The present study was conducted in response to the Inception Workshop's request for legal consultants to provide background information on relevant developments in international environmental law. The topics covered by the study (international environmental law and the law of transboundary watercourses) concern broad and highly dynamic areas of law, but the study will focus mainly on the elements that are most interesting for the Lake Tanganyika project. It should be noted that other studies for the “workshop” deal with a) conflict resolution and b) legal and institutional provisions for the management of lake and river basins in other countries, with a presentation of possible approaches to Lake Tanganyika.