The Water Convention

The UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes provides invaluable insights into the contribution of this international agreement towards transboundary water cooperation via its legal provisions, accompanying institutional arrangements and subsidiary policy mechanisms. Contributing authors - experts on key aspects of the Convention - address a broad range of issues, primarily concerning its: development and evolution; relationship with other multi-lateral agreements; regulatory framework and general principles; tools for arresting transboundary pollution; procedural rules; compliance and liability provisions; and select issues including its Protocol on Water and Health.

The publication presents and analyses the findings of the first pilot reporting exercise under the Water Convention, which was carried out in 2017. Progress made in the implementation of the Convention is reviewed and summarised, together with the identification of significant trends, success, challenges and opportunities concerning transboundary water cooperation. The reporting mechanism under the Convention was formally adopted (decision VII/2) by the Meeting of the Parties to the Water Convention at its seventh session (Budapest, 17-19 November 2015).

At the UN General Assembly in 1997, an overwhelming majority of States voted for the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses – a global overarching framework governing the rights and duties of States sharing freshwater systems. Globally, there are 263 internationally shared watersheds, which drain the territories of 145 countries and represent more than forty percent of the Earth's land surface. Hence, inter-State cooperation towards the sustainable management of transboundary water supplies, in accordance with applicable international legal instruments, is a topic of crucial importance, especially in the context of the current global water crisis. This volume provides an assessment of the role and relevance of the UN Watercourses Convention and describes and evaluates its entry into force as a key component of transboundary water governance. To date, the Convention still requires further contracting States before it can enter into force. The authors describe the drafting and negotiation of the Convention and its relationship to other multilateral environmental agreements. A series of case studies assess the role of the Convention at various levels: regional (European Union, East Africa, West Africa, Central Asia, Central America and South America), river basin (e.g. the Mekong and Congo) and national (e.g. Ethiopia and Mexico). The book concludes by proposing how future implementation might further strengthen international cooperation in the management of water resources, to promote biodiversity conservation as well as sustainable and equitable use.

The Principles for Effective Joint Bodies for Transboundary Water Cooperation, presented in this publication, distil valuable lessons from the experiences of joint bodies worldwide, Parties to the Water Convention and other States, as well as other stakeholders. These experiences were gathered through an extensive consultation process under the Water Convention. At its seventh session (Budapest, 17-19 November 2015) the Meeting of the Parties to the Water Convention formally adopted the principles and encouraged countries to use them. The principles seek to facilitate the establishment and work of joint bodies and ultimately to contribute to reaching a high level of cooperation between riparian States. The principles are highly relevant in the light of the opening of the Water Convention to all United Nations Member States and can assist countries in implementing one of its main obligations.

"The second progress report provides an analysis of the national reports submitted by Parties to the Convention based on a common reporting template, and therefore closely mirrors the template structure. Following an introduction, providing the context for the second reporting exercise and its results, the responses of Parties to the main parts of the reporting template are reviewed. These are analysed in the transboundary waters, joint bodies for transboundary water cooperation and activities related to the implementation of transboundary water cooperation. A chapter on selected basins takes an in-depth look at the same aspects at the basin level. In the concluding chapter, achievements in the period 2017-2020 are highlighted and detailed recommendations are provided. The analysis presented in the second report is primarily based on the answers provided by the Parties in the reporting template, and the use of other sources is both limited and secondary to those responses"--page v.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses plays a crucial role in protecting and managing international watercourses and other sources of fresh water. Boisson de Chazournes, Mbengue, Tignino, and Sangbana head a team of experts in thisCommentary, examining the travaux preparatoires leading to the Convention and the practice that has developed since the adoption of the Convention in 1997. Tackling the rationale and objectives of the provisions, they offer crucial insights to the Convention's impact on the development of auniversal regime for shared water resources.Examining cross-cutting topics such as the core water principles, the prevention and settlement of water disputes, the relationship between the Convention and other legal instruments, as well as the role of the ICJ and other judicial means to solve water disputes, this book is crucial to all thosewho seek a deep understanding of water law.