Citizens, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), universities, and other members of civil society have played an essential role in developing and implementing environmental and natural resource laws and institutions at the local and national levels over the past decades. This role has extended more recently into the international arena.¹ This Article examines the emerging norms and practices that guarantee transparency, public participation, and accountability in the management of international watercourses. Particular attention is paid to how these norms may be implemented to improve the management of transboundary watercourses in southern Africa.

When I commenced research on this project, I consulted various experts in international water law to seek their guidance on emerging norms regarding public involvement in managing international watercourses. One senior expert replied that "under customary international law, there is no rule relating to public access to information about the quality and quantity of available water, nor is there any rule about public participation in the management of international water bodies."² As this Article shows, however, while there may as yet be no definitive statement under customary law on the topic, the widespread inclusion of relevant provisions in regional and water body-specific instruments, and in the practice of international bodies, suggests that norms on public involvement are not only emerging, but are rapidly crystallizing. In Africa, evolution of these norms has the added benefit of a "rich tradition of participation in water management" at the local level,³ which can form the basis for similar development at the international level.