Abstract:
The Project Social Water Vision, led by the Bolivian Non-Governmental Organisation, Agua Sustentable, and financed by the International Development Research
Centre of Canada, commissioned three papers to identify the links between investment law
and water, and to discuss the issues associated with the interface between water and investment law. These are “Implications of International Trade and Investment Agreements for Water and Water Services: Some Responses from Other Sources of International Law” by Howard Mann; “Common Legal Principles of Advanced Regulatory Systems by Michael Hantke; and “El Estándar de Protección Internacional de Trato Justo y Equitativo” by Jorge Barraguirre. This paper summarizes the main issues raised by these authors and at the same time expands on some of them. It also discusses three well-known water privatisations: Buenos Aires, Jakarta, and Manila. The paper benefited from the work of the Forum for Democracy and Trade as well as from the research done by Dr. Matthew Porterfield at Georgetown Law School. The paper also draws material from the paper “Water in the Andean Countries and Free Trade Agreements” by Pablo Solón and Denisse Rodríguez also commissioned for the Project Social Water Vision and the project ECLAC/University of Wageningen, “Water Law and Indigenous Water Rights”.
