Water Sustainability in MERCOSUR: Legal Integration and Regional Governance towards the Changes Arisen from the Industrial Revolutions

Abstract

This study, having the transformations imposed by the Industrial Revolutions as a background, aims to analyze the potential of MERCOSUR as an economic, legal and political bloc to promote the implementation of public policies and regulatory actions that promote water sustainability at regional levels. Initially, the impact of the Industrial Revolutions on the excessive consumption and degradation of water resources will be addressed, with a special focus on the unsustainable exploitation of water, an essential resource for human life and economic development. Next, an analysis will be made of the normative evolution of environmental rights in the MERCOSUR member countries, with emphasis on the constitutional and infra-constitutional provisions that seek to regulate and ensure the sustainability of natural resources, particularly water resources. Finally, the study examines the capacity of MERCOSUR, as an international legal entity, to promote legislative integration and intergovernmental cooperation, with a view to the effective sustainable management of water, through collective legal mechanisms and harmonized regulations. The methodology applied is descriptive-interpretative in nature, based on doctrinal sources, national and international legislation and MERCOSUR legal mechanisms, with the aim of evaluating the bloc’s role in implementing sustainable governance of water resources.