Over a third of the current 7.3 billion people worldwide are burdened with poor sanitation services. The resulting social, relational and ecological exclusion make the realisation of the human right to sanitation (HRS) a critical concern development concern. However, the literature has evolved in a largely compartmentalised manner, focusing on the formal recognition of the HRS in domestic legal systems, without sufficiently addressing the drivers of poor sanitation services. This research expounds on the impact of the HRS on human wellbeing and the environment within the context of a developing country like Nigeria as a case study. The findings show that contrary to the focus in the literature, the drivers of poor sanitation services are not confined to legal factors, such as the formal recognition of the HRS within domestic legal systems. Rather, the drivers include social, economic and environmental limitations to improved sanitation services. Based on the findings, the book argues that the focus in the literature on the formal recognition of the HRS in national legal systems is insufficient for tackling the main drivers of poor sanitation services. It is therefore necessary to reformulate the HRS discourse using complementary governance instruments that advance social, relational and ecological inclusion.

This volume of the Elgar Encyclopedia of Environmental Law provides thorough and detailed coverage of the changing meanings and roles of water law, from the local to the global. It examines the rules of ownership, rights of use, and dispute resolution that address access, allocation, and protection of water resources. Written by leading scholars and practitioners from across the globe, this authoritative volume will be a vital resource for all scholars and students of environmental law.

Bridging academic discussion and real-world case studies, this book considers the challenge, posed by SDG6, of balancing the provision of the basic human right of access to water whilst not eroding our capacity to live sustainably in a rapidly changing world.

The book provides insights into the particular nature of water-related challenges in metropolitan regions of the Global South and the “scalar mismatches” that prevent their sustainable and inclusive development. It argues for the adoption of a metropolitan water governance approach to assess these challenges, including the drivers and institutions that shape these, and the policy instruments at river basin and urban scales that aim to address these. The cases of Mexico City and São Paulo, as two mega-cities with a wide ranging of water-related challenges, present lessons to other fast growing urban agglomerations on the variety of possible responses as well as obstacles to their effectiveness that receive little attention.

This book examines the development of international law applicable to Transboundary Aquifers (TBAs) considering the Human Right to Water and Sanitation (HRWS). The purpose is to determine how International Water Law (IWL) and the HRWS can be harmonized in the context of TBAs. This is important given rules and instruments adopted to address this topic are relatively nascent, and the field itself is still in the process of developing regulatory frameworks. Taking the application of the HRWS to shared aquifers as a case study, the work discusses whether IWL and International Human Rights Law complement each other. The response to this question requires an analysis of the development of International Groundwater Law and its challenges, the evolution of the HRWS, the nature of transboundary groundwaters, and the interplay between these two fields. The author argues that IWL agreements should contain a provision related to the HRWS to ensure the protection of this right with a stipulation included in the nonbinding instrument that tackles shared groundwaters: the Draft Articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers adopted in 2008 through the United Nations General Assembly Resolution. The book will be of interest to international lawyers, water and human right experts, geologists, and anyone interested in water and human rights issues.

The first book to engage in a comprehensive examination of the human right to water in theory and in practice.

This book explores two frameworks for progressing structural change that supports safe, universal and equitable water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH): systems strengthening and the human rights to water and sanitation. As such, it elaborates and defines the intersection between these two areas. Whilst inherently interconnected, the two also represent different entry points for change, with opportunity for increased intentional integration to improve progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation. Systems strengthening is widely recognised as foundational for ensuring access to sustainable, equitable WASH services in low- and middle-income countries, leaving no-one behind. Such systems comprise clear sector policy and strategy, effective institutional arrangements, sufficient sector financing, regular cycles of planning, monitoring and review and capacity development across the sector; as well as the people, interactions, power relations and behaviours that shape these elements. Equally, the human rights to water and sanitation provide numerous entry points for change, both in supporting people to claim and realise their rights and in supporting and advocating for governments at all levels to respond. Effective approaches to strengthen systems and realise the rights depend on inclusive processes that meaningfully involve people and advance equality, including gender equality. They facilitate mutual learning, capacity building and increased accountability, promote informed choice and place development in the hands of those it concerns. In Focus – a book series that showcases the latest accomplishments in water research. Each book focuses on a specialist area with papers from top experts in the field. It aims to be a vehicle for in-depth understanding and inspire further conversations in the sector.