425 Javier Del Valle Melendo Water as a strategic resource... • Groundwater, the regulation of which is supplemented with the Seoul Rules on International Groundwaters (1986).13 • The adjacent maritime coastal area. This holistic approach was confirmed in the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes14. Signed in Helsinki in 1992 and entered into force in 1996, the Convention provides a legal framework for cooperation in shared water resources. For environmental protection purposes, the holistic approach to the management of water resources is considered to be the most appropriate because it takes all processes and activities into consideration, not just those in the main watercourse, but also those in the tributaries, aquifers, coastal areas and surrounding territory. This assumption meant that the concept of a river basin was not very well received, especially by the main states in shared basins. When analysing the regulations governing shared basins, we consider approaches such as the regulation of the entire basin. While this may be more ambitious, it places a restriction on the use of the waters by the state and imposes the obligation to protect its environment and that of the neighbouring riparian state. There is an international tendency to integrate basins and watercourses to establish boundaries. We can find many examples on all continents: Africa (Niger, Lake Chad, Revised Protocol on Shared Watercourses in the SADC);15 America (The Amazon,16 Rio de la Plata Basin);17 Asia (Mekong)18 and Europe (Danube,19 Elbe, Scheldt, Meuse, Oder, Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes).20 The management and regulation of water resources in each basin requires that water be integrated with other resources (groundwater). Because the link between surface 13 INTERNATIONAL LAW ASSOCIATION. “Seoul Rules on International Groundwater”, 1986. 14 United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The UNECE Convention of 1992 Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes. Ed: UN, 2004, p 6. 15 Water, a Shared Responsibility. Second UN World Water Development report. (2006). Zaragoza, p 504 (consulted in Spanish). 16 Ibid. p 380. 17 Ibid. pp 498-501. 18 Ibid. p 344 and http://www.mrcmekong.org, consulted in January 2015. 19 Ibid. pp 474-477. 20 Directive 2000/60/EC of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action: op cit. http://revista.ieee.es/index.php/ieee
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