Posted on 09 September
2010
Stockholm: Renewed interest in West Africa
and Europe is boosting
the prospects for a key global treaty on
sharing freshwater resources over international
boundaries to come into effect.
The UN Convention on
the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of
International Watercourses (UN Watercourses
Convention) was adopted by an overwhelming
majority of the UN General Assembly in 1997,
but then languished for more than a decade,
well short of the 35 signatories required
for it to come into force.
Proponents of the treaty,
intended to provide a global framework for
resolving disputes and promoting cooperation
between states on the sustainable and equitable
management of transboundary waters, link
increased interest in ratification to rising
pressures on water resources from rapid
population growth, food and energy demands,
and climate change.
The most recent signatory,
Guinea-Bissau, joined in May 2010 and is
set to be followed by other states in West
Africa, with likely candidates being Benin,
Burkina Faso, Ghana, Niger and Nigeria.
“The Convention is definitely
the most important framework we have to
secure regional cooperation and peace around
shared water management issues,” says Dam
Mogbante, Executive Secretary of Global
Water Partnership-West Africa. “Even though
there are some regional conventions and
charters that set up some rules, we still
see the UN Convention as an umbrella to
reinforce regional agreements, and it can
be used where there is no regional organization.
We should all work to see it implemented!”
Fortunately, there are
now clear signs of wider support for the
UN Watercourses Convention in Africa, which
Guinea-Bissau’s ratification should further
boost.
France willing to promote
treaty
Similarly, discussions
on the role and relevance of the convention
for the Mediterranean region are building
momentum and can bring new champions for
a region where water resources are unevenly
distributed. The region’s fragile rivers
and aquifers are at particular risk from
over-extraction, drainage, infrastructure
works and droughts. The principles and rules
enshrined in the UN Watercourses Convention
can promote better transboundary water management
and ensure political stability and peace
between neighbouring countries.
Spain, one of Europe’s
largest water users and an important player
in international development cooperation,
was the last Mediterranean country to have
joined the convention in September 2009,
bringing it past the halfway mark for entry
into force.
In June 2010, during
the kickoff meeting of the 6th World Water
Forum, France announced its imminent ratification
and willingness to actively promote the
convention in Europe and beyond.
“The hope is that one
of these countries plays a leading role
to start a domino effect in ratifications
across the Mediterranean, similar to that
expected to arise from Guinea-Bissau’s commendable
recent ratification in West Africa,” says
Flavia Loures, WWF’s Senior Program Officer,
International Law and Policy Freshwater
Program.
Under the UN Watercourses
Convention Global Initiative, the side event
“UN Watercourses Convention – In Force by
2011” will be held during the 2010 World
Water Week in Stockholm, on 9 September,
from 12:45 p.m.-1:45 p.m. The event will
bring together a number of expert organizations
and government representatives. With emphasis
on West Africa and the Mediterranean region,
the event aims to foster discussions on
the convention’s specific role and relevance,
track and celebrate progress toward entry
into force by 2011 and catalyze action by
the international community to support the
global initiative.
+ More
New agreement heralds
focus on reducing land conflict around gorilla
reserve
Posted on 10 September
2010
Nairobi: UN-HABITAT and WWF will join forces
to tackle land conflict issues that are
posing an increasing threat to the Virunga
National Park , a World Heritage site in
the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo
noted for its mountain gorillas.
The Memorandum of Understanding,
signed this week, marks the first time the
two agencies with different mandates but
a common interest in reducing conflict over
land which has intensified due to refugee
flows from conflict in the area.
UN-HABITAT has been
implementing a large-scale land conflict
resolution programme in eastern Congo, including
areas around the Virunga National Park,
to assist refugees and internally displaced
people returning home.
WWF and its Virunga
Environmental Programme works on preserving
the biodiversity of Virunga National Park
and creating a harmony between the park
and the development of the communities living
around it.
UN-HABITAT and WWF share
the common objective to achieve the Millennium
Development Goal related to environmental
sustainability and recognise the impact
of human settlement and displacement on
biodiversity and the natural environment
especially in the post-conflict situation
in the east of the country.
WWF’s participatory
demarcation approach will contribute to
the resolution of several conflicts linked
to land tenure bordering the protected area.
UN-HABITAT has a solid
experience in land conflict mediation, land
administration and land management. Both
organizations thus recognise the benefits
of synchronising resources and expertise
for the development of a joint long term
programme in the Congo, especially its Eastern
Province.
The two organizations
will undertake the joint programme in consultation
with local communities, and the ICCN, the
Institut Conglais pour la Protection de
la Nature.
