A new report by UNECE and UNESCO sounds the alarm on the lack of international cooperation to manage shared rivers, lakes and aquifers, calling for urgent collaboration among countries. Slow progress threatens to delay joint strategies needed to address the intensifying impacts of droughts and floods in the context of climate change.
Today, 153 countries rely on transboundary waters flowing across or into other countries. Yet according to a new report by UNESCO and UNECE, only 28% of these countries have effective agreements to co-manage most of these vital resources1. The report also warns that, if current trends persist, barely one-third of these countries will have effective co-management arrangements in place by 2030.
"The growing momentum for cross-border water cooperation shows we are moving in the right direction, but far greater efforts for joint water management will be needed as countries worldwide face the worsening climate crisis. Over 100 transboundary cooperation agreements have been concluded since the entry into force in 1996 of the United Nations Water Convention, serviced by UNECE, and I encourage all governments to join the fast-expanding global community of Parties to this treaty," said Tatiana Molcean, Executive Secretary of UNECE.
"Only through cooperation with their upstream and downstream neighbours can countries effectively manage their shared waters and mitigate the impacts of floods and droughts, which are being exacerbated by climate and biodiversity disruptions. While progress has been made, with the number of agreements increasing since 2017, with UNESCO's continued support, I call on our Member States to step up their efforts to sustainably manage these essential resources, whose increasing scarcity has a considerable negative impact on our societies" said Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO.
The report highlights that cooperation is stronger when looking at river and lake basins compared to aquifers. As many as 41% of countries sharing transboundary rivers and lakes (60 out of 148 countries) have operational agreements on their management covering most of these waters, compared to just 25% of those sharing transboundary aquifers (37 out of 147 countries).
Highest levels of cooperation in sub-Saharan Africa, Europe and North America
The report notes an improvement in shared water cooperation between 2017 (only 23 countries, or 15%, with most of transboundary basin area covered) and 2023 (43 countries, or 28%). Europe, North America and sub-Saharan Africa show the highest levels of cooperation: 39 out of 84 countries (46%) from these regions have most of their transboundary basin area covered by operational arrangements. In sub-Saharan Africa, the number of countries with very high level of cooperation increased five-fold from 3 in 2017 to 16 in 2023. Sub-Saharan Africa has a long tradition of transboundary cooperation through basin organizations. Recent projects in the region have led to sustainable cooperation systems involving local authorities, scientists, and Indigenous communities.
One such project is in Lake Chad, where UNESCO's support has enabled the restoration of degraded ecosystems and the establishment of early warning systems to detect and monitor deteriorating water quality and the onset of droughts. This system, collectively managed by 8 countries, now benefits millions of people, including through the sustainable production of spirulina, a high-protein aquatic plant. Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria, which border Lake Chad, have all joined the UN Water Convention to support joint management in the basin.
Cooperation to mitigate the impact of climate disruption
Climate disruption poses a major threat to these areas, including reduced availability and access to drinking water, as well as a higher risk of waterborne diseases. The UNECE-UNESCO report shows that while countries have made significant efforts to tackle climate disruption and reduce disaster risks at the level of surface waters, more work and cooperation are still needed.
Nearly two-thirds of transboundary river and lake basins include climate adaptation as a task for their joint management bodies. However, today only 14% have adopted a concrete strategy to face this challenge, and just 20% have adopted a joint strategy for disaster risk reduction.
The report also notes that cooperation on flood mitigation is more advanced than on mitigating the impact of drought, partly because there is a long tradition of cross-border cooperation on flooding. Among river and lake basins that have operational arrangements, today 50% feature coordinated alarm systems for floods, compared to just 30% for droughts.
