8 December – Governments, UN entities and other organizations launched a global coalition today to better manage cross-border water resources – a lifeline for sustainable development but also a potential source of disputes.
“More than 3 billion people depend on water that crosses national borders,” said Olga Algayerova, Executive Secretary of UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) at the coalition’s launch during the UN-Water Summit on Groundwater held at the Headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris. “This makes transboundary water cooperation a crucial foundation for peace, sustainable development and climate action.”
The Transboundary Water Cooperation Coalition – a partnership of Governments, intergovernmental organizations, regional integration organizations, international financial institutions, academic institutions and civil society organizations – will work to highlight the critical importance of cooperating over shared water resources for water security and sustainable development.
While water stress is on the rise, only 24 of 153 countries that share transboundary river, lake or aquifer basins have all their transboundary basins covered by operational arrangements.
“Improved cooperation over shared water resources is a prerequisite for development and the advancement of climate change agenda and the demands of growing population, balancing the needs of people and the environment,” said Saroj Kumar Jha, Global Director for the World Bank Group’s Water Global Practice, expressing the institution’s commitment to an increased focus on cooperation around transboundary water management that will help advance peace, stability and build climate resilience.
The two-day Groundwater Summit, which concluded today, sets the stage for the UN Water Conference to take place on 22–24 March 2023 in New York.
The Coalition will encourage countries and organizations from around the world to submit concrete commitments to advance transboundary water cooperation as contributions to the Water Action Agenda, an anticipated main outcome of the UN 2023 Water Conference.