Volume 41 Issue 4 Fall 2001 Fall 2001 Legal Regime for Use and Protection of International Watercourses in the Southern African Region: Evolution and Context Salman M. Salman Recommended Citation Salman M. Salman, Legal Regime for Use and Protection of International Watercourses in the Southern African Region: Evolution and Context, 41 Nat. Resources J. 981 (2001). Available at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nrj/vol41/iss4/7 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Natural Resources Journal by an authorized editor of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact
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[email protected]. SALMAN M.A. SALMAN* Legal Regime for Use and Protection of International Watercourses in the Southern African Region: Evolution and Context ABSTRACT Water resources management is receiving increased attention worldwide due to the growing realization that most areas of the world face major challenges with regard to the quantitativeand qualitative aspects of water. These challenges are attributed to a multitude offactors, the most important of which are the signifi- cant increase in population, urbanization, and environmental d adation. Such factors are more apparent in the Southern Afican Region than in many other parts of the world. The region is, by and large,arid and semi-aridand as a resultfaces a shortage of water in many areas. Moreover, the high rates of population growth and urbanization threaten to worsen the situation. The region depends, to a large extent, on the waters of river basins, most of which are shared by two or more countries.