Asound and balanced management of water resources is a prerequisite to ensure quality of life on our planet and a sustainable socio-economic development.
The issues thus raised are numerous and complicated.
The solutions brought must allow for :
contending with natural catastrophes and the risks of erosion, floods or drought, taking into account physical and water management,
reliably meeting the urban and rural populations requirements in terms of good quality potable water, in order to improve hygiene and health and to prevent important outbreaks of disease,
purifying farmlands and developing appropriate irrigation systems to produce enough agricultural food,
harmoniously developing industry, energy production, recreational activities and, in some areas, tourism and waterways navigation,
preventing and controlling pollution of all kinds and origins, in order to preserve the aquatic ecosystems and more especially, to protect fauna and optimize fish breeding for human consumption, while meeting the requirements of various utilizations and more generally, preserving the biodiversity of the aquatic environment
All these issues can no longer be approached by sector or localization, nor approached separately. On the contrary, the solutions must associate the national and local authorities with the users, in an integrated approach, respecting the natural environment, organized on the scale of hydrographic units and aiming at the sustainable utilization of water resources.
It is recommended that the agreements and strategies, the programmes, financing and monitoring be designed at the river basin level and that cooperation agreements be formalized between riparian countries regarding large shared rivers, lakes and seas.
NETWORK OBJECTIVES
The International Network of Basin Organizations has the following objectives :
to develop permanent relations with the organizations interested in a global river basin management, and facilitate exchanges of experiences and expertises among them,
to promote the principles and means of sound water management in cooperation programmes to reach a sustainable development,
to facilitate the implementation of tools for institutional and financial management, for programming, for the organization of data banks, of models adapted to the needs,
to promote information and training programmes for local elected officials, for users' representatives and for the different actors involved in water management as well as for the executives and staff of the member basin organizations,
to encourage education of the population, the young in particular,
to evaluate ongoing actions and disseminate their results.
NETWORK MEMBERS
The Network is open to :
the organizations managing large national or federal, or even transfrontier river basins and the cooperation structures they have developed among them.
The term "Basin Organizations" implies public organizations with legal existence, or pending creation according to the legislation in force in their country, having statutes and their own budget,
the governmental administration in charge of water management in the countries applying or being interested in applying integrated water management :
organized through large hydrographic units (River Basins)
associating administrations and local authorities, as well as users from the various sectors,
having specific budgetary resources at its disposal, obtained by applying the "user-polluter-pays" principle.
The term "large hydrographic units" means large river and lake basins without their various tributaries,
bi and multilateral cooperation agencies supporting institution-building activities related to large catchment areas and aquifers.
The members are being so considered as soon as they have applied to belong to the Network by signing the
PERMANENT OBSERVERS
The other public organizations that are interested in the Network, can apply to participate in its activities as permanent observers, provided that their application is forwarded by the Liaison Bureau and accepted by the General Assembly.
They can attend the General Assembly meeting without any right to vote.
ORGANIZATION OF THE NETWORK
The Network is a flexible structure relying on the members' willingness to work together.
It has no legal statute, nor a status of international organization, it is simply governed by this CHARTER OF ORGANIZATION AND OPERATION.
NETWORK PRESIDENT
He is the Chairman of the General Assembly.
He is nominated by the member(s) hosting the meeting.
He represents the Network up to the following meeting of the General Assembly.
He ascertains that the Bureau's recommendations and General Assembly's conclusions are applied up to the next Bureau meeting and organizes the work of the Secretariat.
LIAISON BUREAU
It is composed of the serving President of the Network, of the two preceding Presidents and of :
2 members for Africa
4 members for Latin America
1 member for Asia
4 members for Central, Eastern and Western Europe
Its composition may be revised at each General Assembly according to the memberships to come from each geographic region.
The members of each above-mentioned geographic region propose to the General Assembly, when a consensus is reached among them, the country/ies that will represent them at the Liaison Bureau. The members of each of the countries chosen will nominate the personality that will attend the Bureau meeting.
Two to three Bureau meetings will be held for each 12 month-period between two General Assemblies.
It is chaired by the representative nominated by the member(s) hosting the meeting.
It prepares the meeting of the next General Assembly.
It carries out the conclusions of the previous General Assembly.
It coordinates the shared projects.
It examines the applications of new permanent observers as well as these of new members of the Network and proposes their membership to the next General Assembly.
It adopts the recommendations by consensus between the attending members.
The personalities participating in the Bureau may nominate a substitute when prevented from attending a meeting.
The member(s) hosting the next Bureau meeting will set the date after receiving confirmation that at least two-third of the members will be able to attend.
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
It convenes all the members of the Network.
The General Assembly is presided over by the President of the Network.
It holds an ordinary meeting every year and can convene extraordinary meetings .
The Ordinary General Assemblies are held every year in a different geographic region whenever possible. The General Assembly :
approves the content of the Declaration of membership and of the Charter of organization and operation as well as the changes that may be added,
officializes the acceptation of new members proposed by the Liaison Bureau, as well as the applications to become permanent observers,
proposes orientations to the Network activities,
approves the shared projects proposed by the Liaison Bureau, and sets up, when necessary, operational units for their implementation,
ensures that the Network is promoted to the concerned National Authorities and bi and multilateral Cooperation Agencies,
defines the composition of the Liaison Bureau.
The conclusions of the General Assembly are adopted by consensus between the attending Members. When a consensus cannot be reached, the President may, as a last resort, request a vote to obtain a two-third majority among the attending members.
Qualified personalities or interested organizations may be invited by the host-member(s) to attend the General Assembly meeting without participating in the debates, in the same way as the permanent observers.
SECRETARIAT
The secretariat of the Network will be carried out by :
a Chairmanship's Secretariat, organized by the host-organization(s), which takes charge of logistics for the meetings of the Liaison Bureau and General Assembly,
a Permanent Technical Secretariat, chosen by the Liaison Bureau among the applications received, and proposed to the General Assembly that will nominate it for four years.
It is responsible for preparing the documents for the Liaison Bureau and General Assembly meetings, writing the reports under the authority of the President, periodically publishing the Network Newsletter, leading the Network and following up the shared projects in close relation with the relevant operational units.
The Head of the Permanent Technical Secretariat participates in the meetings of the General Assembly and Liaison Bureau.
The Manager of the organization that was in charge of the Permanent Technical Secretariat
during the preceding period, is also invited to these meetings during the four following years in order to ensure a continuity in on-going actions, and to provide his support to the serving Secretariat..
NETWORK ADDRESS
. .
It is the address of the Permanent Technical Secretariat. .
REGIONAL NETWORKS
. .
Regional Networks may be established upon the initiative of Member Organizations belonging to the same geographic region, provided their request is forwarded by the Liaison Bureau and accepted by the General Assembly..
The Network President and the representative of the Permanent Technical Secretariat are invited to the meetings and events organized within each regional network..
. .
FUNDING PRINCIPLES
The Network activities are financed as follows :
MEETINGS OF THE LIAISON BUREAU AND OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY :
international travel cost borne by the participating members,
costs of sojourn, logistics, field visits, translation and Chairmanship Secretariat are borne by the host-member(s), within the limit of an official representative per member-organization of the Network.
SHARED PROJECTS :
Implementation means to be negociated by the Liaison Bureau with bi-and multilateral funding agencies, the interested governments and organizations with the help of an operational unit, when necessary, and of the Permanent Technical Secretariat.
ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION :
The principle and the amount of an annual subscription paid by the member-organizations will be proposed to the second General Assembly.
Referring to the recommendations of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, June 1992 and the International Conference on Water and Environment, Dublin, January 1992, as well as the Constitutive Meeting in Aix-les-Bains, May 1994 and the General Assembly, held in Mexico, March 1996, the members of the International Network of Basin Organizations declare that they already apply or intend to apply, the following common modalities :
organization, on the scale of large hydrographic basins, of an integrated water resources management aimed at preventing natural and dangerous hazards, and catastrophes and also at rationally and equitably meeting the various uses, to reach a sustainable economic development and to protect and restore the aquatic environment,
implementation of financing systems -based on the «user-polluter-pays» principle and the «solidarity» concept- for multiannual development, equipment and protection programmes,
setting up partnership means to associate national Authorities and possibly competent international institutions together with local authorities, water users and concerned non-governmental organizations to the planning and management of river basin organizations ; and also developing the information capacities of these partners' representatives to enable them to fully assume the responsibilities and missions assigned to them within the framework of the basin policy.
PARTICIPATION IN INBO
The members of the International Network of Basin Organizations declare that they approve the arrangements stated in the Charter of organization and operation of the Network in accordance with the terms adopted by the General Assembly of March 1996, in Mexico. They agree -within the limits of their possibilities- to pursue the objectives of the Network and to participate in its joint projects and in addition, to keep the Network regularly informed on their activities in order to develop a wider cooperation between its members.
Furthermore, through this participation, each Network member agrees to promote the advantages of integrated river basin management compared to an individual approach, thus contributing to the development of this system over the World.
Permanent Technical Secretariat
21, rue de Madrid - 75008 PARIS - FRANCE
Tel. : (33) 1 44 90 88 60 - Fax : (33) 1 40 08 01 45 E-Mail : riob2@wanadoo.fr
