RESEAU INTERNATIONAL DES ORGANISMES DE BASSIN
INTERNATIONAL NETWORK OF BASIN ORGANIZATIONS
RED INTERNACIONAL DE ORGANISMOS DE CUENCA

n Press release
n Invitation letter (PDF 53Ko)
n Registration form (RTF)
n Program

n List of participants : French speaking, Spanish speaking end English speaking (PDFs, less than 50Ko)

n Communications

n Work documents:

è SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION CENTER OF THE INTERSTATE COMMISSION FOR WATER COORDINATION PDF 583Ko (SIC ICWC)
è Project “INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN FERGANA VALLEY” PDF 872Ko (IWRM-Fergana)
è Water and WE PDF 803Ko (ICWC TRAINING CENTER)
è Proposition de guide stratégique (PDF 405Ko) pour aider ŕ la constitution de commissions internationales inter-Etats sur les eaux partagées // Proposal for a strategic guide (PDF 560Ko) to assist in the constitution of international inter-state commissions for shared water resources - Slides (PDF 160Ko) (A. Roux - Académie de l'Eau - Nov. 2002)
è From conflict to co-operation in international water resources management: Challenges and Opportunities - Conclusions (PDF 27Ko) of the PC-CP : WfP Conference - 20-23 November 2002, Delft, The Netherlands (Janos Bogardi, UNESCO Division of Water Sciences)
č O.M.V.S (PDF - 130Ko) Exemple de gestion concerntée d'un bassin versant par trois états riverains : Mali - Mauritanie - Sénégal (Monsieur le Haut-Commissaire de l'OMVS - Juill 2002)
è La commission du bassin du lac Tchad (PDF 55Ko) (TAM Lambert - Secrétaire Exécutif Adjoint - Nov. 2002) Slides (PDF 578Ko)
è Transboundary co-operation of the Republic of Hungary (PDF - 21Ko) (Dr. Miklós Varga, János Rémai, Kálmán Papp)
è Dix années de travaux sur la gestion des grands fleuves (PDF 195Ko) (Jean Burton - Coordonnateur - Gestion des grands fleuves et RésEAUX - Nov. 2002)
è Programme pluriannuel de developpement de l'Autorité du Bassin du NIGER (PDF 212 Ko)
è Transboundary Waters Knowledge-Sharing (PDF 10K) an overview of GEF's International Waters Learning Exchange & Resource Network, and the UNEP-IW:LEARN Best Practices Database initiative (PDF 258Ko) (Janot Mendler, Project Coordinator, GEF-IW:LEARN - Nov. 2002)
è The Transboundary Nubian (PDF 7Ko) Groundwater basin (Khaled Abu-Zeid, Ph.D., P.E., PMP - Senior Water Resources Specialist - Centre for Environment & Development for the Arab Region & Europe - CEDARE - Nov. 2002)
è Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe - Working Table II - Sava River Basin Initiative (PDF 214Ko) (Prof. S. Petkovic - Vice Ministre de l'Agriculture et de l'Aménagement des eaux - Belgrade - Oct. 2002)
è Le droit international (PDF - 144Ko) de l'eau existe-t-il ? Evolutions et perspectives (J. SIRONNEAU - Ministère chargé de l'Environnement français - Direction de l'eau - Novembre 2002)
è Overview of Mekong River Commission (PDF 243Ko) - MRC (PECH SOKHEM - Assistant Chief Executive Officer - Director, Technical Support Division - MRC - Nov. 2002)è Water Management in the South Caucasus (PDF - 102Ko) (Tamar Barabadze - USAID/Caucasus/Tbilisi - Nov. 2002)
è Materials (ZIP file - 1.2 mo) for the previous Rehabilitation and Development Working Group meeting, held in Brcko, B&H, on September 17-18 2002 (Secretariat of the International Sava Initiative)
è Mécanisme de prévention et de gestion des conflits (PDF - 50Ko) dans le cadre de bassins partagés : l'expérience de l'OMVS (Octobre 2002) - Ababacar Ndao, Coordinateur Cellule Nationale OMVS / Sénégal et Djbril SALL Conseiller au Haut - Commissariat
è Résultat d'une enquête sur le Comité de gestion du bassin du Nakanbé - Burkina Faso (The World Bank Group ) (PDF - 42Ko)
è Tana and Athi Rivers Development Authority Information - Kenya (World Bank Group )
è Sharing Waters (Marlies SCHUTTELAAR - World Water Council) (PDF - 53Ko)
è Zambezi river basin information (Wordl Bank Group) (PDF 8Ko)
è Information sur le bassin Algérois-Hodna-Soummam - Algérie (World Bank Group) (PDF - 32Ko)
è Information sur le bassin Constantinois-Seybousse Mellegue - Algérie (World Bank Group) (PDF - 27Ko)
è Fleuves transfrontaliers africains : bilan global (PDF - 2,2Mo)
è Sommet de Johannesbourg 2002 / The Johannesburg Summit 2002 : Plan of implementation of the world summit on sustainable development
è Other documents about the theme : Shared rivers management

CONSTITUTIVE MEETING OF THE NETWORK OF TRANSBOUNDARY BASIN ORGANIZATIONS

THONON-LES-BAINS (France) - 25 / 26 NOVEMBER 2002

PRESS RELEASE

" TRANSBOUNDARY RIVERS "

There are 261 transboundary rivers over the world, the basins of which are shared by at least two countries and cover an area of about two-thirds of the continents and host two-fifths of the world population.

15% of the Countries depend on more than 50% of the water resources of upstream countries.

Iraq, Sudan, Syria, Egypt, Paraguay, Niger, Congo, Gambia, Botswana or Mauritania, Luxembourg, Romania, the Netherlands, Bulgaria or Hungary have more than 2/3 of their resources coming from bordering countries.

It is estimated that 48% of the world population will live in highly degraded river basins in 2025.

Although many agreements have been signed between riparian countries to ensure free navigation on transboundary rivers in the past centuries, and, since the end of the 19^th century, to build hydropower dams, today, there are still few agreements, conventions or treaties dealing with pollution control, aquifer management and a fortiori the integrated management of shared river basins.

Water has no boundary!. Of course, there are the Helsinki Convention of 17 March 1992, the New York Convention of August 1997, which has been approved but is not yet ratified by enough countries to become applicable, the recent European Framework Directive, which concerns the current European Union and the Countries candidates to accession, or the treaty signed in Windhoek in 1992 for South-East Africa … but their implementation is just starting.

A recent study of the Water Academy has assessed the situation and proposes a methodology. The corresponding texts are gathered on the website " http://www.inbo.org ".

Appropriate integrated management of rivers, lakes or aquifers, shared by several riparian countries, is now of strategic significance.

This is why, that after the last General Assembly of the International Network of Basin Organizations (INBO), held in May 2002 in Quebec, the International Commission for the Protection of Geneva Lake ("CIPEL") and the French Rhone-Mediterranean-Corsica Water Agency proposed to organize the first constitutive meeting of a new Network of Transboundary Basin Organizations. It will take place:

The objective of this Network is to enable the executives and technicians of existing organizations to better know each other and exchange their experiences, to compare their approaches and methods and thus to facilitate the creation and strengthening of new organizations adapted to transboundary basins throughout the world and to develop cooperation between the countries concerned.

This specialized INBO Network is intended for:

Ø International Authorities, Commissions, Secretariats, either already existing or being created, and for management organizations established in the basins of transboundary rivers or aquifers,

Ø relevant administrations in the countries concerned by transboudnary river basins or aquifers and which apply or wish to apply the principles of integrated water resource management,

Ø bi and multilateral cooperation institutions, which support projects dealing with the creation or strengthening of organizations managing transboundary basins.

Simultaneous translation into English, Spanish and French is planned.

The conclusions of the Thonon-les-Bains Assembly will be presented during the Workshop organized by INBO, on 20 March 2003 in Shiga - Kyoto, during the 3^rd World Water Forum

For more information :