Parties to the UN Water Convention work together through 101 joint bodies for transboundary water cooperation, including 58 bilateral and 25 basin commissions. These joint institutions drive cooperation and strengthen resilience in shared basins by working on data exchange (in 90% of transboundary river and lake basins), pollution (77%), water allocation (67%) and floods and droughts (55%). These are some of the findings of the third report on implementation of the Water Convention, published by UNECE.
The progress report builds on the national reports submitted by Parties to the Convention in the framework of the third reporting exercise on Sustainable Development Goal indicator 6.5.2 and under the Water Convention. All Parties have submitted their national reports, demonstrating an exceptional level of commitment to the Convention. In addition to Parties from UNECE region, the report covers implementation of the Convention by seven countries from sub-Saharan Africa (Cameroon, Chad, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo) and one country from the Middle East (Iraq) who became Parties to the Convention by the time of the third reporting exercise.
A key obligation of the Water Convention is to cooperate by entering into specific agreements or arrangements for the management and protection of transboundary waters. The report illustrates the continuous efforts made by all Parties to improve their cooperation by concluding new or additional agreements. In total, 226 agreements and arrangements were reported by Parties in 2023. Altogether, 140 transboundary water agreements and arrangements have been inspired by the Water Convention since its adoption in 1992.
The report shows that cooperation is progressing, despite challenges. At least 13 new transboundary water agreements or arrangements with the participation of Parties were concluded in the period 2020-2023 alone. In 2023/2024, the average value of SDG indicator 6.5.2 for Parties is 81%, which is significantly higher than the global average of 59%, showing the benefits of joining the Convention.
There are also concrete examples of progress achieved in the past three years:
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Provisions on climate change adaptation are included among topics of cooperation in 42% of basins in 2023, as compared to 31% in 2020. This result points to increased attention to climate change adaptation within new and existing transboundary water agreements in a growing number of basins, with this topic also being a subject of agreements in basins shared by recent Parties in sub-Saharan Africa.
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Another positive fact is the establishment of joint monitoring in several basins shared by Parties with non-Parties in the period 2020-2023. This has taken place in the Chu/Shu, Gambia, Maroni/Marowijne, Oiapoque/Oyapock/Oyupock and Talas River basins as well as a group of river basins shared by the Islamic Republic of Iran and Turkmenistan.
For the first time, the report provides data on gender in transboundary water cooperation. Gender-related aspects of water management are included in the tasks and activities of joint bodies in only 11% of river and lake basins with participation of Parties to the Convention. Eight countries (Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Ghana, Italy, Poland, the Republic of Moldova and Togo) provided sex-disaggregated information on membership of at least one of their joint bodies. However, only one Party, Ghana, indicated the existence of formal requirements related to gender-balanced representation in the joint body (in the Volta Basin).
Despite overall positive trends, the report identified challenges with the implementation of some provisions of the Convention. The main challenges facing cooperation on transboundary waters include differences between national administrative and legal frameworks, resource constraints, and lack of relevant data and information. In some transboundary basins, especially those shared with non-Parties, Parties to the Convention face difficulties in the negotiation and adoption of agreements and arrangements and the establishment of joint bodies for transboundary water cooperation. The third reporting exercise shows that at least 12 river and lake basins and 17 river and lake sub-basins are not covered by any agreement or arrangement, making them more vulnerable to tension or even conflicts, as well as external pressures such as climate change. As many as 68 river and lake basins lack joint monitoring. In at least 34 river and lake basins, riparian countries appear not to exchange data and information at the basin level.
Several Parties (Cameroon, Chad, Iraq and Nigeria) highlight specific challenges for transboundary water cooperation in 2020-2023 arising from the security situation in their regions. A number of Parties (Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Republic of Moldova, Slovakia and Ukraine) mention in their national reports the impacts of the war against Ukraine on their transboundary water cooperation in this period.
The report concludes by highlighting strategic approaches to support enhanced implementation and application of the Water Convention. It urges widening partnerships to foster awareness on and implementation of the Convention, especially in the light of its globalization, and highlights the importance of mobilizing financing, capacity and expertise. While the ultimate responsibility for implementation remains with the Parties, the report advocates for Parties and non-Parties to make wider use of the Convention's institutional platform to support their efforts on implementation and application. It also shows how the Convention's programme of work for 2025-2027 adopted by the Meeting of the Parties at its tenth session (Ljubljana, 23-25 October 2024) can support strengthened implementation, responding to the gaps and challenges identified. Finally, the report provides concrete examples how implementation of the Water Convention and cooperation through its institutional platform support the achievement of the SDGs.
