In 2018, the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL) and partners convened the Conference of Judges and Prosecutors on Water Justice at the 8th World Water Forum held in Brasília, Brazil. Over 140 distinguished participants from more than 60 countries engaged in high-level discussions on the management, use, and protection of freshwater resources, which culminated in the Brasília Declaration of Judges on Water Justice. The Brasília Declaration provides a set of ten principles that aim to familiarize judges with water-systemic and wider eco-systemic dimension and ramifications of their function as they adjudicate civil, criminal, or administrative cases.

The Webinar was moderated by Stefano Burchi, the Chair of the WCEL Water and Wetlands Specialist Group. The global panel included:

• Brian J. Preston, Chief Judge, Land and Environment Court of New South Wales, Principles of enviornmental stewardship, prevention and precaution, and environmental governance
• Oscar Angote, Justice, Environment and Land Court at Machakos, The Application of the the Brasilia Declaration in Kenya
• María del Pilar García, Director of the Department of Environmental Law, Universidad Externado de Colombia, River Rights in colombia as a Debatable form of Water Justice
• Michael Hantke Domas, Former Justice, Third Environmental Court of Chile, A Legal Understanding of the Connection between Water and the Environment

The Webinar Panelists each illustrated the value of particular principles of the Brasília Declaration in the context of specific cases in their courts and countries. The Webinar highlighted the emerging role of judges as the guardians of the planet’s stressed freshwater resources, and the inspirational value of the principles of the Brasília Declaration.

A full recording of the Webinar is available here.