The Harvard Law School Women’s Alliance New York (HLSWA-NY) in conjunction with Harvard Law School Association of New York (HLSA-NY) organized a Panel on the topic “What's Next for Food and Water: New Legal and Policy Insights on Climate, Migration & Sustainability”. The Panel discussion was held on 27th February 2019 in New York and was hosted by Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt LLC, New York. Ms. Diana Philip, Senior Research Manager of SFG was invited to participate in the Panel from Mumbai, India.  

Ms. Philip spoke about the Water, Peace and Security Nexus as well as the fragmentation of international legal instruments in dealing with the same. Water is an increasingly scarce resource and it is a major peace and security factor of the 21st century, as also seen from the recent developments in the UN Security Council and the European Union. Water impacts relations between nations, it is an under-recognized factor in migration patterns and it is also used as a weapon of war by both states and non-state actors like ISIS. She spoke about the Central American migrant caravan that was also triggered by acute water scarcity in the region as well as various international law instruments relating to transboundary water cooperation including between U.S-Mexico and U.S-Canada. She concluded her remarks by highlighting the role of water in promoting peace at the regional and global level as was evidenced by the work of SFG in the Water Cooperation Quotient (WCQ) report.  

This session also saw a lively discussion by the members of the Panel as well as the audience on international law relating to fresh water, the fate of Amazon post-Brazilian elections, climate change, recent U.S laws and practices relating to climate change mitigation and the like.