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Elements for the second Assessment of transboundary waters in South-Eastern Europe

This article discusses the legal, policy, and institutional frameworks, monitoring, main problems and responses, and the way forward for transboundary water management in South-Eastern Europe.

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Elements for the second Assessment of transboundary waters in South-Eastern Europe

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  1. Elements for the second Assessment of transboundary waters in South-Eastern Europe Tenth Meeting of the Working Group on Monitoring and Assessment, Bratislava 10-11 June 2009 Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes

  2. Basis • International Workshop on Transboundary Water Resources Management in South-Eastern Europe (Sarajevo, 18-20 May) • Jointly organized with RCC, Sava Commission and GWP-Med Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes

  3. Sarajevo workshop • General part on cross-cutting issues • Specific part on the second assessment: work in groups of riparian countries Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes

  4. SEE assessment of transboundary waters • Sub-regional summary (according to agreed outline): highlighting specificities of the region • Fact and figures on transboundary waters based on the datasheets • A number of Ramsar sites included/assessed Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes

  5. Elements of the sub-regional summary • Current draft (inf.2) based on Sarajevo workshop • To do: • Correct innacuracies • Enrich (more issues highlighted) • Specify (more examples both positive and negative) • Political message (the way forward) • Complement with datasheets • Agree on process until MOP5 Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes

  6. 1. Legal, policy and institutional frameworks - challenges • Obstacle: conflicting water uses • Differing institutional and legal frameworks and interests • Water cooperation not always high in the political agenda • Difficult political relationships in certain areas Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes

  7. 1. Legal, policy and institutional frameworks - advantages • Progress in several basins – but slow • Many supportive actors • EU Stabilisation and Association as well as the EU Accession • Ratification of Water Convention • Complementarity Water Convention/EU WFD … but different levels of advancement Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes

  8. 2. Monitoring • Weakness of national monitoring systems • Transboundary level: lack of information exchange, information non-harmonized, joint M&A almost non-existing • Few positive examples Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes

  9. 3. Main problems, impact and status • Water pollution from industrial facilities, mines, urban wastewater and agriculture, groundwater pollution, water scarcity and destructive floods (not detailed enough) • Climate change impacts • Development plans, competing uses/demands • Vulnerability of karst aquifer systems Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes

  10. 4. Responses • Reform of the water sector • Efforts towards IWRM and EU WFD implementation (but not enough at the transboundary level) • International projects Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes

  11. 5. Way forward • Potential to share benefits but not underpinned by appropriate cooperation • Strengthen cooperation (at the legal and institutional levels) • Improve understanding of climate change impacts and prepare adaptation • Reduce and prevent pollution • Protect aquifers (in particular karstic) • Strengthen political will and clear roadmap to improve cooperation • Not only rely on international projects Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes

  12. Where are we with datasheets? • Only Greece, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia have clearly nominated involved experts • No preliminary datasheet received Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes

  13. Annexes • Annex 1 Inventory • Based on first assessment: is it correct? • Are those the transboundary waters to be assessed (tributaries?) • Annex 2 Inventory of legal and institutional frameworks for cooperation: to be based on datasheets Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes

  14. Finalization by MOP 5 • 26 June: submission of datasheets and comments to the sub-regional summary (work with riparian countries, work with UNECE secretariat and GWP-Med) • 31 July: finalization of the assessment (summary, facts and figures) GWP • August: work in the secretariat to finalize, edit and format documents for submission to the MOP • [End of August-beginning of September: two weeks for comments by SEE countries.] • 21 September: Finalization of documents for MOP • 10-12 November: discussion and endorsement at MOP5 Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes

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