UNECE Water Convention

Recently, Ivory Coast became the 10th African country to sign the UN Water Convention.

UNECE Water Convention

• About: The Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention) is an international environmental agreement and one of the five environmental treaties negotiated by UNECE.
• Adoption:  It was adopted in Helsinki in 1992 and came into effect in 1996. 
• Requirements for Parties: Parties must prevent, control, and reduce transboundary impact, use transboundary waters reasonably and equitably, and ensure their sustainable management.
• Cooperation: Parties sharing transboundary waters must cooperate by entering into specific agreements and establishing joint bodies.
• Framework Agreement: The Convention does not replace bilateral and multilateral agreements for specific basins or aquifers but encourages their establishment, implementation, and further development.
• Significance: The Water Convention is a powerful tool to promote and operationalize the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its SDGs.
  • It directly supports implementation of target 6.5, which requests all countries to implement integrated water resources management, including through transboundary cooperation, as appropriate.
  • The Convention and its programme of work are also relevant for other SDGs, such as all the other targets of goal, but also: goals 2, 7, 13, 15, 16, 17 and target 11.5.
• Expansion: The Convention was originally negotiated as a regional framework for the pan-European region. Following an amendment procedure, since March 2016 all UN Member States can accede to it

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United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)

• About: It was established on March 28, 1947, and is one of the five regional commissions under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Economic and Social Council.
  • Its headquarters are located in Geneva, Switzerland.
• Aim: To promote economic cooperation and integration among its member states. 
• Members: The commission consists of 56 member states, primarily from Europe, with several from outside the region. Its transcontinental Eurasian and non-European members include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Canada, Georgia, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, the USA, and Uzbekistan.

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