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INBO Newsletter n° 21 - April 2013
The sixth session of the Meeting of the
Parties to the Convention on the Pro-
tection and Use of Transboundary
Watercourses and International Lakes
(Water Convention), organized by
the
United Nations Economic Commis-
sion for Europe (UNECE)
in Rome,
from 28 to 30 November 2012, at the
invitation of the Italian Government,
was a key event in the evolution of the
Water Convention into a global multila-
teral legal framework for transboundary
water cooperation worldwide.
The Water Convention:
Driving the improvement
of transboundary water
cooperation
The status of transboundary water
resources in the
UNECE
region has
considerably progressed in the past
decades, as shown in the Second
Assessment of Transboundary Rivers,
Lakes and Groundwaters.
However, transboundary water mana-
gement still faces several challenges
related to the increasing imbalance
between water demand and availability,
the deterioration of water quality and
ecosystems and the impacts of climate
change, as well as the lack of cohe-
rence between policies of different
sectors competing for water use.
The large variety of activities carried
out under the Convention over the past
3 years was discussed, including
National Policy Dialogues under the
European Union Water Initiative.
A unique supporting mechanism
The Meeting of the Parties adopted a
decision, establishing a unique
mechanism enabling case-tailored
assistance to prevent water-related dis-
putes and to support countries in their
efforts to implement the Convention.
New activities
to address new challenges
The work program for 2013-2015 aims
to assist countries in managing trans-
boundary waters sustainably, conside-
ring the evolving cooperation needs. It
includes new areas of work, for exam-
ple on the water-food-energy-ecosys-
tems nexus, on the benefits of coope-
ration, as well as activities related to
the opening of the Convention outside
the
UNECE
region, on synergies with
the 1997 United Nations Convention
on the Law of the Non-navigational
Uses of International Watercourses and
a stronger cooperation with the Global
Environment Facility.
INBO will be an important partner for
many activities.
Francesca Bernardini
Secretary to the UNECE Water Convention
Chantal Demilecamps
Environmental Affairs Officer
UNECE- Environment Division
More information about the mee-
ting:
UN: Economic Commission for Europe
Sixth session of the Parties to the UNECE Water Convention:
a key event towards the globalization of the Convention
Meeting of the Parties to the UNECE Water Convention
© IOWater - C.Runel
Following the adoption of the Guidance
on Water and Adaptation to Climate
Change in November 2009,
Parties to
the UNECE Convention on the Pro-
tection and Use of Transboundary
Watercourses and International
Lakes
decided to foster the implemen-
tation of a program of pilot projects and
a platform for the exchange of expe-
rience to support countries in their
efforts to develop adaptation strategies
by disseminating positive examples
showing benefits of and mechanisms
for transboundary cooperation.
The program includes pilot projects in
Eastern Europe, Caucasus, Central Asia
and South-Eastern Europe, which are
directly supported by the
UNECE
Secretariat in cooperation with partner
organizations under the Environment
and Security Initiative (ENVSEC)- such
as the projects on the Chu Talas,
Dniester, Neman and Sava - as well as
other ongoing projects on the Rhine,
Danube, Meuse and Amur/ Argun.
The third workshop on water and
adaptation to climate change in trans-
boundary basins:
”Making adapta-
tion work”,
which took place in
Geneva on 25-26 April 2012, was the
latest in a series of workshops organi-
zed within this framework.
The global workshop concluded that:
n
more severe water scarcity
situations are expected,
even in
regions previously considered as
water-abundant.
n
vulnerability should be seen as
an opportunity towards better
organizing water management.
n
ecosystem-based adaptation
often has indirect benefits,
such as improving the livelihoods
of people, and is therefore relati-
vely cheap and cost-effective.
A study was presented in which
it was
estimated that the benefits of
adaptation can be 4 times higher
then the costs.
The full conclusions from the workshop
are available on the web.
The Water Convention is expected to
open up in 2013 for countries outside
the UNECE region.
UNECE and INBO aim to transform
the program of pilot projects into a
true global platform of basins
devoted to sharing experiences,
comparing different methodologies for
adapting to climate change and foste-
ring a shared vision between the parti-
cipating basins, as a follow-up to the
commitments made during the sixth
World Water Forum.
Several transboundary basins from out-
side the UNECE region, such as the
Mekong, the Senegal or the Congo, as
well as national river basins, already
expressed interest in joining the net-
work.
Sonja Koeppel
UNECE
Convention on the Protection and Use
of Transboundary Watercourses and International
Lakes
A platform on climate change adaptation
in transboundary basins
The third workshop on water and climate change
