This article analyses how the sustainable development goals (SDGs) process might give a boost to the evolution of inter- national water law towards a more sustainable development- friendly legal framework. Three recommendations, derived from the SDG process, are made to call upon states: (1) unambiguously to approach international water law as a legal framework to promote the sustainable development of water resources, and to interpret the bedrock principles of interna- tional water law in that context; (2) to encourage the further development of the ecosystems approach to international water law; and (3) to use the legal framework of international water law to facilitate public participation at all levels of water governance. 1 INTRODUCTION On 18 September 2000, all the members of the United Nations resolved, ‘at the dawn of a new millennium’, to set a limited number of goals collectively to tackle the most pressing global issues in the field of development. These goals became known as the Millennium develop- ment goals (MDGs). The MDGs had to be achieved by the year 2015. 1 Regardless of whether this is actually done – in fact, it is almost certain that not all MDGs will be realised by the end of 2015 – it is generally believed that setting quantifiable, ambitious, but realistic goals for dev- elopment has proved to be a helpful strategy to keep the world moving in the right direction. 2 The goals are like the proverbial carrot, dangling before the donkey’s nose, urging it to move forward without ever reaching the carrot. The United Nations (UN) wants to repeat the process in the period 2015–2030, but it wants to replace the old carrot with a new one, i.e. to come up with a new set of goals. This time, the focus is on sustainability, and thus the goals-to-be are referred to as the sustainable development goals (SDGs). One of the more formidable global challenges when it comes to sustainable development is the need for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. In many recent speeches and reports, one reads that urgent action is necessary to prevent a nightmarish world with polluted lakes and rivers, deadly droughts and floods, water scarcity and the resulting water wars. 3 States thus need to be made aware of the importance of managing their freshwater resources in a sustainable way, and a strong sustainable development goal on water can do that. 4 The SDG on water can be called ‘strong’ if it is clear and specific, because, as Laura Horn pointed out, ‘the adoption of watered-down language in the drafting of the sustainable development goals would provide little in- centive for states to take action on these goals’. 5 Further- more, the SDGs must be backed by binding norms of in- ternational law, in order to provide a compelling incentive for change in state behaviour. Fortunately, an appropriate international legal framework already exists, so we do not need to start from scratch: the management of transboundary freshwater resources is reg- ulated by international water law. It is important that the existing regime of international water law is sufficiently equipped to guide states in implementing an ambitious SDG on water, and more generally, to guide them towards sustainable management of their freshwater resources. And if international water law is not (yet) equipped for this task, then it needs to evolve, through a renewed inter- pretation of the most important principles, or even through modification of these principles. The SDG process might give this evolution a push in the right direction. In other words, an assumption underlying this article is that the SDG process has the potential actually to facilitate the evolution in the interpretation and application of in- ternational water law and, more particularly, the provi- sions in the UNECE Convention and the Watercourses Convention. This assumption can be challenged. It can be argued that the SDG process ought not to be analysed as a legally relevant process at all. After all, the final result of the SDG process will be – if all goes as planned – a legally non-binding resolution of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). But reality, as always, is much more complicated than that. In a way, the character of the SDG process depends not so much on the legally non-binding character of its end-product – an UNGA resolution – but on who is contributing to this process. It is not too difficult to see legally relevant processes at work. If the states party to the UNECE Convention and/or the Watercourses Convention use the SDG process to call for a ‘sustainable development’ friendly interpretation of these Conventions, then this can be regarded as a subsequent soft-law agree- SPIJKERS : SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF WATER RESOURCES : 24 WATER LAW THE JOURNAL OF WATER LAW PUBLISHED BY LAWTEXT PUBLISHING LIMITED WWW.LAWTEXT.COM * Assistant Professor of Public International Law. Contact o.spijkers@uu.nl 1 United Nations Millennium Declaration GA Res 55/2 (adopted 18 September 2000) para 19. 2 Many development organisations, both governmental and non- governmental, have used them in their policies. See ‘The future we want’, outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development 2012, annexed to GA Res 66/288 (adopted 27 July 2012) para 245. 3 See eg Mikhail Gorbachev Water crisis: clear and present danger (Green Cross 20th anniversary: 2020 Statement) Geneva (2 September 2013). 4 See the same statement by Gorbachev. The Netherlands is also a particularly strong supporter of a strong SDG on water. See eg Minister van Infrastructuur en Milieu Water in Beeld (Voortgangsrapportage Nationaal Waterplan en Bestuursakkoord Water over het jaar 2013) 84. 5 Laura Horn ‘Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development: is this the future we want?’ (2013) 9(1) Macquarie Journal of International and Comparative Environmental Law 41. 115 THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS AS CATALYST FOR THE SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF WATER RESOURCES DR OTTO SPIJKERS Utrecht Centre for Water, Oceans and Sustainability Law, Utrecht University *