Analysing progress on transboundary cooperation:

UNECE publishes third report on the implementation of the Water Convention

3 Feb 2025 by The Water Diplomat

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In December 2024, UNECE published its third report on progress on transboundary cooperation under the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention). This latest report covers the period between 2020–2023, summarising and analysing the individual reports submitted by the 48 countries which have acceded to the Convention. It provides valuable insights into progress on transboundary cooperation: on the one hand, it covers the implementation of measures agreed to under the Water Convention, and on the other hand it can be located within the broader context of global progress reporting on Sustainable Development Goal 6, and more specifically SDG indicator 6.5.1 (which tracks the percentage of transboundary basin area within a country that has an operational arrangement for water cooperation).

The Convention and its reporting mechanism 
The Water Convention provides both a global legal framework and an intergovernmental platform for transboundary water cooperation: it supports the establishment and implementation of bilateral and multilateral agreements measures for the ecologically sound management and protection of transboundary surface waters and groundwaters. It fosters the implementation of IWRM, in particular the management of water at the level of a basin as a hydrological unit.

The reporting mechanism under the Water Convention envisages the completion by countries of national reports on the status of transboundary cooperation in relation to shared rivers, lakes and aquifers. This reporting system was introduced in 2015, resulting in three reporting cycles to date, which have reportedly supported the focus of national leadership on transboundary cooperation and have assisted the exchange of experiences and identification of gaps in implementation. 

In the current reporting cycle, all 48 countries submitted reports, including eight countries from outside the Pan-European region which have recently acceded to the Convention, i.e.   Cameroon, Chad, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Iraq, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo. Additionally, in the past two years Namibia, Panama, the Gambia, Côte d’Ivoire, Zimbabwe and Zambia have also set in motion their accession process. There is therefore continuous growth in national commitment to transboundary cooperation within the context of the Convention.  

Results 
The number of basins covered in the reporting exercise is also increasing over time: the current report covers a total of 157 river and lake basins compared to 144 lake and river basins in the previous reporting exercise, i.e. an increase of 9%. Of these, 146 (93%) are in the UNECE region and 11 are located in sub-Saharan Africa and Western Asia. In addition, the report covers 85 river and lake sub-basins compared to 77 in the previous exercise, representing a 10% increase.  A total of 226 transboundary water agreements or arrangements are represented in the report, as well as 101 joint bodies for transboundary water cooperation.  While there are still challenges in obtaining data on transboundary aquifers, there has been increased reporting on transboundary aquifers in the present reporting round.  

National progress  
Within national processes, most countries have put in place laws and policies related to the prevention, control and reduction of transboundary impacts, including the requirement for transboundary environmental impact assessments. These measures follow from the requirement under Article 3(1) of the Water Convention that legal measures should be put in place to prevent, control and reduce transboundary impacts.  
In the area of water quality management, nearly all countries (96%) report having licensing or permitting systems in place for wastewater discharges and other point sources of pollution, and most countries also have licensing or permitting systems in place which enable the setting of emission limits based on the best available technology. All parties have confirmed that the authorised discharges of wastewater are monitored and controlled, and all parties also have measures in place to reduce the pollution of transboundary waters through non-point sources. 

In the area of water use efficiency, all countries report having put in place specific measures to enhance water resources allocation and use efficiency, which include the monitoring and control of water abstractions and a regulatory system for water abstraction. However, despite these efforts, there is room for improvement, especially in the area of water demand management: only 54% of the Parties currently use water demand management measures, such as water pricing or subsidies, awareness raising op education. This is of concern in the context of the uncertainties presented by climate change and increases in water scarcity. 

Transboundary agreements    
Turning to the transboundary agreements themselves, the report notes that most of the 157 transboundary river and lake basins covered in the report are covered by formal agreements or other arrangements, either in whole or in part.  A total of 140 transboundary agreements or arrangements have been inspired by the Convention since 1992, of which 13 have been concluded in the reporting period 2020-2023. 

Nevertheless, there still remain 12 river and lake basins as well as 17 river and lake sub-basins which are not covered by an agreement. The situation is starker with respect to groundwater: out of 406 transboundary aquifers and groundwater bodies, 85 are still not covered by an agreement. In the vast majority of cases, the agreements or arrangements cover both surface and groundwater and are not specific to groundwater. 

In the great majority (90%) of cases, the agreements specified the geographic scope of the agreement, as is required in terms of Article 9(1) of the Convention. However, there are imitations to this geographical scope: only in 62% of the agreements is either the entire basin (or group of basins) the subject of the agreement or are all countries sharing the basin party to the agreement.  In terms of substance, typically procedural and institutional issues related to water quality and quantity and monitoring as well as exchange of data and information are well reflected in existing the existing agreements and arrangements.  On the other hand, other provisions of the Convention such as the maintenance of joint pollution inventories, the elaboration of joint water quality objectives and the development of common early warning systems are not widely included in agreements or arrangements.

Establishment of joint bodies
Article 9 (2) of the Water Convention stipulates that transboundary water agreements and arrangements must provide for the establishment of joint bodies by the riparian Parties. However, the Convention is flexible with regard to the type of body to be established. When asked to confirm whether or not countries are members of joint bodies for a transboundary agreement or arrangement, 89% responded that this is the case. Within this reporting cycle, a total of 101 joint bodies for transboundary water cooperation have been reported with the participation of at least one party to the Convention. Of these joint bodies, 77 are bilateral bodies, while 24 are multilateral.

In practise, different kinds of bodies are established, and bilateral commissions are the most represented at 57% of the total, followed by basin commissions at 25% and expert groups or meetings of national focal points at 9%. A wide variety of tasks are attributed to these organisations, of which the most prominent are data collection and exchange, exchanges of experiences between countries, consultation on planned measures, addressing alterations that affect basin hydrology, and exchanges of information on existing and planned uses. 

The main achievements of transboundary cooperation listed to date include improvements in the planning, management and operation of a basin, improvements in exchange of data and information, improved joint environmental protection and monitoring, and the monitoring of the implementation of the agreements / arrangements.