program

The Lawyer in Training course will be available from The Center for Water Security and Cooperation to help lawyers and nonlawyers alike to understand the fundamental role of law in advancing water security as well as to help build understanding of the law and the skills to improve and advocate for better laws.

Sounds like something you’re into?

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