A national workshop for the accession to global water conventions was held on the 17th and 18th of June 2024 at Rainbow Towers Conference Centre in Zimbabwe as the country inches closer to complete the accession process. These global water conventions are: the 1992 Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (the Water Convention) and the 1997 Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses (the 1997 Watercourses Convention). Participants of the oversubscribed workshop were drawn from various government departments, UN agencies, the Water Convention Secretariat, the diplomatic community, international organisations, civic society, academia and foreign governments.

The general objective of the workshop was to inform stakeholders about the global water conventions, to share the processes initiated by the Government of Zimbabwe to become party to the global water conventions, to obtain input from stakeholders and to discuss the next steps in the accession process.

In his keynote address which was delivered by the Deputy Minister Hon V.P. Haritatos, the  Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Dr Anxious Jongwe Masuka stated that; “This workshop is very important as it seeks to move forward the process towards Zimbabwe’s accession to the UN Water Conventions which will enable Zimbabwe to accrue multiple benefits in as far as transboundary water resources management is concerned.”

Minister Masuka explained the transboundary water context of Zimbabwe and listed the benefits of cooperation; “Transboundary water cooperation is inevitable for ensuring peace and security, maintaining international water relations, building mutual cooperation, sustainable development and increasing climate change resilience among the peoples of the concerned countries.” He added that the workshop came at a time when Zimbabwe has not been spared by the adverse effects of climate change like floods and droughts like cyclone Idai and El Nino and emphasised that transboundary water cooperation is an essential tool for humanity to deal with the increasing water challenges of today and those in the future. “Joining global conventions is one of the cooperation interventions,” said Minister Masuka. The Minister informed the stakeholders that Zimbabwe is already cooperating in the area of transboundary waters. Zimbabwe is Party to the African Ministers Council on Water (AMCOW) and the 2000 SADC Revised Protocol on Shared Watercourses, at bi-national level, Zimbabwe has three commissions specifically dealing with water with South Africa, Mozambique and Zambia. “Zimbabwe is Party to a total of eleven transboundary water agreements at basin level” added Minister Masuka.

Minister Masuka invited other States in the SADC region to consider joining to the global water conventions and reassured stakeholders of the Government’s readiness and commitment to the accession of the global water conventions.

Solidarity speeches were also made by various stakeholders notably the EU Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr. Jobst von Kirchmann who recognised the step as “significant milestone in Zimbabwe's journey towards sustainable water management.” He added that; “The EU recognizes the critical importance of transboundary water cooperation in achieving universal access to water and sanitation, aligning with Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6), and advocating for legal and intergovernmental frameworks such as the Water Convention.”  

Mr. Edward Kallon, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Zimbabwe weighed in; “I am pleased to represent the UN system in Zimbabwe at this important workshop and wish to thank the Government of Zimbabwe for taking this important step towards its accession to the Water Convention, given the importance of water to Zimbabwe.” He added that Accession to the Convention will enable support from the Community of Parties, facilitate sharing of experiences with basins and other countries, financing access, and raise the international country profile on transboundary waters. He applauded the Government of Zimbabwe’s commitment and long record of transboundary water cooperation for the sustainable management of its shared freshwater resources.

The ongoing projects include the Zambezi River UNESCO Victoria Falls / Mosi oa Tunya UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Global Environment Fund - supported project for the Mid-to lower Zambezi project and the Middle Zambezi Biosphere Reserve initiative, the Buzi, Save, Pungwe or BuPuSa Community Resilience project and The GEF funded Limpopo Basin Transboundary River Basin Management project. All these projects and programmes benefit from UN interagency cooperation as well as partnership with SADC. At the country level, FAO and UNESCO are working together on a programme that is to helping communities living in Binga and Buhera to adapt to erratic rainfall due to climate change and helping them with sustainable groundwater management practices to improve crop production. 

The Secretary to the Water Convention Secretariat, represented by Mr Remy Kina, assured Zimbabwe of the unwavering support of the Secretariat during and beyond the accession.

After opening the workshop, critical presentations and discussion followed. The deliberations focussed on the two conventions; their key provisions, similarities, differences, complementarities and benefits, Zimbabwe’s laws and obligations under international law particularly as regards transboundary water cooperation, the relevance of the water conventions to Zimbabwe’s transboundary legal framework, perspectives from various river basin organisations to which Zimbabwe is Party to. Botswana, Estonia, Namibia, and Zambia also shared their accession journey. The next steps left before Zimbabwe becomes a full member were also shared. These are pending approval by Parliament. The Conventions will be debated in Parliament on 3 and 4 July 2024. If approved the President will sign the instruments of accession and the same will be deposited with the UN Secretary-General.

The key unanimous resolutions that came out of the two-day discussions are that Zimbabwe must accede to the global water conventions, the need for legislation to be well aligned to international treaties which we are signatories to, the need for investment in the area of groundwater, as this is an area that is not well researched especially in the transboundary context on shared aquifers, the need for collaborative research between academia, government and river basin organisations, the need for member states to invest in robust hydrological and hydrometeorological equipment to increase coverage and quality of data that is shared between member states, need for gender and social inclusion and the need to strengthen information management and sharing at transboundary level.

Zimbabwe is determined to complete the accession process before the 10th Meeting of Parties to the Water Convention to be held in October this year.

There is notable momentum towards joining the two conventions in Southern Africa. Namibia is the first Party in the SADC region to join both conventions, South Africa having joined the 1997 Watercourses Convention, Botswana, Tanzania and Zambia currently in accession process to the 1992 Water Convention. Malawi formally expressed interest to join the 1992 Water Convention in 2024 and Lesotho has started discussions with the Water Convention Secretariat.

Progress is currently underway to ensure an appropriate legal and institutional format for the joint management of the Senegal-Mauritanian Aquifer Basin (SMAB), a crucial transboundary water resource shared by The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Mauritania and Senegal.  The Gambia (2023), Guinea Bissau (2021) and Senegal (2018) are parties to the Convention on the Protection and use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, and as such, support is being provided by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) for the strengthening of cooperation between the states sharing the aquifer basin. It is expected that discussions will culminate in official announcements during the fourth quarter of 2024. 

The initiative dates back to 2020, when the Regional Working Group for Transboundary Cooperation on the SMAB was established.  In September 2021, facilitated by UNECE, the Geneva Water Hub, and the International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre, Ministers of the Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Mauritania and Senegal met in Geneva and signed a joint declaration to advance cooperation on the Senegal-Mauritanian Aquifer Basin (SMAB).

In terms of this agreement, a permanent mechanism will be established for the cooperative management of the aquifer system, including both a legal and an institutional framework for cooperation.

This latest step in transboundary cooperation between the countries builds on the extensive experience with transboundary cooperation by Senegal, the Gambia, Guinea Bissau and Guinea in the context of the Gambia River Basin Development Organisation (OMVG) and between Guinea, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal in the context of the Organisation for the Development of the Senegal River (OMVS). The convention establishing the OMVG, was signed in 1978.  Before that, in 1972, the states sharing the waters of the Senegal River had signed a convention creating the OMVS and empowering it to promote and coordinate studies and development work as well as technical and economic missions relating to the joint management of water resources. 

The institutional governance envisaged in the framework of the SMAB is based on the OMVS and OMVG models, which have been a resounding success in terms of transboundary cooperation of shared river basins. these models are based on the sharing of the benefits derived from the common management of water resources by the riparian countries. Given that the aquifer covers a geographical area that includes parts of both river basins that make up the OMVS and OMVG, it was proposed that the two basin authorities join forces for a joint management of the SMAB. This management model is a first and could, if successful, be replicated for the other aquifers in the sub-region and in the whole of Africa where most of the large aquifers are transboundary

The SMAB is the largest aquifer in the West African region, covering a total area of some 335 000 km ², underlying most (84%) of the territory of Senegal, 27% of the territory of Guinea Bissau, 14% of the territory of Mauritania as well as the whole territory of the Gambia. The river basins managed by the OMVS and the OMVG cover 32% and 18% respectively of the SMAB. This raises some questions about the institutional locus that should be chosen to ensure the effective management of these vast resources.

It is estimated that 16 million people live in the region covered by the SMAB, and that 80 % of the population of the countries involved depend on groundwater for their livelihoods and domestic needs. Groundwater is a crucial source of water in rural areas as well as being a major source of water for cities, and it is an important fallback resource in the context of highly variable rainfall conditions.  As climate change (through increased temperatures and frequency of droughts and floods) has become a reality in the region, the joint use of surface water and groundwater is becoming a necessity. The conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater refers to the coordinated management and utilisation of both surface water (such as rivers, lakes, and reservoirs) and groundwater (water stored underground in aquifers) resources. This integrated approach aims to optimize the overall water supply, enhance water security, and ensure sustainable water resource management.

Judicious conjunctive use of water resources requires a careful assessment of groundwater resources, availability and sustainable yield. Given the highly variable nature of precipitation in the West African region, groundwater appears at first glance to be a reliable alternative, but this is not always the case: large and concentrated water demand such as that from large irrigation schemes is usually supplied from surface water storage.  

This is in part due to the fact that groundwater aquifers seldom offer the large storage capacity or rapid infiltration rates to be able to absorb large volumes of floodwaters in a short period of time and are unable to return them as significant discharge per unit production system of well or borehole.

Secondly, interventions to increase surface water storage and distribution networks tend to be associated with higher political visibility, while also providing a point of entry for private contractors and other multiplier effects in the economy. By contrast, groundwater projects tend to be much more geographically dispersed and less prominent or visible.

The cooperative agreement on the SMAB is the first in West Africa and one of only seven transboundary agreements in the world that are focused on groundwater resources. There are some 200 international agreements in existence on the shared use of transboundary waters, but most of these are primarily focused on the sharing of surface water resources.

A publication by Dr Kathleen Rugel in the journal Water International has highlighted the importance of face to face interactions in obtaining consensus among a diverse group of water users in a transboundary water management setting.  According to the author, the research is important in view of the daunting global challenge of meeting the ever-growing demand for fresh water while maintaining healthy environmental standards. Although there is significant media attention for the increasing scarcity of freshwater as well as for declining water quality, there are also abundant examples of effective transboundary water resource agreements throughout the world. In fact, stakeholders who are involved in water management and who are grappling with these issues are in need of examples of how to judiciously manage finite and shared water resources in small and large transboundary basins.

The research from this study indicate that successful water agreements were positively facilitated by face-to-face interactions intentionally pursued during meetings, meals, field trips, and casual interaction by the indigenous Ngāi Tahu communities. The research also indicates that in the case described, this interpersonal aspect has repeatedly enabled stakeholders to break through seemingly intractable obstacles in negotiations.

The research which the paper describes provides an overview of the history, successes, and future challenges of building and maintaining consensus for protecting and sharing freshwater resources in the Canterbury Region on the South Island of Aotearoa–New Zealand. The Cantebury region is located in the Central and Eastern portion of New Zealand’s South Island, covering more than 44,000 km² featuring a mountainous region in the west and grassy plains in the east.

Some 74,000 indigenous Ngāi Tahu still live in the Cantebury region, and they consider the waters of the region to be part of their ancestry which includes sky, wind, water, forest, oceans, and plants, and which is associated with a responsibility of guardianship. However, over time the Ngāi Tahu have lost control over much of their ancestral lands and water bodies.

Over the past decades, there has been a transition from sheep farming to cattle farming, placing pressure on the quality of water resources in the Cantebury region, in particular through high levels of nutrients leaching into surface water and groundwater. In response to concerns raised by the Ngāi Tahu, a study revealed that Environment Cantebury had effectively over permitted in favour of the dairy industry, and found that there was a need to intervene to protect both the water resources of Cantebury - which represents a large proportion of the water resources of the island – as well as tourism.

On the basis of this report, a new  Canterbury Water Management Strategy (CWMS) was developed, and a new directive was issued requiring an immediate reduction in nutrients by 25%.  To comply with these requirements, collaborative committees were established which were given the responsibility to create Zone Implementation Plans (ZIPs) in which they would provide solutions to achieve the nutrient limitations within their zones.

In this process, the Ngāi Tahu worked in partnership with administrations at different institutional levels, and they set the condition that in all matters, indigenous knowledge would be respected. This included their preference for face-to-face interactions, decision making by consensus, and the respect for the adherence to certain spiritual practices during the preparation and sharing of food.

From the research it is apparent that the emphasis on the inclusion of the Ngāi Tahu and the adherence to indigenous values has a deep impact on the participants in the water management strategy. The researcher reports that “what began as a water management plan broadened into a deeper cultural paradigm shift”. Ngāi Tahu concepts were respected and adopted s means to  address environmental degradation, and also led to a broader appreciation of indigenous culture throughout government.

Interestingly, this research also places the notion of ‘transboundary’ within the framework of a national water management process. This is quite unique, as in the majority of the concept of ‘transboundary’ is used to describe negotiations and agreements between national governments, i.e. ‘international’ agreements.

In January 2024, Kazakhstan took over the 3-year presidency of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS), a sea considered lost until a few years ago.

As is the case in other parts of the world, the Aral Sea, in addition to having been the victim of overexploitation of water resources in upstream areas, is also seriously affected by the effects of climate change. During the second half of the twentieth century, the glacial resources of Central Asia declined to less than a third of the original volume, and they continue to decline by an average of 0,6% to 0,8% per year. In terms of the water footprint of agriculture, Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan) is the world's most water-intensive region, with an annual water utilisation of 11,800 m3 per hectare. However, according to experts, only 30% is used effectively for irrigation, with large losses occuring as a result of ageing infrastructure and inefficient agricultural techniques.

The Aral Sea is fed mainly by the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers. By 2050, the flow of the Syr Darya is set to fall by 15 to 30%, and that of the Amu Darya by 21 to 40%, while demand for water in the region is increasing by 1% per year. Per capita water availability fell from 8,000 m3 per inhabitant in 1960 to 2,000 m3 per inhabitant in 2000. Over the course of the twentieth century, the glacial resources of Central Asia, which feed the two basins and subsequently the Aral Sea, were reduced by a third.

More than ever, cooperation between these different countries on the water issue is therefore important, and could even, according to a study entitled "Rethinking water in Central Asia", generate US$4.5 billion in economic spin-offs if it were rethought.

This cooperation is beginning to bear fruit through the Aral Sea Basin Program, the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea and the 2022-2024 Roadmap for Regional Cooperation. Already in 2023, thanks in particular to the completion of the Kokaral dam which separates the northern and southern basins of the Aral Sea, efforts are beginning to pay off. The volume of water in the northern section  has increased by 1.1 billion m³, to a total of 21.4 billion m³. The member states have agreed to continue this trend by allocating a further 997 million m³ during 2024.

Before taking over the presidency of IFAS at a meeting of the organization in Dushanbe in September 2023, the President of Kazakstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, had stated : "IFAS has become the most important institution facilitating regional cooperation on transboundary water resource sharing issues", and went on to set out his ambitions for the future presidency, including "the need to create a long-term and sustainable cooperation mechanism for the efficient use of water and energy resources in Central Asia, taking into account the interests of all countries in the region". The President added in his speech that "a work plan should be put in place that would introduce a unified automated system for accounting, monitoring, management and distribution of water resources in the Aral Sea".

Yerbolat Pernekhan, Head of the Water Cooperation Department for Central Asia at the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, also , spoke to the press on this subject, stating that his country would prioritise constructive cooperation on comprehensive water resource management, ecology, the SDGs, socio-economic aspects and green economy initiatives in Central Asia; to specify that "to achieve these objectives, efforts will be focused on strengthening the organizational structure and legal framework of IFAS, implementing the Action Program for the Aral Sea Basin Countries 2020-2030 and creating a sustainable regional cooperation mechanism for the efficient management of water and energy resources".

2024 will see the launch for IFAS of the 2nd phase of the World Bank-supported RRSSAM-2 project, which will include the construction of the Kok Saray counter-regulator to improve water resource management in the Kazakh part of the Syr Darya river basin. Thanks to this project, the volume of water in the northern part should increase by 5 km³.

The southern United States and large parts of Mexico have been experiencing a severe drought for several months, leading to tensions between the countries over the delayed release of waters from Mexico into the Rio Grande.

90% of Mexico is currently affected, making the current drought the most severe of its kind since 2011. As reported earlier this year, water supplies to residents in Mexico city are being restricted to several hours a day. In the state of Chihuahua, where not a drop of water has fallen for 8 months, 40% of the population is affected, and the government has  declared a state of "exceptional drought".

Across the border, in Texas, the situation is no better. The Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, has declared a natural disaster due to the extent of the drought in several counties. The Rio Grande, which forms the border between the southern United States and Mexico, currently has low flow levels, despite being  one of the main sources of water for several American and Mexican states. The stretch between Fort Quitmen and the Presidio is increasingly dry. Two of the main reservoirs on the river are at levels rarely reached: the Falcon reservoir is at 9.9% of its storage capacity, while the Amistad reservoir is at 26% of its capacity.

Over the years, water use has multiplied to cope with population growth and to meet the needs of the factories and farms that have sprung up in the region, encouraged by the economic development of relations between the USA and Mexico since the signing of the 1994 free trade agreement.

Since the 1944 treaty between the two countries, the sharing of the Rio Grande waters has been governed by quotas in the form of five-year cycles. As a result of the drought, by April 2024, the 4th year of the current five year cycle, only 432 million m³ had been delivered by Mexico out of the 1295 million m³ expected within the time period (i.e. 30% of the expected volume).  It should be noted that these quotas were established in the first half of the 20th century, at a time when droughts were already occurring, but when the effects of climate change were not yet known.

Under pressure from certain lobbies, a Republican representative of Texas in the Senate wanted to add provisions to the House of Representatives' 2025 budget bill to make aid to Mexico conditional on compliance with the agreement.

Manuel Morales, Secretary of the Mexican section of the IBWC (the joint water management organization for the Rio Grande and Colorado rivers), stated that Mexico was striving to meet its commitments, but that the water shortage was due to climate change. He pointed out that the 1944 treaty provided for the possibility of shifting water deliveries into the next cycle in the event of a drought episode (article 4), which has already happened twice (1992 and 2002 cycles). Mexico’s President, Claudia Sheinbaum, has pledged to make water issues a priority.

Tensions also exist among American states riparian to the river,bound by the Rio Grande Compact since 1938. Under this agreement, Colorado must deliver an annual quota of water to New Mexico, which in turn must deliver a quota of water to Texas via the Elephant Butte Reservoir. Faced with dwindling resources, farmers in southern New Mexico have increased their water drilling over the past twenty years. Texas subsequently took legal action over the pumping of groundwater, claiming that this practice reduced the amount of water delivered under the agreement. Negotiations took place between the various parties and solutions were about to be proposed when, on June 21, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court came to reject the text concluded between Texas and New Mexico on water management, ruling that the federal government shoud have a say in any agreement affecting the water treaty with Mexico.

On the 3rd of June, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) published its annual report  of the world’s most neglected displacement crises. In the wake of a conflict that has been raging in the country since 2019, Burkina Faso saw the internal displacement of 1.9 million people by the end of January 2023, rising to 2.1 million by the end of January 2024.  707,000 people during 2023 and a doubling of the number of people killed in violence. This has compounded problems with access to water and sanitation in the country, where levels of access to basic drinking water services have declined from 57,5% in 2000 to 49,5% in 2022, as against levels of access to basic and improved sanitation services which increased from a low base of 6,9% in 2000 to 15,1% in 2022 according to the Joint Monitoring Programme. However, there are discrepancies between UN figures and national figures on water and sanitation: according to the National Inventory of Hydraulic Works (INO, access to improved sanitation rose from 10,2% in 2000 to 49,5% in 2022. Nevertheless, humanitarian organisations – including the NRCreport that these service levels have been strongly undermined by the conflict, both as a result of internal displacement and as a result of the blockading of urban areas.      

In addition to the internally displaced population, an estimated 2 million people were trapped in blockaded towns around the country, providing limited options for humanitarian organisations to provide assistance. In some towns, the rate of access to safely managed water supplies has fallen by 40%. It is also estimated that currently, over 5,700 schools and nearly 350 health facilities are no longer functional as a result of insecurity. Reliefweb reports that since 2022, there has been an increase in the number of attacks on water points, spreading from the Sahel region to the centre-north, north, and Boucle du Mouhoun regions. In total 58 water points were attacked in 2022, leaving 830,000 people without water services, and these attacks continued during 2023 such that an additional 149, 123 people have been left without functioning services.  

In March, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) estimates that in total 6,3 million people in the country (amounting to some 27% of the population of the country) are in need of humanitarian assistance, of which 3.8 million are covered by the response plan. According to OXFAM, the great majority (94%) of the internally displaced population are hosted at community level, which places a strain – amongst other things - on water resources. OXFAM reports that some 1,9 million people are in need of water. 

Of the 31 sources of humanitarian aid which are providing support for Burkina Faso, the United States provided 134.7 million, or 39% of the total commitments, followed by the European Union, which allocated € 41,3 million, amounting to 11,9% of the total, while Germany provided 32,9 million, or 9,5% of the total, and multiple donors provided 21,8 million through a central emergency response fund.  

Despite the clear need for humanitarian support, the NRC reports that only 37% of the funding required in terms of the humanitarian response plan was covered in 2023, down from 43% in 2022. By June 15, 2024, only 15% of the humanitarian response plan had been funded.

 

The first coordination meeting of the Global Water Analysis Laboratory Network (GloWAL) took place in Vienna between the 18th and 20th of June 2024. This network was launched in March 2023 during the UN 2023 water conference to support the global data gathering that is needed for the achievement of national and global water goals and targets. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which leads the initiative, UN member states consistently identify data and analysis as a key element in the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) and its targets, as well as the goals of the Water Action Decade. 

The GloWAL meeting drew a total of 94 participants from 54 Member States as well as UN agencies such as UNESCO, WMO, UNEP, UNICEF, and UNITAR. Statements were made by representatives of Algeria, Australia, El Salvador, Ghana, Kuwait, Paraguay, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Togo, Türkiye, and the U.S.A.

The IAEA states that “the availability of laboratory services capable of generating reliable data in a timely manner is the cornerstone of any country's capacity to better understand and manage their water resources and to plan, implement and interrogate actions that support national water governance and resilience of supply”. GloWAL was therefore launched as a support mechanism to support countries in becoming independent in national data generation, to support more effective water resources management, and to reduce technical gaps between high income and low-income countries. Following the first coordination meeting, an implementation strategy will be developed which can be expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2024. This strategy will provide the road map for technical cooperation, which includes support on monitoring methodologies as well as capacity building such as a Ph.D programme for researchers interested in applying these tools in an applied environment. 

Nuclear science plays an important part in the monitoring of both water quality and quantity. By tracking isotopes – which are distinct forms or ‘species’ of elements that have a different number of neutrons in the nucleus of the atom – it is possible to trace the movement of water throughout the hydrological cycle, from precipitation, through surface runoff and evaporation, to the flow of surface water and groundwater. This enables hydrologists to track water flows both on the surface and under the earth’s surface.

The isotopes act as markers in the water and enable scientists to draw conclusions about the origins of water flows, the direction and speed of flows, the amount of time that water is stored in a particular location, and the speed with which groundwater is renewed. It is often challenging to accurately estimate groundwater flows and sustainable extraction rates, and isotope chemistry plays a large part in providing the data needed for sustainable groundwater management. The IAEA has provided capacity building in Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Ghana, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo since 2012 to assist in the surveying of five major transboundary aquifer systems in West Africa, i.e. the the Iullemeden Aquifer System, the Liptako-Gourma-Upper Volta System, the Senegalo-Mauritanian Basin, the Lake Chad Basin and the Taoudeni Basin.

The IAEA has a long track record of supporting the gathering and analysis of water samples, helping to understand the water cycle both globally and locally. Recently, as reported in The Water Diplomat, the IAEA has played a key role internationally in monitoring and sharing the data related to the release of pre-treated water from storage facilities at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station in Japan. This took place amid concerns voiced by countries such as China about the consequences of releasing water into the ocean for international safety. The public availability of objective and reliable information on water quality is therefore also of central importance to water diplomacy.  

An important first action for the GloWAL Network is to conduct a baseline survey of laboratory capacity in countries around the globe. The survey is targeted at laboratories with isotope analysis capacity. If you are interested in contributing to this survey please contact the GloWAL Network to be registered.  glowal.contact-point@iaea.org

On the 18th of June, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) released its Hydromet Gap Report 2024, highlighting some of the key hydrological knowledge needs of 20 least-developed countries and Small Island Developing States. A key point of departure of the report is that in the context of climate change, the need for high-quality weather and climate information services underpin economic prosperity and sustainable development. The report presents a road map to strengthen the capacity of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services and especially of Early Warning Systems which can facilitate timely warning of extreme weather events.

Hydrometeorological services are both key and transversal elements of national and local planning. The data they produce allows the establishment – amongst others - of meteorological Early Warning Systems. These tools have an impact on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, but also on the UN Secretary General’s Climate Accelerator Programme, which represent the priority actions in the Paris Agreement on climate change, but also Objective G  of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Faced with the importance of the issues mentioned above, the Alliance for the Development of Hydrometeorology was launched during COP 25 in Madrid on climate, on December 10, 2019, in order to intensify and unite the efforts of the different stakeholders concerned. . Its members include the Adaptation Fund, ADB, CIF, EBRD, GEF, Green Climate Fund, IDB, Islamic Development Bank, UNDP, UNEP, WFP and WMO. The Alliance has meanwhile launched the Systematic Observations Financing Facility (SOFF), a specialized UN fund created to fill the gap in climate observation data, particularly in countries furthest behind due to lack of resources, such as Least Developed Countries (LDCs) or Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

It is in this context that the SOFF Steering Committee met for the 8th time, on June 18 and 19, 2024 in Reykjavik, Iceland. This was the occasion for the launch of the 2024 Hydromet Gap Report. This year, the report targeted 20 member countries falling within the category of ‘Less Developed Country’ or ‘Small Island Developing State’ , i.e. Guyana, Cape Verde, Chad, Ethiopia, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Bhutan, Maldives, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Timor Leste.

According to Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank Group, the document “provides an accurate, up-to-date and comprehensive assessment of the state of national meteorological and hydrological services, and identifies urgent climate-focused investments required by developing countries most affected by extreme weather conditions.

For José Ulisses Correia e Silva, 1st Minister of Cape Verde, “hydrometeorological services play a fundamental role for economic prosperity and resilient development, many countries, including Cape Verde, face considerable challenges in providing them ".

Finally, Celeste Saulo, Secretary General of WMO added that “people and our planet are facing a crisis due to the intersection of inequalities and climate change. This 2024 Hydrometeorology Gap Report shows us where assistance is most needed, where policy support is paramount, and where Hydrometeorology Development Alliance partners should focus their efforts (…). The Systematic Observations Financing Facility (SOFF) is an innovative financing mechanism that supports countries with the most severe weather observation deficits.”

The report highlights a number of current gaps in hydrometeorological systems in these countries. These include a relatively weak observation infrastructure in the sense of the geographical coverage of the data, the degree of maintenance of observation equipment, and the quality of the data. In addition, the report noted insufficiencies in the collection and sharing of basic data. Importantly, also, the report notes that the early warning systems that are in place tend to be inadequate and do not often have impact-based forecasting which is standardised, provides continuous updates and integrates a variety of risk indicators.

As such the road map aims to provide support for sustainable, context-specific and cost-effective solutions, processes and frameworks, including bridging the information and communication technology gap. Strengthening meteorological services and ealy warning systems, the report states, will also also require broader interventions such as the elaboration of appropriate legislation and support for governance mechanisms for hydrometeorological services, as well as the fostering of close cross-sectoral and regional relationships between national stakeholders and local service users, and capacity building.

At a time when two billion people globally are experiencing varying degrees of water stress as a result of climate change, but also of the increasing anthropogenic pressures on water resources for food production, clothing and domestic use, researchers at the London based  Chatham House think tank have examined the issue of trade related water risks, which they argue is exacerbating water insecurity and deepening inequalities between countries in the global North and countries in the global South.

Some experts estimate that 50% of the water used to produce goods imported into the North comes from developing countries already hard hit by climate change and the challenges of development. However, these countries, which have a major need for job creation, pay less attention to environmental and social conditions in order to lower production costs and attract investment, thus creating competition in water use between the vital needs of local populations and industrialists, who effectively capture the resource in order to produce the goods they market abroad.

It is currently estimated that on average 30% of the world's freshwater withdrawals are used to manufacture goods for export, and dependence on ‘external water use’ to meet domestic consumption demand can be even higher (by 40% to 80% in some Northern countries). This export oriented industrial production also causes a great deal of pollution, in particular from industrial effluent and the release of untreated wastewater into the natural environment. China is a case in point : the world's ’largest workshop’ has faced many water pollution challenges and spends billions of dollars a year on wastewater treatment projects.

The study examines many cases of conflicts between different water uses in various sectors of the global economy.

One of these is agricultural production. Agriculture is one of the economic sectors that has the greatest negative impact on water resources. The largest footprint is accounted for by beef production, but crops such as wheat, rice, cotton, sugar cane, fodder and corn are also water-intensive.  The trade in these crops alone accounts for some 15% of the world’s water consumption. The countries most affected by unsustainable irrigation practices are Mexico, Spain, Turkmenistan, South Africa, Morocco and Australia.

Turning to another economic sector, namely textiles, the balance sheet in terms of water use is also negative, largely due to cotton cultivation, but also to the pollution caused to the resource by the chemicals used in the clothing or footwear manufacturing cycle, as is the case in Bangladesh (with a strong local impact on the health of the population and agricultural production). For example, the production of a single pair of jeans can consume  up to 8,000 litres of water, while the production of a leather bag can represent a water footprint of up to 17,000 litres

Another sector with a major impact on water is the extractive industry. The extraction and processing of minerals also has a major impact on water resources, in particular on groundwater.  Although no binding international instrument currently exists to address this issue, numerous initiatives have been launched at international level.

These include the Glasgow Declaration for Fair Water Footprints, launched at COP 26 in 2021, which focuses on the equitable use and allocation of water at the source of production (zero water pollution, sustainable and equitable abstraction and use of water, full access to drinking water, sanitation and hygiene for workers, sustaining and protecting nature, and drought and flood planning).

Another such initiative is the European Directive on Environmental Crime, which will come into force in 2026. This will make illegal depletion of water and pollution punishable by prison sentences and fines at company level. Also in Europe, the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)  sets a process in motion whereby larger companies in the European area will have to report on the impact of their activities, particularly in overseas supply chains for food, fertilizers, textiles and green hydrogen. This directive is particularly aimed at environmental issues such as water use. Finally, in the near future, we will need to keep an eye on initiatives within the World Trade Organization, which could play an essential role in supporting, transparency and compliance, particularly with regard to environmental standards.

On the 3rd of June, during the Bonn Climate Change Conference 2024 , the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) hosted an event on ‘watering the clean energy transition’. This event explored the relationships between water and energy in the context of the transition to clean sources of energy. 

As explained by the organisers, energy development that does not take sufficient account of water needs lead to disrupted energy delivery and untenable pressure on water systems that will wreak havoc on the economy, society, and the environment. All low and zero emission fuels and power sources for electrification need water, often at a large scale. Many countries lack the tools to effectively measure and manage these interdependencies, and therefore the deployment of best practices and climate resilient forms of water management will be a critical enabler of the clean energy transition.

In 2017, the International Energy Agency published a special report on the ‘Water-Energy Nexus’. The report explored the interconnections between water and energy and concluded that not only are water and energy deeply interconnected, but their interdependency is set to intensify in the coming years, with significant implications for both energy and water security. Each resource faces rising demands and constraints in many regions as a consequence of economic and population growth and climate change.

For example, the report finds that over the next 25 years, the amount of energy used in the water sector will more than double, mostly as a result of the expansion of energy intensive desalination projects. By 2040, it is expected that these desalination projects will account for 20% of water-related electricity demand. In addition, large-scale water transfer projects as well as increasing demand for wastewater treatment also contribute to the water sector’s rising energy needs. Currently the water sector accounts for some 4% of global electricity consumption, although this varies from around 3% in the United States to around 9% in the Middle East.

In the context of the energy transition, leading solutions for the energy storage needed for renewable power networks, pumped storage hydropower, lithium batteries and green hydrogen, are predominantly sourced by water. Despite the existence of these interconnections, there remain many knowledge gaps, risks, and opportunities related to the water-energy nexus. In the Nationally Determined Contributions (commitments made by countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions), there is as yet little attention for  the water dependency of clean energy measures, potentially putting the delivery of those measures at risk. Very little climate adaptation finance and action is targeted to the water resilience of the energy sector.

UN-Water and the International Universities Climate Alliance have undertaken a joint study to assess the scale and effect of the water dependency of various mitigation measures at the global level, particularly including those of the clean energy transition, and will present their findings at this event. They will also call for additional research to support national level assessments on the water-clean energy nexus and identification of opportunities to improve integration of water in climate mitigation plans in the next round of NDCs (2025).

Speaking at the event, Ms. Elke Hüttner, the Head of Department of Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure at GIZ highlighted the fact that water is a key lever for the clean energy transition and across different aspects of climate mitigation, with water-related measures accounting for at least 10% of man-made emissions. She is in favour of promoting water management as a resilience multiplier to achieve our climate adaptation and mitigation goals as well as a just energy transition.  She called for action to mainstream water in global energy and climate discourse. Without this, she said, the world cannot achieve the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C or to feed the world in the coming decades. Furthermore, she noted that realizing this in practice will require alliances across government, society, and the private sector and across the water, energy and climate sectors.

Interview with Bapon Fakhruddin, Green Climate Fund 

Tobias Schmitz: The Water Resilience for Economic Resilience Initiative argues that in these times of climate change, water has a double role, being both a major hazard of climate change and a powerful means to implement resilience within the broader economy. Water provides us with a key element to promote this resilience and steer economic development. Therefore, water should be at the forefront of economic planning for resilience. What is your opinion on this topic?

Bapon Fakhruddin: I fully agree with the statement.  Water is a critical resource that underpins various sectors of the economy, including agriculture, manufacturing, energy, and cities. Climate change is already causing significant impacts on water resources, such as increased temperatures, more intense droughts, and extreme flooding events. These impacts pose challenges to economic development, as they disrupt water availability and quality, affecting various economic activities.  If one looks at the sectoral impacts on economy has quite a strong interdependency with water. When you then bring in climate change as a critical element, there is a fundamental relationship and interdependency between the sector, water and climate change: one cannot talk about agriculture or energy without taking about water.

The Water Resilience for Economic Resilience Initiative (2023) argues that water should be at the forefront of economic planning for resilience. Water provides a key element to promote resilience and steer economic development in the face of climate change. Integrating water considerations into economic planning can help mitigate the risks associated with climate change and ensure a more sustainable future.

Climate change is having a fundamental effect on the water sector, and if we look at this from the point of view of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) itself, there is an impact of decision making not only on the economy, but also on key aspects of the national development plan and issues such as food security, environment, health and of course SDG 6. Water management has a huge economic impact, and if you are able to ensure that IWRM has been embedded into decision making through processes like multicriteria assessment, it is possible to make judgements about how to make the most efficient use of limited water resources. The modelling is quite complex, but it is possible to make these decisions

Tobias Schmitz: You mention complexity and multicriteria assessments. What tools do we have in our toolbox to support these choices?

Bapon Fakhruddin: First of all, we need to be in tune with the cross-domain, interoperable data envelope which helps us to assess overall risks. Once you have this data, it makes it possible to come up with analytics which can help you as a planner or policy maker, because you need to link this to numbers in terms of monetary value, etc. Of course, this requires proper data sets and not all countries do have this level of data available. 

Tobias Schmitz: The World Bank has just completed a first of its kind 360-degree review of spending in the water sector across the world. It finds that total spending is U.S. $164.6 billion, of which 85.5% is public spending, 6,9% is Official Development Assistance (ODA), 5,9% is through state-owned enterprises and the remaining 1,7% is private investment.  Public spending dominates the sector although ODA is significant also. Nevertheless, despite these investments we are clearly not on track for the achievement of the 2030 Goals, let alone ensure climate resilience of the sector. What options do we have going forward to leverage change and accelerate investments for a water secure future?

Bapon Fakhruddin: The picture is actually quite clear: indeed, there is 164 billion dollars available, while your demand for investment is 6,7 trillion dollars. This is a huge gap. So, you basically have to ask, who has this money? It soon becomes evident that no-one has this kind of money available, not even the multilateral development banks. This means that we have to change our financing model, or collaborative environment. It comes down to how you create your financing environment. Thoughts that come to mind are questions around how you create collaboration between multilateral banks, development finance institutions, climate finance institutions- and make sure that there is no duplication of efforts. We also need to look at scaling up because we tend to have a project focus, but we need to ask whether a project solves a particular problem. Similarly, governments may make flood forecasting assessments and response plans, but there needs to be careful thinking around the mobilisation of investments to finance these plans. Different financing models are required, such as revolving loans, water bonds, or public private partnerships, to provide longer term financing.

Tobias Schmitz: What is the potential of instruments such as blue bonds?

Bapon Fakhruddin: There is certainly a potential, but in order to set this in motion, you need proper legislation and policy in place, and also the initial investment is high – governments do not always want this kind of up-front investment. In the case of disaster responses, it is possible to take out disaster bonds which enable one to access funds immediately if there is a problem that one needs to respond to.

Tobias Schmitz: It seems as though you are saying that it is a lot about the enabling environment: about having the legislation in place, about having a very clear framework for public- private cooperation, and about the government being prepared to walk that route and to put the things in place that are needed to unleash the power of things like blue bonds investments. It seems quite surprising to me that you end up coming back to policiea and laws rater than looking at the investments themselves.

Bapon Fakhruddin: If you look at the water space, on themes like the need for the private sector to engage in the water sector, we have been discussing this for decades, but in reality the private sector does not invest, because they do not see a risk free environment in the sense of legislation and policies that enable them to derisk their investment, and if you cannot provide these kinds of things, nobody will come and invest their money.  

Tobias Schmitz: The interesting thing is that for instance you have this system of twinning of utilities whereby for instance a Dutch utility will twin with a utility in Indonesia in a partnership for ten years, and this fundamentally affects the confidence of banks and the bankability of proposals in an environment in which the receiving utility may be in a difficult position financially.

Bapon Fakhruddin: You have touched on the enabling environment again because with such a partnership, it provides the foundations to leverage funding. These are beautiful models, and at GCF we always say that innovative financing is very important. Globally, only the GCF is available to offer flexible financing: if you need 0% interest rates for 40 years, we can make that happen, and no other bank can do that. If you need an instrument like a guarantor to support your utility, we can provide these kinds of things. If you need an equity fund, we can help create it and make it a revolving fund from our side. Countries should utilize the financing options we have at our disposal.  In addition, we have our readiness funds, where a country can use interim funding to prepare the enabling environment through legislation and policies that attract donors and multilaterals to provide a loan or to invest.

Tobias Schmitz: So, in that sense the readiness fund and other tools that the GCF has are putting in place are responding precisely to what you are saying: they are creating the space for the enabling environment to be out in place so that the rest can develop by itself naturally once that ‘infrastructure’ is in place.

Bapon Fakhruddin: Yes, although the challenge remains that because of the siloed environment of the water sector, the water sector does not have a strong relationship with the ministry of finance or the ministry of environment. Climate finance tends to go directly to the ministry of finance or the ministry of environment, so unless there is strong interdepartmental collaboration, it will be difficult for the water sector to access that finance.

Tobias Schmitz: That actually takes me to the core of my next question: the World Bank report I mentioned seems to underline the paltry public spending on the water sector, indicating that only 1,2% of public funds are devoted to the water sector on average, whereas spending on 'human development' such as education, health and other can be up to 50 times higher. Are we not in this sense barking up the wrong tree and should water not be mainstreamed more within health and education sectors as a critical element for both of them?

Bapon Fakhruddin:  Leveraging change and accelerating investments for a water secure future requires a comprehensive approach that involves collaboration, innovation, establishing metrics, mobilizing financial tools, and improving the resilience of the water sector. By implementing these measures, we can strive towards achieving the 2030 goals and ensuring the climate resilience of the sector.. Water is being used as a leverage or sideline support for other sectors, but we need to bring water to the forefront of our thinking.

Tobias Schmitz: Much of our existing water infrastructure, especially for storage systems such as dams as well as the irrigation sector, is based on historical rainfall (precipitation) records. In an era of climate change, we can no longer rely on this record to predict the future with confidence. This would seem to imply that investments in climate resilience in the water sector are inherently risky and even a touch experimental. What can we do to increase the confidence in our investments in the sector in this regard? 

Bapon Fakhruddin: This is a very good point, and it is the reason why we say that we need to have a risk-based decision-making system. Unless you understand your overall climate risk – which is an overview of the associated exposure, hazards and vulnerabilities -you cannot assess the lifetime of your asset. Infrastructure designed for a one in hundred-year event may not last one hundred years because of a changing climate. Once you understand these risks you will be able to fine tune the design aspect and implement the project. There is quite a standard way to do this: it is necessary to assess the vulnerabilities, the exposure to hazards that is associated with the infrastructure, and develop a dynamic, adaptive pathway which provide step by step mechanisms to respond to needs.  Also we must act decisively and innovatively. There are several tools, technologies are available for assessing risks and guiding our investment decisions. Investing in climate-resilient infrastructure is no longer optional; it is imperative. We must bolster our water storage capabilities, strengthen flood defenses, and secure our water supply systems. Nature-based solutions, as demonstrated in many countries, offer a promising path forward. Finally, collaboration is key. As we plan for the future, we must consider multi-sector trade-offs and embrace both incremental and transformational adaptations. Our strategies must be comprehensive and far-reaching.

Tobias Schmitz: Does that imply a more incremental approach, that the horizon is not long term but planning is more a step by step process?

 Bapon Fakhruddin: You are planning for the long term, but you are working in segments or modules, evaluating each step in turn and making decisions on the next intervention based on the results achieved.

Tobias Schmitz: So one needs stronger monitoring and evaluation?

Bapon Fakhruddin: You need a proper health check for your assets: asset metering , using new sensors and related technology which can help monitor the health of an asset on an ongoing basis and assess its overall life span.

Tobias Schmitz: … And as you mention there is quite a lot of new technology which enables real time monitoring of assets.

 

Bapon Fakhruddin: Yes, and it could actually be a revolution for your asset management perspectives, because if you understand your assets, you can actually reduce your operations and maintenance costs. Instead of being faced with critical damage, you can act in advance to ensure ongoing maintenance.

Tobias Schmitz: The Green Climate Fund has a large portfolio of investments aimed to achieve a water secure future, and it has now entered a new phase of co-production of projects with partners which appears to be iterative and in which the GCF is using its store of knowledge to propose interventions from its side also? Is this observation correct and what can you say about the new direction being taken?

Tobias Schmitz: Well, it is about how we have evolved to support direct access to the GCF for countries (including, as well as about supporting private sector involvement. We do not want to act as a post office anymore, but we prefer to work together on a proposal. We have often received the comment that the application process can take time and it is often difficult for countries to distinguish development issues from climate change issues. Our funds are for climate change, and to help understand where we bring the additionality and complementarity, it is more fruitful to work through co-production. We have managed to reduce the transactional time, whereby in stead of having six iterations of a proposal with a turnaround time of one to one and a half month, with a total time of one and a half years, we can now cut it down to three months.

 Tobias Schmitz: So, it actually saves time and simplifies the process?

Bapon Fakhruddin: Initially it is complex as required stakeholder engagements and sharing ideas on transformational adaptation, climate impact and paradigm shift, and it is necessary to spend time together with your partner to share new ideas, innovative technologies and solutions that could be brought to the market. This process is faster than you receive a concept note and back and forth comments, we spent too much transitional time, energy and money. Using a co-design and co-creation ensure a more interesting projects, moving beyond traditional thinking to paradigm shifts.  

 

The GCF has entered a new phase of co-production of projects with partners, using its store of knowledge to propose interventions. This iterative approach allows for the integration of local knowledge and expertise in project design and implementation. The GCF's new direction emphasizes the importance of collaboration and knowledge-sharing in addressing the complex challenges of water security and climate change.

 

In February 2021, the Africa Water Investment Programme (AIP) was adopted at the 34th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as part of the Priority Action Plan of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA).  The launch of this initiative was aimed at addressing the continent's existing gap in achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) on water and sanitation, through an initiative to mobilise investments of US$30 billion per year in the sector until 2030.

Tanzania has been working since last year on an investment drive, with its  Tanzania Water Investment Programme of U.S. $ 15.02 billion between 2023 and 2030. The funds will be allocated towards four priorities : 40% will go towards to social investments (enhancing access to drinking water and sanitation), 8% to institution-building and skills development, 32% to economic development and water resource management, and 20% to improving climate resilience and environmental sustainability.

At this stage, the Tanzanian government has committed to the mobilisation of 43% from internal sources, and is engaging with partners to find external financing for the remaining 57%.

Tanzania’s Vice-President, Philip Mpango, announced, the launch of the ‘mind the gap’ campaign – a reference to the existing gap in investments - at the 78th session of the UN General Assembly. Following on from this, the Tanga Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Authority, Tanzania's public water utility, announced the issue of green bonds to support the expansion of services and infrastructure. On February 22, 2024, green bonds were issued on the Dar Es Salaam stock exchange, and by May 15, 2024, the authority had officially reached 103% of its financial target, raising 53.12 billion Tanzanian shillings (around US $20.3 million – of which 65% from local investors and 35% from international investors). One of the wishes of the Tanzanian Ministry of Water and Irrigation is to strengthen and improve the capacity of its teams to develop bankable projects, ready for financing, and to mobilize climate funds. To this end, steps are being taken with the African Development Bank.

In this regard, AIP’s Director General Alex Simalabwi declared that "innovative financing mechanisms such as green bonds will be at the heart of AIP's approach to transforming investment prospects in Africa's water sector", recalling that foreign investors were appreciating the investment opportunities in infrastructure projects, having already US$ 550 billion in assets under management. Lastly, he estimates that nearly US$10 billion could be raised each year on the continent to invest in water-related infrastructure.

The National Water Fund has already created a loan window for water companies with favourable interest rates.

The Tanzanian government's efforts continue. Parliament has just approved a new water budget for the period from 2024-2025 which aims to  accelerate investment such that the country achieves 85% coverage of access to drinking water in rural areas and 95% in urban areas by 2025. This involves 247 water projects in urban areas and 1905 water projects in rural areas. In addition, 22 dam projects will be launched, 26 small and medium-sized dams and 45 larger dams are under construction. All diesel water pumps in the country will be replaced by electric pumps to ensure a reliable water supply all year round. Finally, the government is planning to drill 5 wells in each of the 25 districts of mainland Tanzania.

Australia is among the countries in the world that is most affected by climate change, and this has a powerful effect on water resources availability and variability. The Murray-Darling River Basin, Australia's largest, is expected  to be particularly hard hit (especially its lower reaches covering southern New South Wales, Victoria and eastern South Australia).

The Murray Darling Basin is located in the interior region of south eastern Australia and covers a surface area of 1,061,469 km² - comparable to the joint surface areas of France and Spain, with a population of 2.4 million, among which people from more than 50 First Nations groups. In recent years, the river has been the subject of competition between different users at the heart of numerous tensions between different users, and the need to ensure sufficient water to support the functioning of ecosystems has been of particular concern.  

A basin plan was put in place in 2012, which is due for review in 2026, and in support of this process, a Basin Leadership Summit was held in April this year, followed by the publication of an official response to stakeholder contributions has been published. This took place in the context of mounting concerns that the annual return of water for environmental purposes is lagging behind the established goals (2186 gigalitres released against a goal of returning 3200 gigalitres). Part of the discussion has equally shifted , underlining a desire to move away from a purely volumetric approach, towards setting clearer environmental goals for the basin

For this reason, the Australian government, faced with an assessment of failure, had made a series of announcements in December 2023, at the occasion of the introduction of the Restoring our Rivers Act , including the postponement of the end of the 3.5-year plan until December 2027, as well as the introduction of financial support for communities affected by water buybacks.

With a view to starting afresh and on a better footing, the government decided to organise a consultation with all parties which would iron out disputes and find common ground for solutions that feed into the next basin plan, to be drawn up by 2026.

The first of these meetings, the "Leaders' Summit", took place on April 16 and 17, 2024 in Sydney. Over a hundred participants attended, including members of the basin authority, state and local governments, representatives of First Nations peoples, the environmental sector, industry, science, natural resource management and tourism.

At the Leaders’ Summit, Andrew Mc Conville, Chief Executive of the Basin Authority, stated: "We know there are many values and interests when it comes to the basin. Different views on how water should be shared and managed are often a point of tension, but if we want rivers for future generations, we must all work towards managing the basin in a way that achieves this goal". The main aim of the meeting was to allow each stakeholder to express their views, and also to understand the fears or problems of other parties. In the end, an initial consensus was reached at the end of the 2-day meeting.

Through a series of workshops, key elements emerged that will be used in future negotiations on the next basin plan, laying the foundations for a new approach. This can be expected to revolve around the following elements :building and maintain goodwill and relationships for ongoing discussions, further integrating First Nations cultural ties and ecological knowledge, securing agreement that healthy communities and rivers are a common need, ensuring that there is a fair, equitable and inclusive process and outcomes, ensuring that the basin plan is dynamic and adapts to changes such as climate and technology, broadening the scope of the basin plan to include ecological and community considerations, and strengthening tools and governance at community level.

A second "Reflections on Rivers" conference was held in Albury on June 18, 2024 with over 300 participants, where ideas and solutions for improving the state of rivers were shared with the authorities, again with a view to the next basin plan 2026.

Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS), otherwise referred to as ‘forever chemicals’ are currently present in all European waterways. These are the findings of study  published in early June by the Pesticide Action Network Europe (PAN Europe), an NGO that advocates against dependence on synthetic pesticides.

Per- and polyfluoroalkylates are synthetic organic compunds and therefore mamny of them fall into the category of ‘persistent organic pollutants which do not naturally decompose easily and can therefore have long term environmental effects. These persistent organic pollutants are covered under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. The treaty aims to protect human health and the environment from chemicals that remain intact in the environment for long periods by amongst others restricting the production and use of certain chemicals, reducing releases of these chemicals into the environment, and ensuring that stockpiles or wastes that contain these chemicals are safely managed.  

PFAS are used extensively throughout the world in industry because of their many properties: they are water, grease and dirt repellent, and they are chemically and thermally stable. These products can be found in fire-fighting foams, textiles, waterproofing, paints, paper coatings, plastics, electronics, battery manufacture, heat pumps and waxes.

Currently, 38 of these substances are still  authorised for use in Europe. PFAS are highly toxic to humans and the environment. Although the science of PFAS is still emerging and there are thousands of different chemical compounds to be considered, most of them are considered to be moderately to highly toxic and in humans they are currently associated with thyroid disease, increased cholesterol levels, liver damage and kidney and testicular cancer.

The study was carried out in 10 European Union countries: Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Austria, Spain, Croatia, Bulgaria and Sweden. The study involved a set of 23 surface water samples taken from rivers and 6 samples from groundwater sources.  The analyses of the data were carried out by the Karlsruhe Water Technology Centre. In Germany.

The main findings of the document are as follows:

• All the water samples analyzed contained PFAS, and 98% of the PFAS detected were TFA (the degraded derivatives of PFAS).
• 79% of samples exceeded the European directive's proposed limit 1 of 500 nanograms per liter of water (levels ranged from 370 nanograms per liter to 3300 nanograms per liter). In Luxembourg, for example, in the Alzette river, the TFA concentration level was 1220 nanograms per liter; in a spring near Dommeldange, the TFA level was just under 1000 nanograms per liter.
• TFA levels represent the highest known area-wide contamination of water by a man-made chemical, ahead of refrigerants, wastewater or industrial discharges.

Salomé Roynel, PAN Europe’s Advocacy Officer, commented:  "We are dealing with very high levels of contamination, which are poorly monitored. In fact, what we're tending to highlight here is contamination that has remained under the radar, and which is above all contamination that can be described as widespread".

During European Green Week, Alain Maron, Brussels Minister for Climate Transition, who chaired the European Union Council meetings on the environment, added: "We need to move towards a gradual phase-out of their marketing. Quite frankly, I don't see how we can get rid of PFASs other than by stopping producing them in the wild". For his part, Francesco de Lotto of the European Economic and Social Committee added that "we need to adopt a new approach to water ecosystem management, I would say, with a new global policy, because all the components of our society - citizens, farmers and industries - have different objectives and needs, but we need to combine water management into a single approach".

The study concludes by proposing a rapid ban on PFAS pesticides, the implementation of the new hazard classes "persistent, mobile and toxic" (PM) and "very persistent and very mobile" (vPvM) under the EU Pesticides Regulation, the implementation of the general restriction on PFAS under the REACH chemicals regulation, the categorization of PFAS as a "priority substance" under the Water Framework Directive, and finally, setting monitoring obligations and limit values for PFAS.

 

By the 9th of June, the number of fires burning in the Pantanal wetland are almost an order of magnitude larger (935% higher) than for the same period last year.  Between the 1st of January and the 9th of June this year, 3,400 km² has burned, which is the highest on record for the period.  The peak period for such wildfires is still far off, as they mostly occur in August and September, but the wetlands are dry due to the lack of rain and vulnerable to the outbreak of fire. At the current rate, the fires are on track to surpass the extent of the damage that occurred in 2020.  

In 2020, fires resulted in unprecedented damage to the world’s largest wetland and its associated ecosystems: studies based on images from the Sentinel 2 satellites taken between June and October showed that 35% of the biome has been burnt.

The fires are the result of weak rains which have disrupted the seasonal flooding patterns of the rivers: usually the rains last from October to March and floodwaters fill the Pantanal wetlands, which store the water and release it slowly over the months from April to September. Now however, areas that are normally flooded during the rainy season are lying bare and exposed to the elements, and the dry reeds and grasses are creating conditions for the ignition and expansion of fires. In the state of Mato Grosso do Sul in Brazil, which contains 60% of the biome of the Parana-Paraguay wetland system, researchers identified 698 fires which took place between January and the first week of June. Currently, the Parana and Paraguay rivers have low flow levels, which is also affecting the transportation capacity of ships serving the area.

The Pantanal system is the world’s largest tropical wetland, covering an area of 187,000 km² across Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil. It is a complex tapestry of wetlands and grasslands which are crossed by waterways and alternate with dense forest. The Pantanal system therefore contains a variety of different habitats, which in total are estimated to be home to some 2,000 species of plants, 580 bird species, 271 fish species, 174 mammals – famously including the Jaguar and the giant anteater – and 57 amphibians.  In the year 2000, the Pantanal was declared a World Heritage Site. Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay have signed and ratified the Convention on Biological diversity, and a goal has been set in the past to protect 10% of the Pantanal’s territory by creating or expanding conservation units. Currently, however, just over 5% of the territory is formally protected.   

Recent research has shown that there is a close relationship between climate change and fire activity. For South America as a whole, an increasing trend in fire risk and extent is predicted across a range of different climate scenarios. The number of heatwaves associated with record-breaking temperatures have also been increasing over Pantanal, and the 2020 Pantanal fires resulted from a combination of extremely hot and dry conditions and the negligent use of fire. However, climate change is not the only factor driving the fires: there is a relatively recent history of expansion of ranching and farming in the area, as well as the expansion of infrastructure projects. Research has found that 60% of the fire outbreaks was concentrated at distances less than 5 km from roads, waterways, and railways and that 80% was concentrated at distances less than 10 km from areas with human activities. Therefore, fires are closely associated with human expansion in the area, and research into fire hotspots can help to protect the environment and establish measures for fire control.