UN Watercourses Convention Enters into Force

Convention Will Standardize Criteria for InternationalRiver Basins and Transboundary Water Management Globally

Yesterday the United Nations Watercourses Convention, the first global framework on fresh water and the world's only global framework for transboundary cooperation endorsed by the General Assembly of the United Nations, officially entered into force.

Currently, there are 276 transboundary freshwater lake and river basins worldwide, but only 40% are governed by agreements. Where agreements exist, 80% involve only two countries, even though other states may also be part of the watercourse in question.

The Convention will standardize one set of criteria for which all countries with international river basins and transboundary waters abide, ensuring more practical management globally. These criteria include defining the subjects that countries should discuss on their shared waters, facilitating the process of transboundary cooperation and holding governments accountable to their own countries and regions.

Throughout decades of drafts and revisions, international organizations—particularly those focused on conservation—raised awareness, increased understanding and encouraged adoption of the UN Watercourses Convention. In May 2014, Vietnam became the 35th country to ratify, bringing the Convention into force, and several other countries are on the verge of acceding.

With a growing population and a resurgence in large-scale hydropower projects, the need for comprehensive and effective arrangements for the equitable and sustainable management of transboundary waters is more vital than ever.

Marie-Laure Vercambre, Director of Green Cross International's Water for Life and Peace Programme, emphasized the importance of the Convention, saying "Not only will the governance of the largest and best known watercourses be enhanced by the UN Watercourses Convention, but all transboundary basins of a country's territory will benefit from it, providing a harmonized legal coverage to all those watercourses whom we know will be more and more exploited, utilized and developed."

Source: UN Water Course Convention

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Taxonomy

• River Basin management
• Water Management
• Governance & Planning