Freshwater is the defining geopolitical, economic, and ecological issue of the 21st century, and nowhere are its legal challenges more acute than in Asia. Containing more than half of the world’s population but facing severe water scarcity, the Asian continent is a critical arena for the development of international law governing shared transboundary rivers, lakes, and aquifers.

This event serves as an authoritative forum to explore how Asian states navigate the allocation, protection, and securitization of freshwater. Organized by the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, the conference examines transboundary river treaties, human rights and environmental displacement, climate change and basin hydrology, universality versus regionalism, and hydropower infrastructure investments.

Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM Calcutta) was established as the first national-level institute for management education in India. Known globally as a premier center of excellence, IIM Calcutta plays a leading role in fostering rigorous academic research, executive education, and public policy discourse. Through specialized groups like the Centre for Development and Environment (CDCE) and the Centre for Management of Human Values (CMHV), the institute actively encourages cross-disciplinary dialogues addressing critical socio-economic, legal, and ecological challenges facing India and the broader Asian region.

• Transboundary Freshwater Governance: Evaluation of bilateral and regional river treaties in Asia under stress; legal rights and obligations of upstream versus downstream states.
• Human Rights, Displacement, and Environmental Justice: Codification and enforcement of the human right to water within domestic and international legal contexts.
• Climate Change, Basin Hydrology, and the SDGs: Legal implications of shifting glacier melt, extreme weather events, and prolonged droughts on water allocation treaties.
• Universality vs. Regionalism: Legal implications of recent accessions by Asian states to global instruments like the 1997 UN Watercourses Convention and the 1992 UN Water Convention.
• Hydropower, Infrastructure, and Investment: Regulatory interface between international water law and international economic law.

By Invitation Only: Expression of Interest with Abstract (approximately 300–400 words, with a brief biographical note indicating the theme addressed) must be submitted before 21 August 2026 to waterlaw2026@iimcal.ac.in.