Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene 2014 Sept - Oct Vol. 9 No.5 | Page 21

Transboundary Water Management

United Nations Watercourses Convention Enters Into Force
Landmark global framework on fresh water to improve water security, conflict
resolution and cooperation across borders
On August 17, 2014 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.
“Our Board has been promoting the Convention because
effective transboundary water management furthers peace
and promotes cooperation, and is a fundamental element
of sustainable development,” said Ms. Uschi Eid, Chair
of the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Water
and Sanitation. “It is high time to have it ratified, and I
am satisfied it is going into force now, as we enter a new
era of international cooperation defined by the post-2015
development agenda.”
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.
“We have found that we cannot achieve the same level
of conservation goals in regions where countries are not
cooperating on transboundary water management,” said
Lifeng Li, Director of WWF’s global freshwater program.
“Nature and wildlife do not respect national borders, and
some of the most crucial areas for biodiversity are linked
to international rivers and lakes. The UN Watercourses
Convention will play an important role in creating a world
in which people live in harmony with nature.”
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.
“The Convention’s entry into force provides important
impetus to further foster much needed cooperation over
transboundary waters at the global to local levels,” said
Dr Alistair Rieu-Clarke from the University of Dundee
Centre for Water Law, Policy & Science.
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.”
“This is just the beginning. Even as we eagerly move
toward the next phase of planning implementation, we
encourage other nations to accede to the UN Water
Courses convention, thus demonstrating international
support and recognition for the importance of adequate,
joint management of fresh water,” Vercambre added.

Water
Key facts
• In 2012, 89% of the world’s population had access
to an improved drinking-water source, compared
with 76% in 1990.
•

Almost 4 billion people now get water through a
piped connection; 2.3 billion access water through
other improved sources including public taps,
protected wells and boreholes.

• 748 million people rely on unimproved sources,
including 173 million who depend on surface water.
• Globally, 1.8 billion people use a drinking-water
source that is contaminated with faeces.
• Contaminated water can transmit diseases
such diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid and
polio. Contaminated drinking-water is estimated to
cause more than 500 000 diarrhoeal deaths each
year.
Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene • September - October 2014

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