Amid floods in Central and Eastern Europe and droughts in Southern Africa, governments are turning to the UN Water Convention to help jointly address water-related impacts of the climate crisis. The surge in extreme weather events underscores the urgent need to strengthen climate resilience through cooperation in shared basins, as these devastating weather events continue to disrupt water, food, and energy security worldwide.
At the tenth Meeting of the Parties to the Water Convention (MOP10), held in Ljubljana from 23-25 October, over 500 participants from 100 countries, including 40 high-level representatives gathered for the special session, "Our Waters, Our Future: Transboundary Water Cooperation to Power Climate Resilience". The session underscored that transboundary cooperation is essential for climate adaptation and mitigation, helping reduce water conflicts, sustain ecosystems and drive sustainable development.
UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohamed emphasized in a video message: "Transboundary water cooperation is a driver of shared peace and prosperity. The Water Convention has united countries for over 30 years, contributing to conflict prevention and regional integration. I encourage all nations to join and fully implement this vital framework."
Ms. Tatiana Molcean, UNECE Executive Secretary, stressed: "Climate change is disrupting water systems at the global scale, and we are not prepared. We urgently need to improve water management and governance at all scales, deploying best available technologies globally, and truly rethink the way we use water, in our economies and our daily lives. And we need to do this together, if we want to be successful. We need to use transboundary cooperation to increase our impact and our efficiency."
Mr. Jože Novak, Minister of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning of Slovenia, emphasized Slovenia's role as an upstream country in the Sava River basin, shared with Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia. He highlighted the Sava Framework Agreement, the first international treaty signed by the riparian countries after the war in former Yugoslavia, as a powerful example of how transboundary water cooperation fosters peace and resilience.
The Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (UN Water Convention) is a key framework for promoting transboundary water cooperation and ensuring sustainable water management. Since its adoption in 1992, it has grown to include 55 Parties from different regions of the world, and 20 countries are currently in the process of accession. At the same time, more than 130 countries take part in its activities.
Findings from the third SDG 6.5.2 reporting exercise revealed that at the current pace, only a third of countries sharing transboundary waters will have 90% of their waters covered by operational agreements by 2030. Recommendations from the report include embedding climate considerations into transboundary agreements, mainstreaming climate strategies at the transboundary basin level as well as integrating transboundary cooperation into national climate policies. This was further developed and presented as a document to support mainstreaming transboundary water management and cooperation into National Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs).
With 153 countries sharing cross-border waters that account for 60% of global freshwater, cooperation is critical to reducing disaster risks and ensuring climate resilience. For more than three decades, the Water Convention, serviced by UNECE, has facilitated transboundary cooperation and, for over a decade, has helped countries jointly adapt to climate change and improve intersectoral cooperation.
This special session ahead of the 2024 UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan (November 2024) will contribute to broader global processes, including those under the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.
