The human right to water - its multi-level protection and implementation in International, European and National law

The dissertation consists in the legal analysis of the multi-level protection of the human right to water, considering its normative basis and evolution on the International, European and National levels, in order to understand if and how this human right is protected, considering in particular the necessity to deal, with a human rights based approach, the climate change emergency, in order to fully implement the UN Agenda 2030 and its sustainable development goals. From this perspective, the thesis observes how the human right to water has evolved itself in the examined levels, considering the legal basis in binding documents, in the case law and in soft law acts, evaluating, at the end of each chapter, if the current state of evolution allows to identify an effective protection of this human right. A particular relevant element in this analysis, is the comparison, at the national level, between the Italian and the German constitutional contexts, through the overview not only of the main constitutional provisions that may allow, through an evolving interpretation, to identify a national recognition of the human right to water, but also and moreover the ways through which International and European provisions bind the national legislators and governances, a key element of such analysis, regarding the multilevel and transversal protection of human rights. As regards its contents, the dissertation is structured into an introduction, four chapters, and a final conclusion. The introduction outlines the basic idea and the aim of the work, focusing on different water-related issues and their interdependence, and the need for an integrated and holistic approach. Chapters I-IV illustrate and concretise the research question dealing, respectively: with the legal basis of the human right to water and its evolution in international law; with the normative content of the human right to water and its implementation; with the human right to water in the European context; finally, with the implementation of the human right to water in the national contexts of Italy and Germany.