Professor Jorge E. Viñales at TEDx Zurich.

Environmental law expert Jorge E. Viñuales was recently invited to speak at TEDx Zurich, an independently organised event of the TED talks series, where innovative thinkers promote "ideas worth spreading" and stimulate dialogue.

At the event, Professor Viñuales proposed to create a small transactional tax on bottled water, which would go toward protecting natural infrastructures that maintain the water cycle, supporting water infrastructure projects in developing countries and steering research on water-related technology, including efficiency, decontamination and the use of iced-freshwater.

Watch the video above, where Professor Viñuales explains why it should be done and how it could happen.

Professor Jorge E. Viñuales holds the Pictet Chair in International Environmental Law at the Graduate Institute. He is Programme Director for Environmental Governance at the Institute's Centre for International Environmental Studies. His research focuses on the interface between environment and investment. He is the author of, among other works, Foreign Investment and the Environment in International Law (Cambridge University Press) and Iced-Freshwater Resources: A Legal Exploration (YbIEL, Oxford University Press) as well as co- Editor of Harnessing Foreign Investment to Promote Environmental Protection (Cambridge University Press), and Diplomatic and Judicial Means of Dispute Settlement (Martinus Nijhoff).