With rapidly expanding populations, growing industrial development, an

With rapidly expanding populations, growing
industrial development, and dwindling water supplies
on national and regional levels, water is fast replacing
oil as the world's most valuable resource. Meanwhile,
(5) the growing importance of water in geopolitical affairs
has increased the potential for international conflict
over water resources. Thus as development and other
threats to the world's rivers have continued to mount,
nations have become acutely aware of the need
(10) for legal and institutional mechanisms to manage
and protect resources that traverse their borders.
Recognition of the need for international cooperation in
efforts to manage and protect rivers has led the United
Nations' International Law Commission (ILC)
(15) to develop a treaty structure for the uses of
international watercourses.

The ILC's Draft Articles on the Law of the Non
Navigational Uses of lnternational Watercourses are
an attempt to codify the customary principles of
(20) international water law as those principles are
manifested in past legal decisions and currently
accepted international practice. The Draft Articles
are intended as a set of guidelines for the creation of
treaties governing the use of specific international
(25) watercourses. They prescribe that treaties should
uphold several broad precepts: that one nation's
use of a watercourse should not cause appreciable
harm to another nation, that every nation's use of the
watercourse should be equitable and reasonable, and
(30) that nations should work for the protection of
ecosystems.

Though the Draft Articles are a significant step
forward in the formulation oflegal principles for the
protection and regulation of international rivers, they are
(35) inadequate because they do not provide satisfactory
ways of dealing with possible future environmental
changes. One significant environmental threat to the
world's rivers is the increase of atmospheric carbon
dioxide. With its resultant greenhouse effect and
(40) warmer temperatures, it is likely to have a number of
dramatic effects on water levels in international river
systems, arising from increased runoff due to snowmelt
or, more importantly, from decreased precipitation in
many regions.

(45) Treaties that allocate fixed amounts of water to
various countries based on current usage, as suggested
by the Drqft Articles, will not be flexible enough to
respond to these large fluctuations in river flows. Once
specific water rights are allocated along a river in
(50) accordance with the Draft Articles, nations would have
no mechanism for coping with a drastic reduction in
the flow of the river. Adhering rigidly to these fixed
allocations would unjustly favor those countries whose
water usage is most extensive. One way to circumvent
(55) this problem is to devise treaties that apportion water
use in more flexible ways-for example, by assigning
proportional shares rather than fixed allotments of
water. Similarly, treaties might incorporate explicit
contingency plans dealing specifically with issues
(60) related to possible climate changes, such as how
reduced flows will be allocated among the countries
sharing a river.

1. Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main point of the passage?

(A) The world's water resources are on the decline, so the ILC has formulated a set of treaty guidelines designed to ensure each nation's equitable use of watercourses, protect ecosystems, and prevent one country's use of a watercourse from harming another country.
(B) The potential for international conflict over dwindling water resources is escalating due to climatic changes, so the ILC has developed a treaty structure in an effort to ensure and safeguard the continued growth of industrial development on national and regional levels.
(C) Though the ILC's Draft Articles are a worthwhile attempt to assemble an appropriate set of principles to govern the formulation of treaties concerning the use of international watercourses, they are flawed because of their lack of provision for the foreseeable effects of certain predicted environmental changes.
(D) While the environmental threats to the world's water resources have thus far had little impact on river systems, the ILC's Draft Articles can and should be suitably revised to take into account possible future threats that could significantly alter the world's rivers.
(E) The increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide and the attendant greenhouse effect and resultant global warming have already had detrimental effects on international river systems, and the ILC's Draft Articles fail to outline adequate contingency plans to deal with these environmental changes.


2. Which one of the following is proposed by the author as a way for countries to respond to the danger that serious water-usage problems may result from changes in the flow of international rivers?

(A) regulating industrial development in countries with rapidly expanding economies
(B) developing mechanisms to sustain and safeguard the balance of ecosystems
(C) allocating water usage amounts to countries based on a proportional share system
(D) modifying agricultural practices that require inordinate amounts of water
(E) redirecting snowmelt runoff to areas with increased water needs


3. According to the passage, a primary purpose for the development of the Draft Articles was to

(A) criticize existing international practices resulting from past legal decisions
(B) provide an explicit formulation of some commonly applied principles of international law
(C) establish uniform judicial procedures for deciding disputes over water resources
(D) protect the pre-existing water rights of those countries that use the most water
(E) help guarantee continued industrial development in countries that share rivers


4. In the passage, the author claims that the Draft Articles are flawed in that they

(A) focus on the management of water resources rather than on the protection of rivers endangered by environmental changes
(B) fail to incorporate certain widely accepted legal principles reflected in customary international water-use practices
(C) do not address pertinent issues involving the relationship between navigational and nonnavigational uses of international watercourses
(D) suggest that treaties stipulate specific quantities of water use, which future conditions may· render inequitable
(E) provide little assistance to countries in the process of expanding their water uses, and thus favor more industrialized countries


5. The passage most strongly supports the inference that the author would agree with which one of the following statements?

(A) It is possible to devise treaties that uphold the broad precepts embraced in the Draft Articles and that also permit countries to adapt to large fluctuations in river flows.
(B) Efforts to manage and protect the world's water resources should include unilateral regulatory action on the part of the ILC in cases where treaties do not adequately provide for the protection of internationally shared watercourses.
(C) The Draft Articles need to be reformulated to take into account the effects of water usage on entire river systems instead of focusing on the individual segments of such systems that lie entirely within each nation's borders.
(D) Many existing treaties governing water usage are cast in terms that permit nations to react flexibly to altered water availability patterns that might occur due to global warming.
(E) Countries that use the greatest quantities of water have generally favored treaties formulated in terms that allocate fixed quantities of water usage to each participating country.


6. The passage most strongly suggests that which one of the following was true at the time the ILC began developing the Draft Articles?

(A) Water resources were sufficiently abundant to meet the needs of most of the countries belonging to the United Nations.
(B) Precipitation levels throughout the world had been declining steadily for a number of years.
(C) Existing treaties governing water rights rarely covered matters involving environmental protection.
(D) Conflicts over the management of water resources had been escalating sharply in frequency and intensity.
(E) Much of the content of the Draft Articles had already been articulated by courts resolving international water-rights cases.


7. Which one of the following most accurately characterizes the author's attitude toward the Draft Articles'?

(A) mistrust of the political motivations that shaped them
(B) skepticism regarding their assumption that treaties are the only viable type of water-usage agreement
(C) concern over their failure to prescribe ways of dealing with treaty violations
(D) satisfaction with their initiative in diverging from international customary practice
(E) approval of the general goals that they attempt to accomplish


8. The author probably intends the phrase "treaty structure" in the last sentence of the first paragraph to refer to

(A) an outline for a comprehensive international accord intended to serve in place of individual bilateral treaties between countries
(B) a compendium of past treaties that the ILC regards as exemplary models for the formulation of future treaties
(C) a systematic analysis of legal precedents that have been established by international tribunals in adjudicating treaty-related disputes
(D) a set of general prescriptive principles to be followed in the formulation of the provisions of treaties
(E) a charter for a proposed advisory board that would oversee treaty negotiation on behalf of the international community