Miguel Ricardo Solanes

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Name: Miguel Ricardo Solanes
Address: United Nations: Division of Environment and Development, ECLAC
Casilla 179-D
Santiago , Chile
Tels: (56-2)-208-2271, 208-2257        Fax: (56-2) 208-1946
E-mail: msolanes@eclac.cl
Nationality: Argentinean
Date of Birth: 25 January 1948

Professional Qualifications
Law Degree, University of Mendoza , Argentina 1971
Certificate (1 yr.) International School for Water Resources and Environmental Management, Colorado State University , USA , 1974.
Master of Arts (Water Resources Policies, Environmental Law, Environmental Economics, International law, Water Legislation and Economics, Water Planning), Social Sciences College , Colorado State University, USA , 1975. (Professional thesis paper: Water Users Associations: Organizational Characteristics)
Research Scholar, Michigan State University , 1983 (Regulation of irrigated agriculture, allocation and use of interjurisdictional rivers, and fundamentals of American contract law).
Research Scholar, Kennedy School of Government ,  July 1998.

Professional Experience
Currently, Interregional Adviser in Water Legislation and Administration, United Nations,
1981-1984, Associate Professor Civil Law Course, Facultad de Derecho, Universidad de Mendoza, Argentina.
1973-1984, Water Law Expert, Center for Economics, Legislation and Administration of Water, Mendoza , Argentina . Research on water law and administration, Legal dimension of environmental externalities, teaching seminars and courses addressing conferences, consulting and advising public and pri va te organizations within Argentina and Abroad.
1974-1975, Assistant to the Director of the International Conference on Water Law Systems in the World held in Valencia, Spain, 1975, Colorado State University, USA.
1973-1984, Government Attorney for the collection of fees and taxes. Government of Mendoza , Argentina .
1971-1976, Teaching Assistant Water Law Course, Universidad de Mendoza , Argentina .
1972-1984, Pri va te attorney acting in judicial and administrative fora.
 
Present Activity
Advisory missions to: Guatemala, Ecuador, Paraguay, Argentina, Perú, Venuezuela, Syria, Jordan, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos, Bahamas, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Gambia, Tanzania, India, China, Sudan, Turkey, Brazil, Venezuela, Yemen, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Ghana, Oman, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Tu va lu, Kiribati, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Chile, El Sal va dor, Colombia, Honduras and Nicaragua.
Preparation of reports, research and teaching of seminars on water related public utilities. Subjects include both electricity and drinking water supply and sanitation. Includes public services, regulation, contracting, and setting up of regulatory systems and rele va nce of monopolies. Organization of, and participation at, seminars on the subject in Mérida , Venezuela ; Caracas , Venezuela ; Buenos Aires , Argentina .
Involvement in water legislation and institutional arrangements through projects have included: Yemen/88/001, Mozambique/86/020, Brazil/86/014, India/85/X001, Guatemala/85/008, Bahamas/86/004, Pacific Islands Ras/87/009, Int/86/R30 ( Solomon Islands ), Mekong Committee.
Advice to the Mekong River Committee on the legal issues and institutional aspects posed by the development and conser va tion of the waters of international river basins.
Advice to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam and the Danish Development Agency (DANIDA) on water legislation and institutional issues.
Preparation of reports and publications on national and international aspects of water resources management and conser va tion, including a biannual publication on international rivers and lakes.
The main subjects of advise include: water legislation and institutional arrangements, water user organizations, legal control of environmental externalities associated to water development and conser va tion, water pollution control, and in recent co-operations with the World Bank, criteria for the assessment of the environmental impact of water resources projects.
Publications on the structural role of Law in environmental protection and resources development, and on the legal tools to be used in environmental protection.
Other subjects of advise include: Organization of entities for the management of water resources, legal organization of cost recovery systems, control on the use and allocation of water rights, protection of aquifers (quality and quantity), etc.
Reports, Meeting, Publications
Water Administration in South America , 1977(in co-operation with ECLAC and other experts).
Water User's Association in the Law and Administration of some South American Countries, prepared for FAO, 1981.
Water Law and Environmental Externalities, Mendoza , 1981.
Users Participation in Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Systems, Mendoza , 1981.
Water Policies, Requirements and Requisites, Mendoza , 1982.
Water Administration and Planning, 1983.
Institutional Constraints to the Socio-Economic Development of Mendoza , 1983.
Regional Development and an Institutional Tool: The Police Power of the State, 1983.
Externalidades: Un Concepto Ecológico Económico de Importancia en el Derecho Ambiental, Ambiente y Recursos  Naturales: Ed. La Ley, Vol. II No. 3.
La Teoría de la Asignación Equitati va de los Ríos Interprovinciales a la luz de la Jurisprudencia: Ambiente y Recursos Naturales: Ed. La Ley, Vol. 1 p. 91.
Legislative Approaches to Drought Management, Natural Resources Forum, United Nations, November, 1986.
The International Law Commission, Natural Resources Forum, United Nations, November, 1987.
Ten years after Mar del Plata . Natural Resources Forum, United Nations, August, 1987.
Presented a Report at the Regional Symposium on Water Resources Policy in Agro Socio-Economic Development, Dhaka , Bangladesh . Subject: Law and Non-Navigational Uses of International Water Courses, August, 1985.
Co-ordinator of Technical report on financial and contractual arrangements related to the joint development of international water courses. Recursos Naturales, Serie del Agua No. 7, "Cuestiones Institucionales de Ordenación de Cuencas Fluviales Internacionales: Consideraciones Económicas y Financieras", United Nations, 1988.
Preparing background documentation for the meetings of the Committee on Natural Resources, ECOSOC.
Member of the Secretariat and Co-ordinator of discussion group in International Symposium on Improved Efficiency in the Management of Water Resources, United Nations, New York , 1987.
 
Rapporteur of the working group on institutional issues at the Conference on the African Experience with River Basin Development, Clark University, IDA, USAID, Maryland, 1988.
Invited speaker at the Ottawa Meeting of IWRA, 1988. Subject: Factors within International Agreements which Encourage Co-operation.
Invited speaker and Chairman of one of the working sessions of UNDP/WB. Meeting on: Latin American Seminar on Water and Sanitation for Low-Income Groups, Recife , Brazil , 1988.
Co-ordinator on behalf of DTCD: Interregional Seminar on River and Lake Basin Development with emphasis on the African Region, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 1988.
Key Note Speaker and Rapporteur on Legal Issues at the "International Symposium on Integrated Approaches to Water Pollution Problems", Portugal,1989. Report on: "Water Pollution Control, Legal, Economic, and Institutional Issues".
Report on "Legal aspects of Ground Water Management", New Delhi , India , 1989.
Rapporteur of Working Group and Key Note speaker at the FAO/WEO Consultation on "Legal Issues and Wastewater Management", Gene va , Switzerland , 1990.
Coordinator of "Legal and Institutional Factors Affecting the Implementation of the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade" Natural Resources Water Series No. 23, United Nations, NY, 1989.
Coordinator and Rapporteur, Seminar on "Mobilization of Resources for Optimal Water Allocation, Development and Conser va tion", Mérida , Venezuela , 1990.
Invited speaker Conference on the North American Experience Managing International Trans-secondary Water Resources, Florida 1991.
Presentation in two workshops on organizational and legal studies for water management held by the Interim Committee for Coordination of Investigations of the Lower Mekong River Basin on: "Principles of International Water Law". and "Water Users Participation in Water Management". Both workshops took place in 1991, in Bangkok and Hanoi .
Participating at the Dublin Water Conference, 1992; Preparing the Document on Legal Issues of Water Management for the 1993 session of the Committee on Natural Resources of ECOSOC, and participating at the discussions.
Resources person at the Seminar for the Discussion of the Water Act for Peru, World Bank, June, 1993.
Preparing the Reports on "Institutional and Legal Issues on Integrated Water Resources of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, 1993,1994,1996
Preparing, presenting and discussing a report on "Decentralization and Water Management: The Case of Water Users' Associations", 14th World Bank Agricultural Symposium, 1994.
Invited as main speaker and co-organizer to the workshop on water legislation organized by the Legal Department of the World Bank,  September 1994.
Publication on the Regulation of Public Utilities, ECLAC magazine, 1995.
Publication on Water Law and Water Markets, ECLAC magazine, 1996.
Member of the Technical Advisory Committee, Global Water Partnership, since 1996. Preparations of reports on water law and water markets for the Namibia Meeting of the Committee (1996). Preparation of report on water law, water planning and institutional arrangements for water management, for the Manila Meeting of the Committee (1997).
Participation at the discussions of the Water Policies of the Inter-American Bank, 1995-1996.
Report on Water Utilities for the Victoria Meeting of the Technical Advisory Committee, Global Water Partnership (October, 1997).
Organizing and participating at several seminars on water utilities in Venezuela , Peru , Argentina , Costa Rica , and Colombia .
Participating at joint missions with the Inter-American Development Bank and Danida in El Sal va dor and Nicaragua (1997).
Producing a report to justify changes to the Chilean Water Law, for the Government of Chile to sustain the changes before the Constitutional Court of Chile. Case was ruled for the Government, 1997.
Guidelines for Water Resources Legislation, IDB,  (In cooperation with Dr. David Getches, Colorado University )1998.
The Dublin Principles for Water as Reflected in a Comparative Assessment of Institutional and Legal Arrangements for Integrated Water Resources Management, with Fernando Gonzalez Villareal,  Global Water Partnership, 1999.
Integrated Water Management, Co-authored with the Technical Advisory Committee, Global Water Partnership, March 2000
Preparing Chapter 12, "Utilities Regulation: Still falling short", for ECLAC's Report on "Equity, Development and Citizenship" April 2000,  Mexico