In a publication launched during the 2024 World Water Week, IUCN has compiled the achievements and lessons learned during 15 years of implementation of its Building River Dialogue and Governance (BRIDGE) transboundary water governance programme. BRIDGE was conceived in 2011 to help secure sustainable management of water resources for poverty reduction, nature conservation, economic growth and international cooperation by means of effective forms of transboundary cooperation. Since that time, the programme has expanded both in its scope and in its geographical reach, starting with a focus on nine transboundary river basins in three regions – the Mesoamerica region, the Andean Region and the Mekong – and growing to a programme currently encompassing twenty transboundary river basins in six regions of the world – including West and Central Africa, East Africa and Southern Africa

As a practitioners’ approach which is nevertheless strongly rooted in science and a thorough understanding of international water law, BRIDGE has honed a flexible, modular and demand-driven approach to water diplomacy which it refers to as ‘multiscalar’. A point of departure for the multiscalar approach is the idea that water governance capacity is built most effectively through the participation of stakeholders at different institutional levels, in a process that is coordinated from local to national and transboundary levels.

The multiscalar approach can be contrasted with a restricted interpretation of water diplomacy, i.e. one which involves a narrow focus on high level dialogue between governments – such as at Ministerial level or between Departments of Foreign Affairs - with the objective of putting a formal agreement (treaty) in place. The BRIDGE approach is different and complementary to this: although water diplomacy always takes place under the authority of sovereign governments, the underlying vision is that if agreements are to work on the ground, they also need the agreement of water users themselves.

To achieve this, the programme is demand driven and participatory and ‘joins the dots’ between different institutional levels from the global through the transnational level to the national and local levels. In addition, it strives both for formal agreements and rules of procedure at different levels and facilitates a multitude of more informal processes. The latter serve to build the required knowledge base, build the capacity of actors in the water management process, empower ‘champions’ of change, and generally build trust between stakeholders and thereby strengthen the institutions on which transboundary cooperation depends.

Because transboundary water governance is highly context specific, different challenges may present themselves at different times. In response, BRIDGE deploys a variety of building blocks – demonstration, dialogue, advice and support, leadership and learning - in response to the demands of the moment.

As a first step, the BRIDGE programme has assigned a prominent role to demonstrating how cooperation can be made operational. By initiating pilot activities at relatively limited scale, it is possible to test how cooperation can be made operational in a basin. This can serve as the  basis for confidence and trust building, shared learning and joint action on concrete steps in building national and transboundary water governance capacity.

A second key ingredient of the strategy is learning: by facilitating training and capacity building for multiple stakeholders - including municipal and civil society actors as well as high‐level national officials - in water governance and law, international negotiations and benefit sharing, a deeper understanding of water governance can be cultivated in a basin.

Thirdly, BRIDGE facilitates all manner of informal and formal dialogues in the interest of consensus building: demonstration activities and learning events are used catalyse new dialogues on technical, economic and social development, as well as on policy matters where needed.

Fourth, BRIDGE invests in a Champions Network, supporting leadership development and empowering a network of key individuals to engage in and help drive the process of transboundary water cooperation and the solidification of governance mechanisms.

Lastly, BRIDGE provides technical assistance to governments and other stakeholders on water governance arrangements, including effective institutional and legal frameworks, benefit sharing and sustainable financial management in transboundary hot spots regionally and globally.

Over a period of fifteen years, a multitude of basin agreements have been signed, institutions have been formally established, rules of procedure have been agreed on and put in place, implementation capacity has been developed, all resting on a process of trust building and dialogue for consensus. The system is flexible and moves forward in an incremental manner, gradually working around any obstacles that emerge thanks to a long-term institutional presence. It also builds on pre-existing initiatives, institutions and frameworks, seeking synergies with other organisations and existing government initiatives. At times, further research is required to generate data and information, which can be used to initiative a further round of dialogue. 

Over time, the result is a diversity of different outputs and outcomes stemming from the variety of different tools that have been deployed. But each of these supports the process of incremental change towards ever more effective forms of transboundary water governance.

On the 6th of August, the Limpopo Watercourse Commission (LIMCOM) announced the commencement of the 1st Joint Basin Survey (JBS) for the Limpopo River Basin (LRB). The survey is expected to generate data in support of decision making for the joint management of the Limpopo Basin, which is shared by four countries namely Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, in particular on topics such as water quality, river health and ecological flow requirements.

The JBS is the latest development in a series of high-profile events that have taken place this year to mark milestones in transboundary cooperation on the Limpopo. In March, a meeting was held in Musina, South Africa, at which ministers from the  LRB member states signed an endorsement to the Amendment of the LIMCOM Agreement to formalise the establishment of the Council of Ministers as the LIMCOM’s main policy and decision-making body on transboundary water resources development and management issues.

In May this year, member states met in Pretoria to agree on a set of transboundary priorities for the basin, which will guide transboundary and national investments in the basin in the coming years. This took the form of a basin-wide consultative workshop on Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA), a technical process through which the key elements of a Strategic Action Plan (SAP) for the basin can be developed.

The project regional coordinator, Dr. Eddie Riddell, notes that these developments mark the acceleration of the activities of LIMCOM as a River Basin Organisation (RBO): the organisation has existed on paper for some twenty years, leading to formal hosting of the LIMCOM Secretariat, in July 2014 and the appointment of the Executive Secretary in 2018 and investment in the basin through GIZ funding  by means of a situation assessment of the basin, referred to as a monograph. Subsequently though programmes supported by USAID, support was provided for institutional development, enabling the secretariat to appoint a small staff complement in 2018. Currently, LIMCOM is implementing a project supported by the Global Environmental Facility and UNDP which aims “to achieve integrated, cross-sectoral, ecosystem-based management of the Limpopo River to uplift the living standards of the basin’s population and conserve the basin’s resources and ecosystem services”. LIMCOM is the custodian of this project and operates with a six-person core team, supported by the Global Water Partnership Southern Africa. The Joint Basin Survey is a scientific component which links to the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) plan for the basin. This project commenced early in 2023 and was followed by a political launch in March this year, featuring its formal endorsement by ministers of the four basin countries. The work streams are therefore underway, there is political buy-in at the highest level, which will lead to both a basin agreement and the development of a strategic basin plan.  

Contrary to the situation in many RBO’s in their early stages of development, and because there has been a lot of project level investment in the Limpopo basin in the past, the approach of the joint basin survey is focused on closing remaining data gaps rather than commencing a broad-based baseline assessment.  Considerable data gathering has taken place during the development of the Limpopo Monograph, further improvement made under the USAID Support, particularly on ecological flow requirements a gap to determine a complete river health of the system was identified. The current JBS aims in particular to close these gaps.  In addition, the ‘data drive’ will be used to build a transboundary environmental flows team, in dialogue with national environmental specialists which have each developed their own approaches to environmental monitoring, such that a gradual harmonisation of the approaches of the different countries can be achieved under a common environmental monitoring framework.

In parallel, the countries sharing the basin will be requiring more clarity on the procedures for sharing of data. A document on data and information sharing protocol is being drafted, which will need to be workshopped and validated by the member states. Ultimately the data will feed into a management system: the Limpopo Management Information System (LIMIS), which is being updated and rebuilt to capture all the geospatial information, biological data from the river basin, as well as remaining open ended and flexible functionality that can respond to management tools, research outputs contributed by the countries in a cooperative process.

The 1st Limpopo JBS started on the 7th of August 2024 and will span two months. It will involve comprehensive data collection and analysis of the water quality and aquatic ecological status to assess the current state of the river basin’s water resources, ecosystems, and socio-economic conditions to inform policymaking aimed at preserving and enhancing the basin’s ecological, hydrological, and socioeconomic well-being for present and future generations.

A multidisciplinary team of experts led by Rivers of Life (consultant) and representatives of the four LIMCOM Member States as well as the LIMCOM Secretariat will conduct the survey that is also expected to pave the way for the establishment of a transboundary river health monitoring team in the LRB. The key areas of focus for the survey include the following:

• Water Quality: Gathering critical data and insight on the water quantity to establish a baseline for future monitoring and management efforts. This will assist in identifying significant areas requiring attention and ensure the sustainable use of water resources.
• Ecosystem Health: Evaluating the health of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems within the basin and detecting key biodiversity hotspots and areas needing conservation to protect endangered species and habitats.
• Socio-Economic Impact: Examining the socio-economic conditions of communities within the basin and highlighting their dependence on the river to inform the development of sustainable water management practices.
• Climate Change Resilience: Assessing the basin’s vulnerability to climate change impacts and developing adaptive strategies to enhance the resilience of both human and natural systems.

LIMCOM Executive Secretary, Mr Sergio Sitoe said the findings from the 1st Limpopo JBS will also provide a foundation for the development of a comprehensive and updated Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) plan for the basin. “The IWRM plan for LIMCOM will be critical as it will guide future actions to ensure the sustainable use and protection of the basin’s water resources, promote regional cooperation, and enhance the well-being of communities,” Mr Sitoe said.

 LIMCOM Project Regional Coordinator, Dr. Eddie Riddell noted that 1st Limpopo JBS will have a positive impact on how transboundary water resources are managed in the basin. “LIMCOM extends its gratitude to its Member States, the lead consultant for the JBS, partners, and all stakeholders for their commitment to undertake this important initiative that will go a long way in making the Limpopo River Basin a Dynamic, Prosperous and Sustainable River Basin for All,” Dr. Riddell said.

The 1st Limpopo JBS is being executed under the project “Integrated Transboundary River Basin Management for the Sustainable Development of the Limpopo River Basin.” The project, which aims to uplift the living standards of the basin’s population and conserve the basin’s resources and ecosystem services is being implemented by LIMCOM in partnership with the Global Water Partnership Southern Africa (GWPSA), with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) through funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF). More information about the project is available HERE.

The Limpopo Basin drains an area of about 412,000 km² and flows over a length of 1750 km, starting at the confluence of the Marico and Crocodile rivers in South Africa. It forms the border between Botswana and South Africa, flowing north eastwards over a distance of 394 km to the confluence with the Shashe River which flows in from Zimbabwe and Botswana. It then flows in a southeasterly direction for 219 km, forming the border between South Africa and Zimbabwe, before flowing into Mozambique. More than 80% of the population of the basin lives in its upper reaches in South Africa, including major metropolitan areas like Johannesburg and Pretoria. There is widespread water scarcity throughout the basin, and Botswana in particular is an arid country which depends to large degree on the waters of the Limpopo. Both in Zimbabwe and in Mozambique, irrigated agriculture is an important economic activity, while in South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe there are also significant mining activities in the basin.   

Five hundred days have passed since the historic UN 2023 Water Conference. While both the progress on big promises and ambition shown at that conference have been slow, we are finally on the brink of a significant milestone: the imminent appointment of a UN Special Water Envoy by the UN Secretary-General. This appointment marks the beginning of a crucial reform in how the United Nations addresses water issues—a topic that has often been overlooked despite its fundamental importance.

The fragmented and insufficient approach to global water policy and governance worsens how current UN processes fail to fully recognize the pivotal role of water in achieving their objectives. Change is not just necessary but urgent. New system-wide reforms at the UN and beyond aim to shift this narrative, providing a coordinated and effective mechanism for a new approach to global water governance.

Not a day goes by without another news headline on an unprecedented water-related disaster somewhere in the world. Too much, too little and polluted waters batter our environments, economies and societies and climate change only makes this worse. Increasing water insecurity undermines our ability to reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In the many challenges they aim to address, water can, and should, be a key organising principle. Water underlies and links all the SDGs and if captured, understood, valued and governed in its full capacity, water is the best lever to help achieve these goals.

Naming a UN Special Water Envoy is just a first step to the global governance transformation the current crisis demands.

To better understand and address the interdependencies of water with everything else, and to use water as a lever for change, the way we make decisions on water has to move from siloed technical, local and national structures to a new – local to global – approach that reflects its global and universal significance.

Reinvent partnerships

We must reinvent water partnerships so that they are inclusive, transformative, and global.

Because water is literally connected to every challenge, everything we value and every goal we want to achieve, water also is connected to every rightsholder, duty-bearer and stakeholder. And this connective capacity underlines that only through inclusive and just partnerships we can stop failing practices and develop transformative programs and projects, at all scales and including all voices and sectors in society.

Multilateralism today is strained by a changing balance of economic power across the globe, and geopolitical rivalries. Yet without cooperation among nation states we will struggle to address global challenges. Pre-emptive action on water can prevent the higher costs associated with emergency responses, health crises, economic disruptions, and security risks. There are many building blocks in place.

Examples of good water governance and diplomacy exist at local, national, transboundary, and regional levels. These partnerships span many regions and other partnerships around the globe, and merit value if we position them in the context of the multilateral agreements on climate, biodiversity, finance and beyond. Reform of the UN approach to water, leadership from a new Special Water Envoy and a Youth envoy within the existing agreements helps anchor water – and its transformative capacity – while making best use of current UN processes. No need for more bureaucracy or fragmentation, but concerted water action maximising existing capacities and agreements. A converged agenda, led by the UN Water Envoy and anchored in the UN System will help catalyse action and attention on convergence.

A global water governance mechanism

The 2023 UN Water Conference laid an ambitious groundwork for global water governance, calling for the appointment of a UN Water Envoy and the launch of a UN System-wide Strategy for Water and Sanitation. And with the agreed upon follow up UN Conferences in 2026 and 2028 this will set the stage to anchor water issues across the UN system, agencies, and foster the needed leadership throughout the agreements on climate, biodiversity and sustainability.

At present, water features across multiple UN conventions and frameworks. It is also integrated into broader UN agreements and frameworks, and over 30 UN organisations carry out programs related to water and sanitation. UN agencies active on water are loosely coupled through UN Water, an inter-agency mechanism created in 2003. However, each agency contributes to UN Water on a voluntary basis and through its own distinctive mandate, and while UN Water aims to inform policy processes, support monitoring and reporting and help build knowledge and inspiring action, it is not able to reconcile these mandates around water.

The new global water governance approach must politically and institutionally unite local-to-global efforts with a mandated framework for coordinated action, scale up support knowledge sharing and best practice for water governance, and secure a multilateral convening mechanism and space. The need for this reform is apparent when we consider that water issues transcend local and national boundaries. Doing this while respecting national sovereignty and local contexts will be a significant challenge but is essential for addressing the full hydrological cycle. It would provide the necessary leadership and dedicated capacity needed for the implementation of a global water agenda.

The path forward

In October, the final report from the Global Commission on the Economics of Water hopes to reignite calls for unified action on water at the UN level.

By leveraging the UN's legitimacy and structure, a consolidated global water agenda must be pursued. The UN Special Envoy for Water will raise the visibility and urgency of this vital mission and lead its development and implementation.

A global water governance mechanism would ensure a comprehensive strategy for collective action on water. And inspire the world to agree to work under clear and measurable goals to stabilise the hydrological cycle, foster climate resilience, secure equitable access to water and sanitation, and develop and implement transformed food systems.

These bold steps towards unified global water governance are not merely an aspiration – they are an imperative. The time for fragmented approaches has passed; we must now embrace a cohesive, inclusive, global water strategy to secure our water future for all.

Following the various commitments made at the 2023 UN Water Conference, stakeholders gathered at the UN High-Level Political Forum in New York on July 16, 2024 at the special “SDG 6 and Water Agenda” event to launch the first-ever UN System Wide Strategy (SWS) on water and sanitation. The strategy is intended to provide a comprehensive approach for United Nations entities with a mandate which includes themes related to water and sanitation to work collaboratively – not as a sector in a ‘silo’, but holistically to address the interrelated cross-sectoral aspects of water and sanitation.

This follows the adoption in September 2023 of General Assembly Resolution 77/334 77/334. which requested the Secretary-General to present such a strategy in consultation with Member States before the end of the seventy-eighth session. The SWS has been developed by UN-Water, the United Nations’ inter-agency coordination mechanism for water and sanitation, under the leadership of the UN-Water Chair, as requested by the Secretary-General.

Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the UN, declared on this occasion that “It is the UN system that unites in favor of safe drinking water and sanitation for all. Our new unified approach will strengthen collaboration across the sectors, countries and communities we support, drive progress towards sustainable development and transform lives.” She added that “this work is urgent. Progress has been limited on global water and sanitation commitments, including Sustainable Development Goal 6”. She recalled that by 2022, 2.2 billion people would not have access to safely managed drinking water and 3.5 billion would not have access to safely managed sanitation services, while water consumption is increasing by almost 1% every year.

Beyond the need to accelerate progress in the implementation of SDG 6, the document mentions the gradual increase in water and sanitation challenges, amongst others as a result of climate change, the unprecedented levels of groundwater use, aquifer degradation, and the loss of wetlands. To deal with these issues, the strategy argues that collective, cross-sectoral leadership will be needed to provide integrated, innovative solutions that leverage synergies and manage trade-offs across sectors. Amongst others as a response to  recognition of the slow pace of progress on SDG 6, UN-Water had earlier developed the SDG 6 Global Acceleration Framework as a unifying initiative to deliver results more rapidly and at an increased scale.

According to the speakers, the UN system-wide water and sanitation strategy is the result of extensive collaboration between UN-Water's 36 members, the Development Coordination Office, country teams and other UN entities, and aims to improve the coordination and implementation of water priorities worldwide. It “unifies the UN system's approach to water and sanitation, promoting joint programming and inter-agency collaboration across sectors and geographies”.

The SWS is structured around five points of entry. The first of these is leading and inspiring collective action on water and sanitation: recognising that leadership and political will are key factors in accelerating progress, it is recognized that there is no single entity within the UN system that is dedicated exclusively to water and sanitation issues. To correct for this, water and sanitation will be lifted to the status of central priority across the work of the UN. Leadership on this is vested in The chair of U.N, Water as well as the envisaged United Nations Special Envoy for Water. In addition, major emphasis will be placed on communication efforts and the United Nations system will increase its capacity to provide global, up-to-date information and latest evidence on the status of the world’s water resources and progress on water and sanitation goals and targets.

Th second point of entry is leveraging unified support as a UN system at country level and by mobilizing stakeholders and partnerships for water and sanitation. There is substantial expertise across the UN system on water and sanitation issues and through strengthened engagement at the country level, the available multidisciplinary expertise can be placed at the disposal of countries. In this process, UN-Water will connect requests for support to the diverse water and sanitation expertise, technical assistance, and initiatives of UN-Water Members and Partners and the international community. In pursuit of this aim, the UN will ensure that partnerships at global, regional, national, and river basin, lake and aquifer levels to mobilize public and private entities as well as civil society input to help accelerate progress towards the 2030 Agenda.

The third point of entry is the aim to ensure integration of water and sanitation issues across sectors and their mainstreaming into intergovernmental processes. Water and sanitation are highly interlinked with all dimensions of sustainable development, but decisions taken in other sectors (for example, agriculture, energy, health, environment and finance) often do not consider the associated impacts on water availability and water quality. In addition, policy and institutional fragmentation between different levels of governance can hinder progress. To solve this, the UN system itself needs to work together more collaboratively and effectively across mandated areas. The complementarities between different financial strategies, policies and approaches need to be enhanced, integrated policy frameworks across sectors (for instance the water food energy nexus) need to be encouraged, and water and sanitation issues need to be mainstreamed across intergovernmental processes.

The fourth point of entry is that the support of the UN system needs to be focused on the already agreed acceleration mechanisms for SDG 6: financing, data and information, capacity development, innovation and governance. This implies that financing strategies, frameworks and plans for investment in water and sanitation are prepared and implemented with UN support. It means that high quality, disaggregated water and sanitation data and information are made available through strengthened national and subnational monitoring systems. It also means that institutional and human resources capacity development is provided by the UN system, and that support is provided for an environment in which the uptake of innovation is enabled.

The fifth and last point of entry in the system wide strategy is to introduce mechanisms for joint review and learning. Joint United Nations system reviews and learning events are envisaged at both technical and leadership levels. Also, progress on water and sanitation goals and targets can be reviewed through joint learning and exchange among all actors.

These five points of entry are the main strategic areas through which UN entities which are united in sharing a water and sanitation related mandate will operationalize inter-agency coordination. The SWS aims to leverage system reforms and upscale water and sanitation action to provide more strategic, effective, coherent, and efficient support to Member States.

Research into water conflicts conducted by the Pacific Institute in Oakland, California, U.S.A. has demonstrated a sharp rise in conflicts during 2023 in comparison with 2022, continuing a steep growth trend of such incidents over the past decade. These events include attacks on water systems, unrest and disputes over the control of and access to water, and the use of water as a weapon of war. The updated data and analysis were released in advance of the world’s largest international conference on water, Stockholm’s World Water Week, where the 2024 theme is “Bridging Borders: Water for a Peaceful and Sustainable Future.”

The number of water conflicts during 2023 increased by 50% relative to 2022, with 347 incidents reported in 2023 against 231 in 2022. The number of conflicts in 2022, in turn, was 89% higher than in 2021 (231 against 122). By contrast, in the year 2000, there were only 22 such incidents recorded. The new data on the number of global water conflicts over 2023 was released on the  22nd of August 2024 by the Pacific Institute, a global water think tank, as an update to its Water Conflict Chronology, the world’s most comprehensive open-source database on water-related violence which was initiated in the 1980’s.

In the latest update, more than 300 new instances of violent conflicts associated with water resources and water systems have been added to the record. Incidents are identified from news reports, eyewitness accounts, and other conflict databases. One example is the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED) database which collects and documents tens of thousands of violent conflicts around the world. According to Dr. Peter Gleick, Senior Fellow and co-founder of the Pacific Institute and Morgan Shimabuku, Senior Researcher at the Pacific Institute, the reports by humanitarian organisations are an important source of information, as are cross language media surveys. All these incidents are captured and documented in the water conflict chronology database, and the new entries capture all water-related incidents of violence through the end of 2023.

The database covers water conflicts over a period of 4500 years, but the analysis presented by the Pacific Institute only goes back to the year 2000. Speaking to The Water Diplomat, Dr Gleick stated “we feel that only in the past few decades have the sources of information been relatively consistent and we have more faith that the trends we are seeing are legitimate trends”.  Each entry into the database is categorized into three groups: water as a trigger of violence, water as a casualty of violence, and water as a weapon. The first of these is what most people tend to associate with ‘water conflicts ‘: it is where there is a dispute over control or access to water resources, where drought is leading conflicts between farmers and pastoralists, etc. In the second and third cases, the conflict is not about water per se, but more about economics, borders or ideology. In the second case, water as a casualty of violence occurs where there is a targeting of strategic resources, including energy or water distribution systems, during conflicts that may start for other reasons.  In the third case, water is used as a ‘weapon’ by destroying important water infrastructure on which the enemy depends: blowing up a dam, a water treatment facility, or filling a well with concrete.

The 2023 data from the water conflict chronology show that water was a trigger for conflict in 39% of the cases, while it was a casualty of conflict in 50% of the incidents, and it was used directly as a weapon in a conflict in 11% of the reported incidents. What is also notable is that the number of subnational conflicts is much larger than the number of interstate conflicts: 62% of conflicts took place within national borders as against 38% between states.

In the analysis of the Institute, the significant upswing in violence over water resources reflects continuing disputes over control and access to scarce water resources, the importance of water for modern society, and growing pressures on water due to population growth and extreme climate change. In the words of Dr Gleick: “The population of the planet is 8 billion and 1000 years ago it was much smaller. The pressure on water resources is much greater, and I believe that these trends are real trends, and they reflect the growing pressure on water resources and growing water scarcity.

The data from the water conflict chronology database is used regularly for academic purposes, but also for diplomatic purposes: the Institute has provided briefings for the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Congress as well as the security community – to help them understand the connections between water and violence and the roles that diplomatic resources may play in reducing those risks.

“The large increase in these events signals that too little is being done to ensure equitable access to safe and sufficient water and highlights the devastation that war and violence wreak on civilian populations and essential water infrastructure,” said Morgan Shimabuku, Senior Researcher with the Pacific Institute. “The newly updated data and analysis exposes the increasing risk that climate change adds to already fragile political situations by making access to clean water less reliable in areas of conflict around the world.”

Policy and Practice Solutions Available

In addition to collecting and sharing data on water conflicts, the Pacific Institute’s work is focused on identifying and understanding strategies to reduce the risks of water-related violence. The rise in water-related conflict has diverse drivers and causes and therefore requires diverse approaches and strategies that build water resilience and address underlying causes. In places where drought and climate change are contributing to tensions over water, policies can be enacted to more equitably distribute and share water among stakeholders and technology can help to more efficiently use what water is available. Agreements over water sharing and joint management of water can be negotiated to resolve transboundary conflicts, such as those along the Tigris/Euphrates rivers, the Helmand River, and elsewhere. When enforced, international laws of war that protect civilian infrastructure like dams, pipelines, and water-treatment plants can provide essential protections that uphold the basic human right to water. Improving cybersecurity practices can reduce the threat of cyber-attacks that try to weaponize access to water for communities.

“It is urgent that we work to reduce the threat of water-related violence. The best ways to do this are to move to more resilient and effective water policies that guarantee safe water and sanitation for everyone, strengthen and enforce international agreements and laws over shared water resources, and address the growing threats posed by extreme droughts and floods worsened by climate change,” said Gleick. “Solutions are available, but to date they have been insufficiently applied.”

Background: The Water Conflict Chronology

The World’s Largest Open-Source Database on Water-Related Violence

The Water Conflict Chronology is the world’s most comprehensive open-source database on water-related violence. Created by the Pacific Institute in the 1980s, it includes verified

instances where water and water systems have been a (1) trigger; (2) target or casualty; or (3) weapon of violence. The data extend back over 4,500 years. Each entry in the Water Conflict Chronology is identified with the date, location, category (trigger, casualty, or weapon), a short description, and a verifying citation or source. The Chronology now includes over 1,920 cases of violence associated with water resources and systems and shows a clear worsening of water-related violence in recent decades.

For more information, contact Dr. Peter Gleick, co-founder and Senior Fellow of the Pacific Institute at pgleick@pacinst.org or Dr. Amanda Bielawski, Director of Communications and Outreach, at abielawski@pacinst.org.

Under the banner “Bridging Borders: water for a peaceful and sustainable future”, the 2024 edition of the World Water Week (25 to 29 August) was centred on water cooperation and security in its broadest sense. The project of building a peaceful and sustainable future implies a spectrum of dedicated water diplomacy efforts, it requires international cooperation, and it rests on a recognition of the regional and global interconnectedness of communities and nations through water.

The aim of this yearly international event is first and foremost to be inclusive and to foster collaboration and innovation among attendants. The forum itself does not have any political role per se. However, the objective of accelerating water action, in a global context where the water sector is still strengthening its own governance – through the UN 2026 conference and the envisaged appointment of the Special Envoy on Water -and is more and more intricately interlinked with other sectors which are on top of the international agenda, such as climate, migration, food security and peace, makes it a place  for strategic reflection and a source of inspiration.

In a global context in which the number of forcibly displaced people has never been so high, with 347 water conflicts reported by the water conflict chronology  during 2023, and in which (according to UNOCHA 2023) 165 million people are in need of immediate assistance in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, the link between WASH and Peace remains as an absolute priority, especially when it comes to the impacts of armed conflict.

While forty-five sessions of the World Water Week 2024 referred to water and peace and sixteen on water and human rights, five sessions focused on water and armed conflict, considering the social and humanitarian impact, as well as other dimensions such as how monitoring and data can contribute to peace and security. Country representatives from hostpots such as Ukraine and Palestine alongside notable centres of water diplomacy such as Senegal and  Slovenia were invited alongside actors of the sector working in Fragile, Conflict and Violent contexts such as  UNICEF or Action Against Hunger, Mercy Corps, the European Commission, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Uppsala University the Geneva Water Hub and the Pacific Institute.

A dedicated SIWI seminar: Water and Armed Conflict - Social and Humanitarian impact -offered a concrete perspective on existing legal and technical tools to reduce the social and humanitarian impacts of armed conflicts on water in order to ensure the protection of life and human dignity of civilians.

While the seminar focused on the reduction and mitigation of civilian harm through the protection of water and water-related infrastructure from the consequences of armed conflicts, it also aimed at disseminating the legal knowledge on international humanitarian law and human rights law and the technical expertise on the reverberating impacts.

It was also an opportunity to reaffirm the importance for all humanitarian actors, cooperation agencies, donors and governments to endorse five major commitments summarized in the WASH Roadmap Call to Action  taken by the WASH community in November 2022. The WASH Roadmap to 2025 has become a reference platform for the entire humanitarian community working on water issues in humanitarian contexts.

What is the WASH Roadmap?

The drinking water and sanitation sector (also known as WASH) is one of the pillars of international humanitarian aid. In 2014, the international NGO Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) published a report entitled “Where is Everyone?”, which left its mark on the humanitarian community. In this report, MSF highlighted critical shortcomings in humanitarian aid, pointing to shortcomings in technical capacity, prioritisation as well as internal processes. As a result, the sector launched a wide-ranging reflection on the practices and objectives of the humanitarian water sector.  This resulted in the identification of key priorities for joint work in the humanitarian WASH sector encapsulated in a WASH roadmap by the main players in the sector. Its aim is to ensure that the WASH humanitarian sector has the capacity and resources to provide qualitative responses on a large scale, anywhere, anytime.

Linked to this, alongside the UN 2023 Water Conference, a WASH Call to Action was launched. The WASH Call to Action is an appeal to governments to primarily focus their efforts on people living in Fragile Conflict and Violent (FCV) settings, increase support for humanitarian WASH responses and coordination, build sustainable and resilient WASH services that can withstand crises, actively promote the effective implementation of International Humanitarian Law obligations, and support the request to the UN Secretary-General to improve the WASH sector governance and swiftly nominate a UN Special Envoy for Water. This call has already been signed by 225 major actors of the WASH sector, including 4 Governments (France, Swiss, Slovenia and Chad). 

Slovenia recognized all the five elements of the Call as its own priorities within its water diplomacy agenda and for the protection of civilians agenda. Slovenia has supported WASH services in fragile and violent contexts through its humanitarian assistance and development cooperation. While water has been affected by armed conflicts since their existence, it was the increasing weaponization of water in Yemen, Ukraine, Sudan and Gaza that drove Slovenia to take action and establish a Global Alliance for Sparing Water in Armed Conflicts in partnership with Switzerland and Geneva Water Hub. The Alliance was launched in May, together with Senegal, Costa Rica, Panama, Indonesia, the Philippines, UNICEF, and Pax.

The Alliance aims to ensure greater compliance with International Law, better inform on the impacts of attacks on water, and increase pre-conflict preparedness and resilience of water infrastructure and essential services through strengthened collaboration among humanitarian, development and peace actors.

The synergies with the WASH Road Map initiative are obvious.  Awareness raising is essential for better protection but also for securing resources for the severely underfunded WASH in FVS. The Alliance can provide the needed political clout and visibility, while the WASH Road Map can empower the Alliance's efforts by sharing lessons learned from water protection practices in conflict zones, gathering data on environmental, social, and economic impacts, sharing case studies for training purposes, and exchanging ideas on incorporating resilience-building measures.

Joining the WASH Roadmap and signing the Call to Action was thus a natural step for Slovenia; failing to do so would risk missing out on crucial insights and partnerships.

On the 18th of July, Oxfam published a new report on the topic of water in situations of armed conflict, entitled  “Water War Crimes: How Israel has weaponised water in its military campaign in Gaza”. The report aims to present a detailed overview of the use of water as a weapon in the conflict in Gaza, highlighting violations of international law  while supporting the call for an  independent investigation into potential violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law by the Government of Israel and Palestinian armed groups.

The report's authors, Lama Abdul Samad, Martin Butcher and Bushra Khalidi focus on instances of water deprivation, but also point to military activity that is indiscriminate and disproportionate, involving restrictions on water, electricity, fuel deliveries and the entry of essential supplies intended for the civilian population of Gaza.  

Among the key facts reported are the estimate that since the start of the Israeli offensive, the inhabitants of Gaza have had access to a mere 4.74 litres per person per day, whioch represents   a 94% reduction in water availability compared to the situation immediately prior to the outbreak of hostilities (as compared with the internationally recognised minimum standard of 15 liters of water per person per day in emergency situations. This enables drinking and cooking but excludes water for personal and domestic hygiene). This situation is the result of a succession of factors. Firstly, since October 2023, the entry into Gaza of essential water and sanitation equipment (desalination units and connection pipes) has, according to Oxfam, been deliberately and abusively delayed. Secondly, the water supply provided by the three Israeli Mekorot lines has only supplied 22% of Gaza's total supply capacity. Towns such as Khan Younis and Gaza City were completely cut off for 81% and 95% of the time respectively.

By May 26, 2024, water production in the whole of the Gaza Strip had fallen by 84% due to the destruction of water infrastructure and restrictions on the entry of fuel, electricity and spare parts for water and sanitation into the Gaza Strip. Thus, according to Oxfam, by June 3, 2024, Gaza City had lost almost all its water production capacity, with 88% of its wells, 100% of its brackish water desalination plants and 100% of its seawater desalination plants having been damaged or destroyed and taken out of service. To complete the picture, the Israeli army destroyed the two main water quality analysis laboratories (the first in November 2023 and the second on March 21, 2024) inside Gaza, and restricted the entry of water analysis equipment offered by humanitarian NGOs. Finally, to continue this logic, by June 3, 2024, the Israeli army had destroyed 100% of all water and sanitation warehouses in Gaza City and Khan Younis, and 70% of all wastewater pumps. By the end of June 2024, 100% of all wastewater treatment plants in Gaza had been destroyed or severely damaged, making them impossible to operate.

Oxfam concludes that there is a deliberate policy on the part of the Israeli government to attack the water and sanitation infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, describing the situation as a “deadly health catastrophe”.

The health consequences of this situation are dramatic: “cases of water-borne diseases have exploded; more than a quarter of the population has fallen seriously ill due to water and sanitation-related diseases”. As reported by  Radio France, the polio virus has been detected in several wastewater samples, following tests carried out by UNICEF with the support of an analysis laboratory in Israel.

On August 27 at Stockholm World Water Week, the Shared Waters Lab Partnership – a collaboration between Oregon State University, the Fletcher School at Tufts University, and IHE-Delft-Institute for Water Education - launched the Transboundary Freshwater Diplomacy Database (TFDD) Explorer.

The TFDD Explorer is a new tool that enables users to explore physical and institutional data related to the world’s transboundary river basins and access qualitative and tabular data on treaties (including full-text downloads of transboundary agreements), River Basin Organisations, and events related to both conflict over and cooperation on shared water resources.

The launch of the TFDD Explorer coincided with an update of the Transboundary Transboundary Freshwater Diplomacy Database, a compendium of information and resources on water diplomacy. The updates include added geospatial information on river basins, new treaties and details on River Basin Organisations, as well as mapping of transboundary wetlands. Additionally, the database can be used to extract information on population, water consumption, water withdrawal, runoff, climate classifications, and existing and planned dams.

The newly launched TFDD Explorer brings together a number of different datasets which can be used for a range of different purposes. Firstly, the International River Basin Register and Spatial Database is a compilation of biophysical, socioeconomic, and geopolitical data relating to the world's 313 international river basins. Secondly, the International Freshwater Treaties Database is a collection of more than 800 international freshwater agreements and related documents published since 1820, which include both binding agreements and other non-binding documents such as declarations and Memorandums of Understanding (MOU)s that relate to international freshwater resources. Thirdly, the Explorer holds a collection of more that 6,400 International Water Events that have taken place between 1948 to 2008 and which have been ranked along a Basins at Risk (BAR) scale from conflict to cooperation. Fourth, the TFDD Explorer contains a dataset of more than 120 International River Basin Organisations with associated markers such as the river basin, the countries involved, the level and type of collaboration, key issues, and the date of establishment. The fifth dataset is the Transboundary Wetlands Database which contains information on more than 300 shared wetlands, including those with Ramsar designation, as well as their location with respect to transboundary river basins, and relationship with a river basin organisation. The sixth component is a collection of data on Transboundary Aquifers collected by the International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre (IGRAC) as part of the IGRAC Global Groundwater Information System. The seventh dataset is a register of Existing Dams located within dams in transboundary river basins, while the eighth and related dataset is a list of Proposed Dams in International River Basins.

According to the partners in the Shared Waters Lab Partnership, the TFDD Explorer is the largest compendium of international water conflict and cooperation events, institutions, and treaties available. It is regularly used by diplomats, policymakers, development partners, and researchers worldwide, with approximately 1500 unique visits per month.

Data from the TFDD has informed several conclusions about transboundary water conflict and cooperation. The first is a conclusion from a publication that cooperation prevails over conflict. It is noteworthy that since 1948, 77% of the 6,400 water interactions on record have been cooperative, and only 19% involved conflict. However, more recent research shows that there has been a slight increase in conflictual events since 2000. Other scholars  (Kåresdotter et al., 2023). Some some scholars have noted complicating factors in these findings: conflict and cooperation can in fact be present simultaneously within a particular situation. Furthermore, not all cooperation is ‘good’ in that such cooperation may cement power imbalances or embed injustice within agreements.

The second key finding is that most conflicts relate to disputes over water quantity or the development of shared water resources by one country. In parallel, dam development in the ‘Global South’ is increasing, particularly with efforts to increase the production of renewable energy and adapt to climate change through increased storage capacity, creating increased potential for tension.

Finally, data shows that institutional capacity is essential but that its development is stagnating over time. Treaties and river basin organizations play a key role in reducing conflict—both in frequency and intensity. Despite the importance of institutions for water cooperation, however, the number of treaties signed each year has been declining since the 1990s and only 13 river basin organisations have been established since 2002. Further evidence of this trend can be found in the fact that only 14% of 830 treaties and other legal documents pertaining to international water management address entire river basins: many remain limited to bilateral agreements, even in the context of multilateral basins. This poses challenges to the principle of integrated basin management, which has also been put forward under UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6.5.2.

Going forward the TFDD Explorer and its associated datasets intend to form the basis for an ongoing update to create a comprehensive and accessible database that incorporates key indicators of early warning for potential tensions over transboundary basins as well as key features of cooperation. These updated data layers can be used in conjunction with biophysical and other datasets to help identify potential hydropolitical hotspots, as well as assist in research and policymaking for the cooperative and sustainable governance of shared water resources.

For more information about the TFDD, please visit the website or email the manager at caplana@oregonstate.edu.

A study into multi-decadal groundwater observations published in the journal Nature in July 2024 by an international team of researchers has yielded results that show surprisingly stable groundwater levels in southwestern Europe, in spite of persistent drought conditions over the past few years. Recently, the effects of climate change and rising human water demand have led to water scarcity in southwestern Europe: in 2022, for instance, 44% of the territory of the EU and the U.K. were at risk from drought. Although groundwater use is thought to be unsustainable in the region, the researchers point out that more detailed regional assessments using measured data are missing. A previous study from 2022 showed a decline in groundwater levels  in eastern Spain, northern France, and northern Italy, based on relatively coarse satellite data. The recent study in Nature, however, is based on direct observations from wells, which in most cases have been measured and documented for at least the last ten years.  

The researchers took as their starting point the analysis of water levels in 12,398 wells in Spain, France, Italy and Portugal, major fruit and vegetable-producing countries, over a 60-year period (1960-2020). The research is unique in that it brings together several factors at the same time, combining time, scientific knowledge and, what the authors call “effective international governance”, in a context of growing demand for water use. The authors describe their work as an “ideal reference for other regions of the world” facing similar difficulties. This work is singular in that it is the first of its kind and enables regional groundwater changes and their drivers to be studied in a variety of climates using field monitoring data. The authors also caution against overreliance on satellite observation for this type of survey, highlighting inconsistencies between their readings and those of satellite systems in some cases.

In the countries which were covered by the research, they note that in the selected countries, between 30-50% of irrigation water is sourced from groundwater, while between 28-75% of drinking water supplies are also sourced from aquifers. Surprisingly, they found that only 12% of the wells in the study have experienced falling water levels, while in 20% of the cases, water levels actually rose. In 68% of the cases, water levels remained relatively constant, leading to the conclusion that groundwater levels have been surprisingly stable in the face of both climate change and increased human pressures.

During the decade from 1995-2004 decade, precipitation levels were higher than the preceding decade from 1985-1994 period, but on the other hand, the scientists noted an “overall increase in annual potential evapotranspiration”, resulting in drier conditions in the summer months. Using the available data, it was thus found that the majority of the study area has experienced a steady decline in soil moisture, correlated with an increase in meteorological droughts (1985-2014), but that it is indeed soil moisture that has the greatest impact on groundwater levels.

Nevertheless, the outlook on climate change in these regions is worrying. Specialists are predicting a 15% to 30% drop in summer rainfall, which is useful for agriculture during this period.

The study highlights the complex interaction between human activities and climatic factors in the evolution of falling and rising well levels in the region. Depending on geographical factors - urban/rural areas, local agricultural activity, temperate or semi-arid climates - the situations can be very different. The human factor is extensively documented in this study, particularly in terms of how rationally the resource is managed.

In the future, agricultural droughts are expected to be more frequent, longer and more intense, impacting groundwater due to increased irrigation demand and reduced infiltration of water into the soil. Crops such as corn, olives, fruit and tomatoes will be affected.

The scientists conclude that wider access to data and increased monitoring of levels are therefore crucial to sustainable groundwater management.

In the context of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' Decade of Action to accelerate progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, a SDG 6 Global Acceleration Framework was launched in 2022. In its 2021 SDG 6 Progress Report, UN-Water had noted that the world would need to increase its investments by a factor of 4 if it were to achieve all the targets of SDG 6. The Global Acceleration Framework is an initiative which is intended to mobilise all stakeholders in the water and sanitation sectors, from governments and civil society to the private sector and academia, around action on 5 cross-cutting and interdependent pillars: financing, data and information, development of innovation capacities, and governance.

This is why, as part of the Framework's second pillar – dedicated to data and information – UN-Water has published country studies every year which highlight instances of exceptional progress on one or more of the targets and indicators of SDG 6. In 2022, the studies focused on  Senegal, Pakistan and Costa Rica, while in 2023, publications were released on cases drawn from of Brazil, Ghana and Singapore.

Since the 8th of July 2024, studies have been published on Cambodia, the Czech Republic and Jordan. The aim of these studies is to explore the advances made by these countries in achieving progress on one or more of the 8 targets listed within the water and sanitation sector under SDG 6. The studies attempt to identify the solutions developed by each country, the processes involved in implementing water and sanitation policies, and thereby try to shed light on how these successes could potentially be replicated elsewhere.

For example, what lessons can be drawn from the 2024 country acceleration study on Cambodia ?  Some of the main lessons include the fact that Cambodia has managed to turn an ailing state-owned water utility into a well-managed one, double access to sanitation in rural areas, attract private investment into the water sector and make connection to piped water and sanitation services attractive to the population, including in smaller cities and rural areas. It managed to rid cities of open defecation and is now making significant progress in rural areas.

From a position of virtual bankruptcy in 1993, the Pnom Penh Water Supply Authority transformed into a utility that was outperforming utilities in London or Los Angeles and which was set to achieve SDG 6 ahead of time. Within a 15 year timeframe, the utility increased its annual water production by 437% and its distribution network by 557%. Based on research by Biswas et al., UN Water points out that this success was achieved with long-term support from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), French Development Agency (AFD) and other partners. Some of the lessons learned include the importance of leadership within the utility and the stability of chief executive tenure, and the importance of organizational culture. As is the case with many utilities, steps were taken to reduce non-revenue water (water that is produced but is lost before reaching the customer), to improve the availability of data and the quality of reporting, and to increase the number of connections to poor communities. This took place in a step by step process which started with effective repair of leaks and updating the customer database.

In general. Cambodia has made notable progress on six of the eleven SDG 6 indicators and has regressed on none of these. For instance, the percentage of the population having access to safely managed drinking water increased by 13% by 2022 relative to the year 2000, the degree of implementation of integrated water resources management (IWRM) increased from 46 per cent in 2017 to 62 per cent in 2023, and between 2014 to 2021, there was a 400% increase in Official Development Assistance (ODA) provided by donor countries to Cambodia increased four times, from around 75 to more than 300 million USD today.

The study lists several factors which have been instrumental in achieving these results. The first of these is the setting and pursuing of clear and ambitious goals by government . Thus in 2010, the government set the goal to achieve 100 per cent coverage of improved water and sanitation in rural areas and achieve open defecation free status by 2025.

A second factor is data availability : in Cambodia, water contamination data is accessible to all amongst others through a database of wells which is published online.

Thirdly, the government is spearheading communications campaigns in which piped water systems are presented as beibg easier and cheaper, and toilets are becoming something of a status symbol, resulting in an increased investment by households in sanitation and hygiene is increasing.

The Twelfth Session of the World Urban Forum (WUF) convened by UN Habitat will be held in Cairo, Egypt from 4-8 November 2024. The return of the WUF to the African continent after 20 years coincides with the 20-year existence of VEI (previously known as Vitens Evides International), which facilitates partnerships between water utilities worldwide.

WaterWorX is the joint programme of all ten Dutch water companies set up to ensure a substantial contribution to this Dutch WASH Strategy. In 2015, former Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Minister Ploumen pledged that the Netherlands would contribute to the Sustainable Development Goal 6 by providing 30 million people with sustainable access to safe drinking water and 50 million people with sustainable access to improved sanitation. This proposal has been detailed in the Dutch WASH strategy 2016-2030.

The WaterWorX programme is implemented by  the WaterWorX consortium led by VEI, which brings together the capacity and experience of the Netherlands’ 10 public water operators in the context of long-term  Water Operator Partnerships (WOPs) with utilities located in Africa, Asia and Latin America.  The WaterWorX consortium has committed itself to contribute to the achievement ensuring or increasing access to sustainable water services for 10 million people between 2017-2030.

The Aim of Water Operator Partnerships

WOPs are long term, not-for-profit partnerships. In a WOP, peer to peer knowledge and experience is provided and exchanged between water and sanitation operators in order to improve peer utilities’ operations and extend their service. The areas of expertise transfer range from technical expertise, such as maintenance of water distribution systems and reducing water losses, to organisational improvements, e.g. in the areas of leadership and management, financial planning, human resources and professional customer communication.

WaterWorX is a programme of WOPs. The programme invests in long term partnership between water and sanitation utilities focusing on the transfer of knowledge to improve the access and quality of services, and building together a more inclusive, (climate) resilient and sustainable water sector.

The aim of the WaterWorX partnerships is threefold: the first objective is to “embark on a planned trajectory of performance improvement to improve technical, commercial, financial and organizational work processes”. Formulated differently, the aim is to strengthen the viability (and thus the long-term sustainable operation) of the partner organisation by improving its financial and technical operations as well as the relations with customers in its supply area.

One of the most common topics discussed within WOP’s is Non-Revenue Water (NRW): this is the difference between the amount of water that is produced by a water utility for consumption/use, and the amount of water that is billed to customers. NRW can be the result of physical losses in the system such as through leaks, bursts, or illegal connections, and it can also be the result of commercial losses caused by lack of metering, inaccurate meters, unauthorised consumption, or internal problems in data processing. There is a role to be played by technology in reducing NRW by, for instance, enabling real time network monitoring and leak detection. Other activities include: improving the efficiency of water treatment plants, ensuring energy savings of pumping installations, establishing a customer care/complaint department, improving billing efficiency, development of strategic plans, development of human resource remuneration and succession plans - each in every possible department of a water utility.

A second area of work in WOPs is the strengthening of the ‘enabling environment’ in which utilities operate: this could include support for the revision of water and sanitation legislation and regulations, as well as reform of sector financing and policies.

A third objective of cooperation is to help increase access to water infrastructure investment finance, by developing investment proposals and engaging with domestic and international financing organisations and banks. This includes direct infrastructural investments in low-income areas that VEI mobilises through the Water for Life Foundation.

Under the WaterWorX program, WOPs were established with a total of 41 utilities with the objective of improving the operational, maintenance, financial and administrative processes of the partner utilities. These improvements in turn are intended to result on the one hand in increased access to sustainable water services for the customers of the utilities, and on the other hand to generate realistic investment opportunities that have an effect on equitable access to water services, i.e. pro-poor investments.

After an initial phase of project visioning in which the partners work together to identify the priorities within the collaboration, a capacity development phase ensues which features classroom and online trainings, on-the-job operational guidance, extensive review of existing managerial and operation practices, technical support and operational investments on the incorporation of tools and systems to improving operations.

In many cases, a broad spectrum of positive results can ensue from the collaboration. Typically, it is possible to substantially increase the coverage of water supplies to customers in the supply area of the utility (see case study below). Similarly in the field of revenue, some utilities report transitioning from a negative net revenue to a positive one, directly attributed to the WOP. And in the field of investment, it is possible (although difficult) to secure investments in infrastructure as a result of the increased confidence in the operations of the utility. At the end of 2023, 4.3 million people were provided access to water and or sanitation services through the programme.

Case Studies and Financial Benefits of WOPs

As mentioned, WOPs can help utilities to transition from negative net revenue to a net positive revenue, as well as secure the sustainability of infrastructural investments. Based on experiences/cases, it is possible to demonstrate that investment in combination with accompanying technical assistance, delivered through WOPs, have proven an interesting collaboration to all involved.

By 2023, the combined portfolio of WaterWorX partners had provided 45 million people with water services and 4.5 million people with sanitation services. The total population in the combined service area is 98 million people. Therefore, the remaining 50% of the population still needs to be connected to water supply systems and thus every effort is necessary to increase coverage.

Infrastructure Investments

Through the programme, small scale infrastructural projects are implemented in direct collaboration with partner utilities. VEI supports developing project proposals together in order to secure funding to expand the number of connections and provide first-time access to water and sanitation services. As of 2023, the progamme has realised 1.5 million connections with funding raised internally (i.e. VEI, together with WfL and in collaboration with partner utilities) of approximately € 14 million.. In the Philippines alone, 45.000 people gained access to services through six partners of WaterworX. These are significant contributions to utilities that individually serve currently between 20,000 and 97,000 people. Since 2017, these efforts have resulted in an additional 345,000 people gaining access to water and sanitation services in Ethiopia.

WaterWorX maintains that directing investments toward enhancing the operational processes of partner utilities represents the most suitable approach to achieving results that foster sustainable access to water and sanitation services. These investments, implemented in combination with capacity development programs lead to an improved provision of services to those connected today and in the future (including new customers). WaterWorX only recently (since 2022) started monitoring these efforts and has so far catalogued and provided examples of 700,000 connections.

Investment leverage

The WOPs have proven to facilitate the leveraging of investments. Under the programme, services have been provided to 434,000 people in Ghana with funds from the World Bank, UNICEF and UN-Habitat. Similarly, the programme is currently engaged in technical assistance for activities in Malawi, funded by the World Bank that will provide services to a further  240,000 people.

In the first phase of cooperation between VEI and four water districts in the Philippines (2017-2021), support was provided to the water districts of Bayawan, Carcar, Toledo and Bogo. The project had a budget of EUR 2.3 million sourced from VEI (37%), the Dutch government (54%) and the remainder from partner utilities (of which 24% was allocated to infrastructure costs. During this period, it was possible to increase the coverage of the water supply service by 59% in the case of Bayawan, 27% in the case of Carcar, 2% in the case of Toledo and 7% in the case of Bogo.

Another example is a partnership that was established between VEI and the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) in Uganda for the sustainable delivery of cost-effective water services to a rapidly growing urban population. As a result of the partnership, it was possible to ensure supply network extensions which translated into the connection of an additional 48,900 customers within the supply area. To attract additional funding, support was provided for the development of a proposal for faecal sludge management in Kampala attracting € 700,000 for a Feasibility study from Invest International, the Netherlands. Similarly, support was provided to submit a proposal for financing of up to € 30 million for network extension in the capital Kampala through the DRIVE initiative funded by the Dutch Government.

WaterWorX is therefore well advanced with its commitment to provide support to the government of the Netherlands in contributing to SDG 6, ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

The Green Climate Fund is contributing U.S. $ 41.9 million towards a project in the Comoros Islands which is designed to increase the climate resilience of water supply for drinking water and irrigation purposes in the areas most exposed to climate risks. The project is being co-funded by UNDP (with a contribution of U.S. $ 2 million), the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (with a contribution of U.S. $ 293,000) China-CGC (with a contribution of U.S. $ 1.9 million, and the Government of the Union of Comoros (with a contribution of U.S. $ 14.5 million)

The project supports the Union of Comoros to adapt to increasing extreme climate risks such as droughts, flooding, and water quality impacts from landslides or erosion which together have an impact on the country’s drinking and irrigation water supplies.

The Union of the Comoros is a country made up of a total of four larger islands in Southeastern Africa, located in the Mozambique channel of the Indian Ocean between Malawi and Madagascar. The larger islands are Mayotte (with an area of 370km²), Anjouan (424 km²), Mohéli (290 km²) and Grand-Comore (1148 km²). Although the Comoros are a sovereign nation, the island of Mayotte is formally French territory. 

The Comoros has a population of 836,000 and a national land area of only 2,612 km², consisting of steep volcanic terrain, with no land further than 7 km from the coast. It is one of only two Small Island States in Africa.

As a result of the topography of the country, its watersheds and aquifers are small and have little natural water storage capacity, which limits the resilience of water supply infrastructure to climate change, an issue which is further compounded by increasing variability of rainfall. The average annual rainfall for the islands is 1000 mm, but this is highly variable from year to year.  United Nations models indicate a potential reduction in dry-season rainfall of up to 47 percent by 2090 in Comoros, increased rains in the wet season, and more severe cyclone activity.

The islands of Anjouan and Moheli have traditionally relied on surface water supply, but forest clearing has reduced the number of rivers on Anjouan from 40 some decades ago to 20 rivers presently. In Moheli, which currently has 20 rivers, surface water dries up during the warm season. On the island of Grande Comore, 60% of the population relies on uncovered water containers and 40% on coastal aquifers. As is the case in many small island states, the aquifers lie above a layer of salt water and therefore salinity levels are high and there is the risk of saltwater intrusion into the aquifers.

For months now the country has experienced protracted water supply issues due to a prolonged drought season, reduced rainfall, and households in the urban areas procuring water as a result. These issues have been discussed at the highest political level and the government has put pressure on all partners to find a solution as rapidly as possible.  It is reported that the capital, Moroni, has allocated emergency funds as of August 2024 towards for urban water distribution. The situation is slightly better in the rural areas that are covered by the GCF project and where distribution has commenced

As a result of these challenges, the Government of Comoros is working in partnership with the Green Climate Fund and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has launched a project to ensure climate-resilient water supplies for 450,000 people.

The project includes work on the ‘enabling environment’, which in this case referred primarily to an update of the country’s water legislation to introduce a dynamic form of Integrated Water Resources Management with a focus on adaptation to climate change, combined with awareness raising and the introduction of systematic measures to assess and respond to climate risks. To support this, a complete mapping of watersheds and their hydrographic networks has been conducted and the water resources monitoring network has been updated and improved.

For the water supplies, for example, geophysical prospecting has led to the identification of an additional six drilling points to increase groundwater production on Grand Comore, as well as the provision of infrastructure for rainwater harvesting for agricultural purposes. As a result, there has been an increase in the storage of irrigation water from 2,233 m³ to 14,982 m³, benefiting 4,980 farmers. Another example is the construction of resilient drinking water supply infrastructure in 4 targeted areas on the island of Anjouan which provides 10,773 inhabitants (or 14% of the country's population) with a water supply service.

In rural Nigeria, Action Against Hunger (ACF Nigeria), in partnership with the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASSA) has pioneered a Revolving Fund which is transforming the water supply landscape in several Local Government Areas (LGAs) within Yobe State. This model has not only provided a sustainable financial support to water utilities, but has also empowered communities grappling with insecurity and malnutrition in a context of severe water scarcity essentially due to climate change.

The challenge of water scarcity

In the semi-arid regions of Nigeria, water is a scarce resource, and the arid climate and sporadic rainfall patterns undermine the dependability of water supplies. During peak farming seasons, water demand surges, placing immense pressure on already limited water infrastructure. The rainy season, while providing some respite, can at times cause damage to water supply infrastructure. According to the 2024 Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) for the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe (BAY) States, 52% of women and girls travel long distances to fetch water, potentially exposing them to personal risks. 60% of children in Yobe State lack access to clean water, making them susceptible to water-borne diseases and malnutrition.

ACF Nigeria has successfully established and restored many water points, yet the challenge remains that these facilities often fall into disrepair, and the local community lacks the resources to operate and maintain them. Consequently, in 2022 ACF Nigeria and RUWASSA decided to establish an innovative Revolving Fund which would enable communities to  borrow money for repairs and repay it within an agreed timeframe.

This approach was designed to guarantee the long-term viability of this infrastructure in order to secure a sustainable access to safe water in rural isolated areas, and therefore contribute to reducing water-borne diseases and prevent undernutrition (ACF overall mandate).

Operational mechanics of the Revolving Fund

The Revolving Fund operates on a simple yet effective principle: communities can apply for loans to repair and maintain their water points and water networks and are responsible for repaying the loan within a set timeframe. This system not only ensures the availability of funds for immediate repairs but also instills a sense of ownership and responsibility within the community.

The Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Committee (WASHCOM), responsible for overseeing the fund, plays a crucial role, together with the Revolving Fund Committee at the Local Government Authority (LGA) level, in ensuring that the funds are utilized appropriately, solving conflicts, and securing that accountability and transparency is maintained. The WASHCOM is thus responsible for the fund’s management and accountable to the community, while also providing technical expertise, supervision and tools to ensure smooth operation.

Case Studies

Three cases illustrate how the fund works in practice, how it improves the overall water access of the population in the different LGAs targeted.

First Case: Zangon Kwanwa, Nguru LGA

In May 2024, a windstorm damaged the solar-powered borehole in the community, cutting off their vital water access. In order to recover their service, the community proposed to use the revolving fund to replace the solar panel. The community introduced a repayment plan, by collecting small monthly amounts from households - depending on their degree of vulnerability. Through collective effort, they are currently repaying the NGN 200,000 NGN (U.S. $ 125) loan over a period of 13 months. Initial hesitation was overcome by selecting a trusted management committee, ensuring successful fund management. This shows that it was possible to put in place the revolving fund thanks to its transparency and visibility in combination with community awareness raising sessions which increased the trust and confidence of the community in the project. Learning from communities which have already used the Fund is a recommended communication tool for those who plan to use it.

Second case: Dumar Hausawa, Nguru LGA

In June 2024, the community of Dumar Hausawa utilised the revolving fund to expand their water distribution system, creating additional collection points that benefit neighbouring areas. A   repayment plan was designed, aiming to repay the NGN 250,000 NGN (U.S. $ 158 USD) loan within a period of 6-8 months. In this case, the lesson learned is that beyond questions of  operation and maintenance, the Revolving Fund can be applied to improve the density of water points or water delivery points. Communities that benefit from the fund can become excellent ambassadors to new communities.

Third Case: Karmashe, Machina LGA  

In April 2024, through the Revolving Fund, the community of Karmashe replaced their  motorised borehole by a more sustainable solar-powered system, overcoming fuel scarcity and mechanical failures. A repayment plan was established, aiming to repay NGN 3,500,000 (U.S. $ 2,200) loan within 9 months. Despite initial concerns and a brief setback due to a change in administration, Karmashe's determination and collaborative spirit have ensured the project's success, serving as an inspiration to other communities. In this case, the lesson that can be drawn is that the fund can improve the economic model of the community water delivery system with a direct and positive impact on the household water bills of the poorest households. The fund can also contribute to climate change mitigation by replacing fossil fuel based energy sources with solar systems. For a country like Nigeria, which is directly impacted by climate change, this example provides a way forward both in economic and environmental terms.

Progress Review

In reviewing the operation of the revolving fund, ACF, RUWASSA and the communities in question observe that the Revolving Fund in LGAs has had a considerable impact. Not only as it ensured a consistent water supply, but it has also contributed to improved community health and nutrition status and spurred economic activities. The success of the fund is evident in the tangible improvements in the daily lives of the residents.

“Our borehole broke down nine years ago. We were not able to repair it because of financial difficulties and the poor economic situation of the country. Before the rehabilitation of the borehole through the Revolving Fund supported by ACF, we experienced challenges in accessing tap water. The community only relied on two hand-pumped boreholes shared with neighboring communities who also depended on our community water source, especially during the dry season to serve both humans and animals. People would spend more than 30 minutes and trek 500 meters before getting water for daily use” says Habu Magaji, Chairman of Karmashe WASHCOM (June 2024). “It had become a thing of joy for the community. The water point had become a central point for water collection. Children and adults find it easier to fetch water in pails or jerry cans under the watchful eye of the Revolving Fund Committee to ensure the water points are not abused by playful children. They would scold a child mishandling the taps and continue to educate the parents and children on keeping the taps functioning for a sustainable period. The water helps families to access water for domestic purposes at a shorter time interval and allows them more time for other productive or entrepreneurial purposes.”

Sustainability and Replication

In the opinion of ACF and RUWASSA, the revolving fund model is a sustainability approach that empowers communities to manage their water resources effectively and efficiently, improve their safe water access and sometimes contributes to climate change mitigation. The project therefore sets a precedent for other States facing similar challenges. There is widespread potential for replication is vast, with the model’s adaptability and community-centred approach making it a viable solution for widespread implementation.

The organisations have drawn several recommendations from their initiative. Firstly, the fund, in order to be replicated, needs to demonstrate its effectiveness and efficiency in a transparent and accessible manner. Impact evaluations, inter-community workshops, communication of funds outcomes are crucial. Secondly, it is essential, in relation to the May 2016 Istanbul Humanitarian Summit commitments on localisation and flexible funding, to encourage donors to fund such innovative projects. The sustainability and even replication capacity of such funds are a positive answer to humanitarian WASH funding crisis, and to the current constraints in funding the development sector. Third, the fund is a way to intervene in rural areas that are often deprived from development plans. Fourthly, it is essential, when implementing and/or replicating such projects, to maintain close relations with local authorities and ministries to avoid a full privatisation of the access to water and to keep the institutions in their overarching roles of duty bearers toward the community. And lastly, the replication of the Revolving Fund should be included in a wider governance of the sector at global level (including water quality standards, etc.) and should propose all the tools possible to ensure the affordability of the service to the poorest (perequation, social model, etc.), in application of Human Right to Water basic principles and normative recommendations.

Conclusion

It is a maxim of the WASH sector that for each dollar invested into it, a fourfold benefit is achieved. Improved access to safely managed water reduces health costs associated with waterborne or water-related diseases and reduces undernutrition and associated costs, reduces work and school absenteeism, and finally increases dignity. The Revolving Fund model, such as the one presented here, has the major advantage to be economically viable, in a global context where access to funding is heavily challenged, especially in rural areas. A Revolving Fund also offers the opportunity to create trust, confidence and build self-esteem in more resilient communities.  It is also a way to propose sustainable and virtuous alternatives to classical models, e.g. in proposing solar systems that will contribute to mitigate climate change.

The Revolving Fund initiative by ACF Nigeria and RUWASSA highlights the transformative power of community-driven solutions. It is a model for the future of water security in Nigeria, showcasing how strategic collaboration and innovative thinking can overcome even the most daunting challenges.

India is currently facing a severe environmental crisis as extreme heatwaves and water scarcity threaten the well-being of millions. This summer, India recorded an all-time high temperature of over 52.9°C in Delhi and similar record temperatures in Haryana, and Rajasthan, underscoring the intensity of the heatwaves gripping the nation, and the reported death toll has now reached over 143. Moreover, official figures do not include heat as a cause of death, leaving many deaths uncounted. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) declares heatwaves when temperatures exceed 40°C in the plains, 30°C in hills, and 37°C in coastal areas. This dual challenge of extreme heat and dwindling water supplies threatens the livelihoods, health, and well-being of millions of people, highlighting the urgent need for comprehensive and sustainable solutions.

Climate change has significantly increased the frequency and intensity of heatwaves in India, resulting in heat-related illnesses, heat stress, and at least 40,000 suspected heat stroke cases. The prolonged heatwave is a result of the naturally occurring El Niño phenomenon, which involves the unusual warming of the ocean surface in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. El Niño also produced a high pressure system that blocked the cooling effects of a moist sea breeze from the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.  This warming, combined with rapidly increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, primarily carbon dioxide and methane, contributes significantly to the severity and frequency of such heatwaves.

India's water crisis is currently reaching alarming levels. The residents of Delhi, now heavily reliant on water tankers, struggle as these prove insufficient, forcing many to buy bottled water to meet their needs. Additional water supplies from neighbouring states like Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh are being sought to address the capital's urgent water needs and avoid further hardships. To give more relief, the Renuka Dam Project was also initiated, which could supply 23,000 litres of water per second (23 cumecs) to Delhi, but it is estimated that it will take 6-7 years to fully commission, which will add a burden to this pressing situation.

Water scarcity is estimated to affect more than 330 million people in 2024, with half of the nation's land area experiencing drought-like conditions. Experts predict that the country will experience severe water stress as the annual per capita water availability falls below 1,000 cubic metres. Major cities like Chennai and Bengaluru face 'Day Zero' scenarios where water supplies are nearly exhausted. According to the Central Water Commission (CWC), water levels in 150 major reservoirs across the country have dropped to 23%, which is 77% less than last year’s levels at this time. This impacts the Rabi crop, especially in states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu.

The situation is particularly dire in rural areas and agricultural sectors. In Punjab and Haryana, regions crucial for India's food production, their groundwater levels are declining rapidly. These states, which produce 50% of the national rice supply and 85% of the wheat stocks, are heavily dependent on water-intensive agriculture. The declining water levels threaten crop yields, impacting food security and the livelihoods of millions of farmers. The El Nino phenomenon's lower rainfall, which leads to drought and prolonged dry spells in Asia, is responsible for the country's depleting water levels.

Climate change has altered the quantity and frequency of rainfall, making monsoon patterns more erratic and droughts and floods more common. Such disruptions are expected to continue, placing additional stress on India's already strained water resources. According to the IPCC, heatwaves, which previously occurred once every 10 years without human-caused warming, are now expected to occur 2.8 times more frequently (or once every 3.6 years) and are 1.5°C hotter due to climate change caused by burning fossil fuels. In the case of the five-year period from 2021-26, the 15th Finance Commission had suggested an allotment of Rs 1,60,153 crore to the different State Disaster Response Funds (SDRFs) to deal with all sorts of disasters during this period. 

To address this dual challenge of heatwaves and water scarcity, India needs a multifaceted approach. First, mitigation strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are essential to slowing down the pace of climate change. Expanding renewable energy sources and enhancing energy efficiency will help reduce the country's carbon footprint.

Second, improving water management practices, investing in rainwater harvesting infrastructure, and promoting water-efficient technologies in agriculture are crucial steps. Urban planning should prioritise green spaces and cooling centres to provide relief during extreme heat events.

Third, public awareness and community involvement are key to managing the crisis. The community-based water management programs will enable local populations to manage their water resources efficiently and sustainably. Also, it is high time that the government considers adding heatwaves as a category of natural disaster in the National Disaster Management Act 2005.

Fourth, government initiatives like the Jal Shakti Abhiyan, which promotes water conservation and management, are steps in the right direction. However, the scale of the problem requires greater coordination and commitment from all sectors of society. Proactive and innovative management of water resources, leveraging technology, and fostering community participation are critical to building resilience against future heatwaves and water scarcity.

Fifth, it is worth noting that Delhi currently uses only 10% of treated wastewater. Inspired by Bengaluru, where the state government has maximised the use of treated wastewater following a water crisis, Delhi needs to increase this percentage significantly. With the monsoons about to start in North India, the Delhi government can take full advantage of this situation by recharging its groundwater aquifers, storing excess water, and using it judiciously. This approach can eventually lead to Delhi becoming "water positive," providing much-needed relief to its residents.

Lastly, India's heatwave and water scarcity challenges are formidable but not insurmountable. It can navigate this crisis by adopting a holistic approach that combines mitigation, adaptation, and community engagement, as the survival of millions of Indians is dependent on timely and effective action to address these pressing environmental issues.

Access to sanitation in Lesotho has improved markedly over the past decade, while there have also been recent challenges in ensuring effective collection and treatment of wastewater. While access to sanitation has increased by some 48% during the past decade, an infrastructure update provided by the Lesotho Electricity and Water Authority (LEWA) reports remaining issues with wastewater collection and treatment. LEWA reports that inspections of the Water and Sewerage Company (WASCO) revealed a failure to meet some set standards for effluent quality and poor up-keep of treatment plants. Further analysis of the data shows that Company failed to meet its water and sewerage connection targets. Also, non-compliance with licence requirements such as the submission of a leakage reduction programme to LEWA remained a challenge for WASCO.

The effective storage and treatment of municipal wastewater is a critical element within the overall effort to ensure and protect human and environmental health. Municipal wastewater contains a variety of pathogens which in turn reflect the carrier state and infection levels within a community. In addition, the contamination of surface water with untreated or partially treated wastewater may lead to adverse health. For the effective management of public health, it is important for government, utilities and other stakeholders to have access to, amongst other things, inform policy- and decision makers of where to focus efforts and which solutions are most effective to ensure the greatest possible gains with existing resources.

In the context of Sustainable Development Goal 6 on water and sanitation, data is gathered for reporting on eleven indicators, amongst which SDG 6.2 on sanitation and SDG 6.3 on wastewater. Indicator 6.2.1a tracks the proportion of population that is using an improved sanitation facility, which is not shared with other households, and where the excreta produced is either treated and disposed in situ, stored temporarily and then emptied and transported to treatment off-site, or transported through a sewer with wastewater and then treated off-site.

A related indicator is Indicator 6.3.1, which tracks the proportion of domestic and industrial wastewater flow safely treated. Although data has been collected on access to sanitation for several decades, preceding the SDG period, the collection of data on indicators such as 6.3.1 on wastewater is still under development in most countries and therefore there is a relative lack of systematic and comprehensive information on these important indicators. 

Access to sanitation in Lesotho has improved steadily over the past decade: according to data from the Joint Monitoring Programme, 48% of the population on Lesotho currently have access to safely managed sanitation services, against 32,5% in 2012, which represents a 48% increase in a decade. In the context of the definition of ‘safely managed sanitation’ during the implementation period of the Sustainable Development Goals, this refers to the proportion of the population “using an improved sanitation facility that is not shared with other households, from which excreta are safely disposed of in situ or removed and treated off-site”. The proportion of the population with access to ‘basic’ sanitation services is 2,7%, up from 2% a decade ago.

In general, Lesotho’s towns and adjacent rural areas have a sound water supply infrastructure which achieves the goal of supplying both institutional and household needs. Lesotho’s Water and Sewerage Company (WASCO) is tasked with providing urban water and sanitation services. In part, WASCO conducts its activities in partnership with development partners. For instance, The European Union and the AfDB are supporting the Lowlands Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project (LRWSSP) in the districts of Berea and Maseru along the routes of the Metolong Dam Water Supply Project (MDWSP) which provides bulk water supply infrastructure. These two projects – LRWSSP and MDWSP)- are linked as a measure in support of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) as well as in an effort to support donor coordination.

However, according to LEWA, which regulates the sector in Lesotho and which has licensed WASCO to provide sewerage services, WASCO faces a variety of challenges which prevent it from providing an outstanding level of service. Amongst other factors, responsibilities are distributed among different actors along the sanitation chain and thus it is for instance the responsibility of the user of sewage services to ensure that if there is a sewage leak in the yard, it is repaired. On the other hand, the maintenance of public toilets are a responsibility of local government.   In addition, WASCO reports that rapid urbanization, improper town planning and financial constraints contribute to the challenges it faces in effectively managing urban wastewater issues. 

However, the wastewater collection and treatment network has limited coverage, resulting in widespread use of on-site solutions such as conservancy tanks, which are emptied using tankers. The design of these systems is not regulated, and in practice there is widespread leakage and incidence of sewerage overflows.  Because both construction and emptying can involve significant costs, substandard means of construction and emptying are sometimes employed by households, builders and tankers. The result is leakage of sewerage into the environment, with associated environmental degradation and the generation of risks to public health.  New methods of approaching wastewater are needed.

In a recent publication in the International Journal of Water Resources Development, researchers have presented the results of their studies into the current water governance system in Finland. While Finland has featured regularly at the top of international water and governance rankings, the country nevertheless faces growing water security challenges. The first of these is the disruption of the hydrological cycle as a result of climate change, resulting in increased risks of droughts and hazards. The second is related to the difficulties in achieving the good ecological and chemical status of freshwater ecosystems as set out in the EU’s Water Framework Directive.

Rather than looking purely at the outcomes of Finland’s current water governance system in terms of the reduction of climate related risks or the status of the country’s water resources, the study focused on the institutional strengths and weaknesses and the capacity of the various actors to achieve the desired outcomes. To do this, the researchers started with the twelve  principles for water governance which were developed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2015 after an extensive international consultative process. However, the researchers argued that the OECD principles are focused primarily on concerns of effectiveness and efficiency in water governance, and less concerned with issues of recognitive and distributional justice,, or of cultural or environmental sustainability, and therefore the analytic framework for the research was somewhat broadened to include these aspects. The key questions that the research addressed were related to the expertise and resources of individuals and institutions in Finland, the adequacy of the institutional frameworks, the efficiency, degree of participation, accountability and transparency of water management process, and the outcome of water management interventions.

The researchers looked at three case studies within the country: the ‘bioeconomy’ sector, which encompasses agriculture, forestry and aquaculture, the mining sector, and the country’s existing water infrastructure (water supply, wastewater treatment, hydropower and other infrastructure)

In the first area that researchers looked into – that of expertise and resources – it was found that there were shortcomings in the expertise in the bioeconomy and mining sector of the impacts on water resources of factors such as increased production, land use changes, and climate change. There have been incidents of sever pollution which appears to have taken actors by surprise, even if provision was already made in national laws for the mitigation of environmental risks.  In addition, it was found that there had been deep cuts to the human and financial resources of the public water sector, resulting in reduced capacity to protect public interests and a relative increase in the influence of the private sector in water governance.      

The second area which the researchers looked into is the adequacy of Finland’s institutional and regulatory frameworks. Here, for the ‘bioeconomy’, they found that the regulation of point source pollution (i.e. contamination that enters the environment from an easily identified and confined place) was quite well regulated in Finland, as it is across Europe and has in fact become stricter over time. By contrast, however, curbing diffuse pollution proves to be more challenging for the Finnish regulatory system. There is a mix of policy tools to guide decisions on diffuse pollution, but a lack of legal tools to regulate it effectively. Similarly, for the mining sector it was found that there is insufficient legislation to effectively limit effects on water bodies even if there is currently a renewed Mining Act which is due to come into force. The researchers found two critical weaknesses in the protection of water bodies: firstly, the water related permits are quite inflexible and are difficult to adjust to changing circumstance. And secondly, the shrinking of the public sector was seen to negatively affect long term monitoring of and control over water use.

The third area addressed by the researchers was efficiency, equal participation, accountability and transparency. The researchers found that in general the quality of these governance processes is high in Finland, even if there is still room for improvement. The efficiency of permitting has improved over time, but both applicants for a permit and those appealing the application had issues with the complexity and changing nature of the permit system even if the system is the most effective mechanism for setting (or challenging) norms.  In terms of participation, there are provisions in law for public comment on environmental impact assessments, although logging and forestry activities for example do not require a permit. In general, the researchers found that Finnish governance systems are accountable, and Finland also ranks as one of the least corrupt countries in the world: most companies have gone beyond the requirements of legislation in order to facilitate transparency and trust building.

The researchers also investigated the outcomes of water governance processes, looking predominantly at its effectiveness on the one hand and its ability to provide equity and justice on the other hand. It was found that in general, key governance processes are indeed seen to be effective, even if the final result in terms of achieving water security outcomes is a bit more mixed: point source pollution has been effectively curbed but diffuse pollution is a persistent problem. In terms of equity and justice, 100% of the population has access to safely managed water services and 99% has access to at least basic levels of sanitation. However, the utilities are currently struggling with high  operation and maintenance costs.

Therefore, the researchers conclude that water governance in Finland functions relatively well in general. Nevertheless, it remains challenging to maintain a good ecological status of water bodies, there remain existing and potential threats to both ecosystems and traditional livelihoods, and there is growing opposition from civil society to mining and forestry activities which have detrimental environmental and social impacts.   

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