First edition of the UCWOSL Summer school

From Monday 11 July till Friday 16 July 2016 students from Australia, Italy, China and Norway visited Utrecht University to attend our summer school on International, European and Domestic Water Law.

Specialized guest lectures

During this week they got familiar with the main concepts, ideas and regulation in the field of water law and governance. During the morning sessions specialized guest lecturers provided them with insight in the main water related topics of our time, such as the protection of water quality, protection against floods, water scarcity, sharing international rivers and lakes, the human right to water, sustainable land use management and urban developments that might have impacts on water management.

Leturers

Lecturers were dr. Anoeska Buijze, dr. Liping Dai, dr. Herman Kasper Gilissen, Daphina Misiedjan LLM, professor dr. Remco Nehmelman, professor dr. Marleen van Rijswick and dr. Otto Spijkers. 

In depth case studies 

In depth case studies of the Netherlands, Suriname, Yemen, China and international and European law were discussed from a multidisciplinary perspective. During the afternoon sessions students worked on projects of their choice, bringing the theoretical lessons into practice.  On the last day students presented the results of their work and discussed issues concerning wetland protection, the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive, the protection of aquifers, drinking water supply as a water service, the protection of glaciers as an important source of drinking water and possible cooperation in the transboundary Indus river. For some of the students water law was a new field of study, while others worked already for a while in practice. The practical way of working on a projects of their own choice gave insights in the strengths and weaknesses of the approach they studied. Providing the whole team of students and lecturers with valuable recommendations for improvement of current water law and governance gave the summer school a special added value. Satisfied and with a certificate that they attended the summer school the students went back home.

We offered the possibility to combine our summer course with a course on  “Law and Economics of Transport by Sea”, organised by dr. Wilco Oostwouder, professor of corporate finance law at Utrecht University. Four students followed this “Aqua (water): the essence of life, law and economics”-track.