Convention Text

1. For the purpose of this article, ‘pollution of an international watercourse’ means any detrimental alteration in the composition or quality of the waters of an international watercourse which results directly or indirectly from human conduct.
2. Watercourse states shall, individually and, where appropriate, jointly, prevent, reduce and control the pollution of an international watercourse that may cause significant harm to other watercourse states or to their environment, including harm to human health or safety, to the use of the waters for any beneficial purpose or to the living resources of the watercourse. Watercourse states shall take steps to harmonise their policies in this connection.
3. Watercourse states shall, at the request of any of them, consult with a view to arriving at mutually agreeable measures and methods to prevent, reduce and control pollution of an international watercourse, such as:
   1. Setting joint water quality objectives and criteria;
   2. Establishing techniques and practices to address pollution from point and non-point sources;
   3. Establishing lists of substances, the introduction of which into the waters of an international watercourse is to be prohibited, limited, investigated or monitored.

	Video: L Boisson de Chazournes Provisions on environmental protection in the UNWC, and their interaction with analogous articles in Multilateral Environmental Agreements
	Video: Alistair Rieu-Clarke Provisions of the UNWC regarding the protection of ecosystems

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No Significant Harm Rule

Protection and Preservation of Ecosystems