1.
Selected activities under the UNECE
Water Convention and possible cooperation in the
GEF Syr Darya groundwater project
Dr. Annukka Lipponen
UNECE Water Convention
Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes
United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe

2.
UNECE/Helsinki Water Convention
(signed in 1992)
• Entered into force in 1996
• Protocols: Water and Health, Civil
Liability
• Amended in 2003 to allow accession
to countries beyond pan-Europe
• Amendment entered into force on 6
Feb.2013 => countries outside ECE
expected to be able to accede 2014-
Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes
United Nations Economic
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3.
Diverse activities to support countries
• Projects to support countries in transboundary monitoring
cooperation, negotiating agreements, setting up joint
bodies, developing the legal basis and policy
• Assessments
• Guidelines and other soft-law instruments (e.g. Model Provisions
on Transboundary Groundwaters
• Trainings and capacity building activities, e.g. UNECE-UNESCOUNDP-OSCE workshop on legal, institutional & technical issues
on transboundary groundwaters (Almaty, 2012)
Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes
United Nations Economic
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4.
Pan-European regional assessment
of transboundary waters
>140 rivers, 25 lakes, about 200 groundwaters and 25 Ramsar
Sites/wetlands of transboundary importance covered
EU, South-Eastern Europe, Eastern Europe, Caucasus, Central
Asia
Information collected:
•Inventory
•Location, extent and delineations
•Quantity and quality status
•Pressure factors (abstractions,
pollution sources)
•Transboundary impacts
•Management response
•Transboundary cooperation
Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes
United Nations Economic
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5.
Central Asia
Transboundary
waters
35 transboundary
aquifers
Maps: Zoi, IGRAC

6.
Assessment of the Water-FoodEnergy-Ecosystems Nexus
• Part of the Water Convention’s Work Programme 2013-2015
• Work overseen and guided by the Task Force on the WaterFood-Energy-Ecosystems Nexus; Working Group on IWRM
• Some 6-8 basins to be assessed; different nexus settings,
climate, resource scarcity...
• Syr Darya also to be assessed in cooperation with the
national administrations of KZ, KG, TJ, UZ; workshop in
November 2014
• Key partners: Finland (lead)/Finnish Environment Institute SYKE,
FAO, Royal Institute of Technology (Stockholm)
• Basin assessments 2013-2015; final report in August 2015
•
Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes
United Nations Economic
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7.
EUWI National Policy Dialogues: work
plan of IWRM component (UNECE)
• Kazakhstan: Analysis of the usefulness of joining the
Protocol on Water and Health; Preparing for target setting
(Protocol); Preparing and implementing projects on 1)
strengthening of the existing intergovernmental
committees and working groups on transboundary rivers &
2) improving management capacity at the basin level
• Kyrgyzstan: continue support to the Chu river basin
council: support for meetings, capacity building;
developing the Chu basin management plan; assistance to
process of drafting National Water Strategy
• Tajikistan: supporting the work of legal working group:
analysis on changes needed in various laws and bylaws in
order to fully apply the National Water Sector Reform
Strategy and the IWRM principles.
Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes
United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe

8.
Protocol on Water Health & links to
groundwater
• 1st international agreement to attain an adequate supply
of safe drinking water and adequate sanitation for
everyone
• In Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan projects on target setting,
the baseline analysis included the overview of
groundwater sources for drinking purposes, their
quality and contamination issues. In KG one of the
targets included the elaboration of technical regulations
to protect groundwater sources used as sources from
drinking water from contamination - sanitary zoning…
• Score-card for monitoring progress has been published
Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes
United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe

9.
UNECE Guidelines of relevance to
Transboundary Groundwaters
• UNECE Task Force on Monitoring and Assessment:
Guidelines on Monitoring and Assessment of
Transboundary Groundwater, 2000 (March 2000)
• Strategies for monitoring and assessment of transboundary
rivers, lakes and groundwaters (October 2006)
• Good Practice for Monitoring and Assessment of
Transboundary Rivers, Lakes and Groundwaters
(2006)
• UNECE Guidance on Water and Adaptation
to Climate change (2009)
Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes
United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe

10.
Model Provisions on
Transboundary Groundwaters
•
•
•
•
•
Non-binding guidance
adopted by Meeting of the Parties in 2012
Build on the ILC Draft Articles
Active participation of UNESCO and IAH in their development
To be used by Parties and non-Parties when entering into or
reviewing bilateral or multilateral agreements on transboundary
groundwaters (in the form of an additional protocol to an existing
agreement or a new and separate specific agreement on
groundwaters)
• Accompanied by commentaries with references to international
commitments and existing State practice
Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes
United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe

11.
Possible inputs/cooperation contributing
to the GEF Syr Darya groundwater
project
• Data on transboundary groundwaters from
assessments of available
• Guidelines on monitoring etc. available in Russian
• Organisation of trainings
• Capacity building activities on international water law in
particular
• Provision of platforms for dissemination and intersectoral discussion about the findings (NPD Steering
Committee meetings, Nexus Assessment of Syr Darya)
• …
Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes
United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe

12.
Thank you!
More information
including guidelines, publications and information
on activities under the Convention can be found at
http://unece.org/env/water
water.convention@unece.org
Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes
United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe