The Rio de la Plata Basin

GRISELDA D. CAPALDO

The Evolution of the Law and Politics of Water

Springer-Verlag GmbH

Lugar: Heidelberg; Año: 2009; p. 299 - 315

Publicación con arbitraje. NIVEL 2 (edit. Springer). This chapter demonstrates, by scrutinizing customary practices and legal precedents on water management from the pre-colonial indigenous traditions to the present days - the existence of a corpus iuris aquarum ambientalis applicable to the Río de la Plata basin, and analyses whether it could resolve per se and in se the recent controversial situation surrounding the settlement of pulp mills factories in Fray Bentos city on the Uruguayan bank of the river Uruguay, one of the main tributaries of the Río de la Plata basin. Such corpus iuris would stem from customary practices rooted in centennial precedents and from regional and international duties assumed by the five riparians, four of them being also Member States of the MERCOSUR. To support this conclusion, the chapter will review the pre-Incan and post-Incan periods, the Spanish colonial phase, and the current water law. Since the river Uruguay is the contiguous river that demarcates the frontier between Argentina and Uruguay, the domestic legislation of both countries will be also described. Additionally, some relevant South American case law dealing with international watercourses will be re-visited.