Conferences, Trainings, Lectures, and Media Features

Featured in Roll on Columbia roll on? What would happen if Canada tried to turn off the Columbia River in a trade war?, CBC Radio, Daybreak South with Chris Walker, 7 February 2025. Listen Here

Featured in Traité du fleuve Columbia : Trump peut-il jouer les trouble-fête?, CBC/Radio-Canada, 17 January 2025 (in French). Read Here

Presenter/Tutor, International Boundary Research Unit (IBRU) Durham University professional training workshop, Defining and Managing River Boundaries & International Rivers, Bangkok, Thailand, 8-10 May 2024.

• Presented on the utilization of boundary rivers and international rivers, as well as resolving disputes related to river boundaries.

• Presented on “Lessons learned from the Law Applicable to Hydropower Developments Along the Columbia River between Canada and the US”.

• Presented on “La Coopération Transfrontière dans l’ODD 6” (in French).

Guest Lecturer, International Water Resources Law Seminar, University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law, via Zoom to Sacramento, United States, 29 March 2022.

• Lectured on the Mekong River basin and the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System for a class of students in an upper year seminar class.

• Lectured on the Columbia River Treaty and on the Aral Sea for a class of law students in an upper year seminar class.

Presenter, Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation Workshop, Water is for Fighting (and Creative Compromises): International and Interstate Water Issues in North America, 8 May 2018.

• Presented on the law of international watercourses focusing on some of the most important legal instruments and institutions existing between Canada and the U.S. regarding shared international freshwater resources, such as the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909, the International Joint Commission, and the Columbia River Treaty.

Trainer, Water Diplomacy trainings, Governance of Groundwater Resources in Transboundary Aquifers (GGRETA) Project, Ocotepeque-Citalá Case study (El Salvador-Honduras), UNESCO International Hydrological Programme (UNESCO-IHP) & Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), San Ignacio, El Salvador, 6-7 Dec 2017.

• Conducted trainings (in Spanish) for 1) local authorities and stakeholders and 2) journalists.

• Designed and developed the training material (in Spanish) for the two Water Diplomacy trainings. 

Speaker, Integrated and Sustainable Management of Non-Nile Water in Sudan Conference, UN Environment, European Union, Ministry of Water Resources Irrigation and Electricity of Sudan & Sudan UNESCO Chair in Water Resources (IWRM-Net-SD), Khartoum, Sudan, 21-23 Nov 2017.

• Presented on “Groundwater governance in a federal system”.

Speaker, Seminar, Groundwater and transboundary waters, to representatives of the Government of Afghanistan, via WebEx to Kabul, Afghanistan, 31 July 2017.

• Presented on “Transboundary Aquifer Cooperative Mechanisms”.

Speaker, Training seminar for Central Asia and Afghanistan on Institutional Mechanisms of Transboundary Water Cooperation, United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA) & Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia (CAREC), Almaty, Kazakhstan, 17-18 July 2017.

• Presented on “Transboundary Aquifer Management Institutions”.

Session Co-convener and Panelist, Special Session, Offshore Aquifers – Why Should We Care?, UNESCO International Hydrological Programme (UNESCO-IHP) & University of Strathclyde, IWRA XVI World Water Congress, Cancún, Mexico, 1 June 2017.

• Presented on “Offshore Aquifers, Why Should We Care? A legal perspective”.

Opening speaker, Special Session, Training in Hydro‐diplomacy: Legal and Institutional Aspects of Water Resources Governance – From the International to the Domestic Perspective, International Association for Water Law (AIDA) & UNESCO International Hydrological Programme (UNESCO-IHP), IWRA XVI World Water Congress, Cancún, Mexico, 1 June 2017.

Session Convener and Panelist, Special Session, The Draft Articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers – Moving forward until the next UN General Assembly session, UNESCO International Hydrological Programme (UNESCO-IHP), International Association for Water Law (AIDA) & International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) Commission on Transboundary Aquifers, IWRA XVI World Water Congress, Cancún, Mexico, 31 May 2017.

• Presented on “The 2008 Draft Articles & Transboundary aquifer cooperative frameworks”.

Speaker, Regional Training on Hydrodiplomacy and Negotiation Skills for IGAD Water Resources Protocol Negotiation Members, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), via Knovio to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 27-28 Feb 2017.  

• Presented on “International Water Law and the Law of Transboundary Aquifers”.

Speaker, Symposium, Water SDGs and future water management, UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources (UCL ISR), BHP Billiton Sustainable Communities/UCL Grand Challenge symposia series, London, United Kingdom, 8-9 Nov 2016.

• Presented on “Continental Shelf Aquifers in International Law: (In-between) Law of the Sea, Energy Law and Water Law”.

Chair and Legal Expert, National workshop on frameworks for transboundary water cooperation: Focus on the UNECE Water Convention, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), Ministry of Water and Irrigation of Jordan, UNESCO International Hydrological Programme (UNESCO-IHP) & Global Water Partnership – Mediterranean (GWP-Med), Amman, Jordan, 10 March 2015. 

• Presented on “Fostering cooperation on transboundary aquifer resources: 2008 draft Articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers and Model Provisions on Transboundary Groundwaters”.

Organizer, Third Annual Symposium on Transboundary River Governance in the Face of Uncertainty: The Columbia River Treaty, 2014, hosted by the Universities Consortium on Columbia Basin Governance, Kimberly, BC, Sept 2011 – Oct 2011.

Moderator, Round Table Discussion Group, Third Annual Symposium on Transboundary River Governance in the Face of Uncertainty: The Columbia River Treaty, 2014, hosted by the Universities Consortium on Columbia Basin Governance, Kimberly, BC, Canada, 5 Oct 2011.

Panel Member, Roundtable, L’eau, source de conflits ou ressource partagée ? Conflits transfrontaliers et gestion de l’eau, Les Eaux et Les Hommes & Centre Permanent d’Initiative pour l’Environnement (CPIE) Nancy Champenoux, Champenoux, France, 23 Nov 2010 (in French).