SDGAcademyX: TBW001 Governance for Transboundary Freshwater Security

Dr Anders Jägerskog (Senior Water Resources Management Specialist, World Bank) will deliver the inaugural lecture in the Tony Allan Memorial lecture series titled “Water in the MENA region – victim and casualty rather than source of conflict?”.

You can join the Anders Jägerskog's lecture online!

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Prof. Ayşegül Kibaroğlu and Dr. Hassan Janabi will discuss the current state of Water Diplomacy in the Euphrates and Tigris region. Dr. Mark Zeitoun, Director General of the Geneva Water Hub, will moderate the discussion.

The event is part of UCLA's Between the Rivers: Water for Development, Peace, and Security in the Euphrates-Tigris Region online event series.

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The aim of the online session is to explore the importance of design in the development and implementation of agreements and other arrangements on transboundary waters. Through an introduction to the Practical Guide for the Development of Agreements or Other Arrangements for Transboundary Water Cooperation the session will explore whether there are key ingredients that should structure these agreements and other arrangements.

Missed the event? Find the recording here ! 📼

The purpose of this event is to introduce the participants to the concept of water diplomacy, how it can help to strengthen cooperation and prevent conflicts over shared water resources, and to explore the actual practices of negotiations on the ground. We focus on sharing practical knowledge and experiences from actual negotiations over shared water resources.

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The many rivers and lakes that criss-cross international boundaries act as vital water resources for communities around the world. While we may think of them as separate entities to be managed, the way we utilize and treat freshwater resources can impact many different elements of the natural environment. One of these elements, and the focus of this session, is the connection between transboundary freshwater resources and the marine environment and how the rules of international law address this complex interaction.

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This session will focus on the International Court of Justice (ICJ), whose task is to settle all disputes brought before it based on applicable norms of international law. While decisions of the ICJ are binding only to the parties of the dispute and for that particular case, they are often cited as authoritative interpretations of international water law. With this in mind, the session revisits some of the historic cases, and looks at some pending cases, including the case between Hungary and Slovakia relating to the Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros Project, and the dispute over the status and use of the waters of the Silala between Chile and Bolivia.

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Although water projects are six times more efficient when women are part of the team, women are still underrepresented in the water sector. The session will explore the ways in which we can help women colleagues join and remain in the water sector.

The event is co-organized by the Global Water Partnership (GWP), the Community of Women in Water (CWiW) and the World Bank’s Equal Aqua platform.

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Professor Gonzalo Hatch Kuri will introduce you to the transboundary US-Mexico groundwater situation, the governance challenges in the region, and future strategies. After Gonzalo Hatch Kuri’s lecture (30-40 minutes), you will have the opportunity to ask your questions and discuss the topic with the whole audience in a Q&A session (15-20 minutes).

This event is part of the GEOPO "Governance of transboundary waters around the world” webinar series.

Join the event on YouTube!

A new webinar series on “Transboundary water governance around the globe" will be kicked off with an online session covering the topic of "Climate change, adaptation, and risk of conflict in international river basins". The first webinar will feature Ken Conca, Professor of International Relations at the School of International Service (SIS) of the American University (AU) in Washington. After Ken Conca’s lecture (30-40 minutes), you will have the opportunity to ask your questions and discuss the topic with the whole audience in a Q&A session (15-20 minutes).

This event is part of the GEOPO "Governance of transboundary waters around the world” webinar series.

You can watch a recording of the event on YouTube! 📼

Around the world there are approximately 600 transboundary aquifers, transboundary groundwaters that are shared by two or more states. These aquifers hold significant water resources that are being utilized to meet growing and changing water demands around the world. The purpose of this session will be to explore the different ways in which transboundary groundwaters are governed, and to exchange experiences on some of the practices and challenges faced.

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Water is fundamental for development, with transboundary waters acting as a natural connection between states. However, when one state seeks to develop waters it shares with another state, some impact is inevitable. The purpose of this session is to explore the different ways in which states can develop infrastructure on their transboundary waters, and to exchange experience, best practice and challenges faced regarding transboundary water development.

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The central question that will be discussed in the interactive session is: What strategies are there to help countries adapt to/tackle climate change within a transboundary freshwater context? What are the legal challenges and how can national, regional, and global (legal) challenges be addressed?

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River Basin Organisations (RBOs) can play an important role in advancing transboundary water cooperation, including supporting countries in the implementation of their treaty commitments, such as obligations related to data exchange, notification of planned projects, joint environmental impact assessment, joint basin-wide planning or public participation. The purpose of this session will be to explore the different ways in which RBOs support countries to implement their treaty commitments, and to exchange experiences on some of the challenges and opportunities they face.

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This webinar is organized under the framework of the UNESCO Programmes and activities to strengthen the Member States’ capacity to respond to water security, in particular as part of the project Governance of Groundwater Resources in Transboundary Aquifers (GGRETA), funded by the Swiss Development Cooperation Agency (SDC). It is intended to support African Member States and other relevant stakeholders to develop and implement evidence-based groundwater policy and practice in Africa for improved lives and livelihoods.

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Ecosystems, and the goods and services they provide, are increasingly recognised as critical for sustaining our health and well-being. However, a central challenge is that these systems defy political boundaries, which makes the need for cooperation between countries over their shared protection essential. Given this challenge, this interactive panel discussion will explore the role of international water law in protecting ecosystems within transboundary river basins, and advancing transboundary water cooperation.

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Transboundary water agreements - regional, multilateral, and bilateral – come in all shapes and sizes and can offer frameworks for the joint management of transboundary water resources. However, serious gaps remain, especially as hydrological conditions around the world are changing due to climate change. Through this interactive panel discussion, the participants are invited to quiz leading experts and practitioners on the topic. Questions will be collected in advance and also during the 1,5-hour-long session.

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In his lecture, Aaron Wolf will reflect upon the way Western ideas of rationality have informed our understanding of and how it has impacted conflict transformation. He'll present constructs, tools, and techniques from faith traditions worldwide to help transform conflict at all scales like "true listening". These and other practical lessons from his book of this title will be presented.

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The Virtual Workshop on financing transboundary water cooperation and basin development will take place via an online platform on 16 and 17 December 2020. It will discuss challenges and opportunities related to the financing of transboundary water cooperation and basin development.

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In this self-paced online course, the participant will be introduced to the concepts and guiding principles and processes for effective groundwater governance as well as their application to improve groundwater governance at national and transboundary level. The course will also illustrate on the international water law, comprised of “customary” principles and of treaties, agreements and conventions, with a particular focus on transboundary aquifers as well as the multiple interactions between domestic water laws and international water law.

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The talk will propose Transformative analysis’ as a way for diplomacy to (better) understand international water conflicts. With transboundary water arrangements as the object of study, and a focus on the structures of the political economy which defined the arrangements, starting points include the importance of considering all forms of water, the role of power asymmetry, the co-existence of conflict and cooperation - and the pathways that conflicts have and can transform along. Examples will be taken from the Nile, Jordan, and Tigris and Euphrates basins.

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There is a puzzling question as to why societies invariably over-develop their resources and over-extended their capacity to abstract water. Societal and political reasons are first reviewed. But what is overlooked is the consequence of overexploitation over the greater and tighter interconnectedness of users and ecosystems in a system that lack slack to adjust. This presentation reviews the diversity of such impacts and emphasizes how they should be taken into consideration in a comprehensive water governance approach.

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This lecture will examine (a) the multi-level drivers of water problems and impacts of water problems; (b) briefly cover the evolution of water law as a means to address water related problems through history; (c) present the transboundary agreements on water; (d) key national to local legal issues; and (e) end with discussing the challenges in future proofing water law.

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The presentation seeks to remedy the 'power-blindness' of much water governance and diplomacy literature, arguing that water is not necessarily contested, but when it is subject to power, that is not necessarily negative. It discusses some ways of categorising and operationalising power in understanding water conflict and cooperation.

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The Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention) one of the key global convention on transboundary water. The launch event will highlight the tools and mechanisms available to support countries preparing for accession to the Convention, and is also an opportunity for you to ask any questions.

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Transboundary aquifer systems are important source of fresh water in many parts of the world. The main objective of this webinar is to give an overview on key issues related to transboundary aquifers management as well as to facilitate discussion on actions needed for advancing cooperative and sustainable management of these important shared resources. Two cases are presented: the Guarani Aquifer System and the SADC Groundwater Management Institute (SADC-GMI).

Join the event! (Meeting Password: 7V2EuseW4NA)

The webinar features Prof. Aaron Wolf who lectures in our MOOC module 2 on negotiation, and Ms Zaki Shubber who lectures on dispute resolution in module 3. This is one of the webinars from the hydro-diplomacy webinars organized by IIT Guwahati.

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Global Water Partnership and Wuhan International Water Law Academy are organising an online engagement session on 27 October for those who are currently enrolled – and those interested in enrolling – in the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Transboundary Freshwater Security. The topic of the session is ‘Does the world need more International Water Law?’

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The webinar is being held in the context of the UNESCO IHP contribution to the African Network of Basin Organization (ANBO) and the African Minister's Council on Water (AMCOW) as part of the Governance of Groundwater Resources in Transboundary Aquifers (GGRETA) project Phase 3 (2019-2022) whose objective is to strengthen regional stability, cooperation and peace through the establishment of cooperative frameworks for transboundary groundwater governance in River Basin Organizations (RBOs), Regional Commissions (RCs) and selected aquifers systems in Africa.

Learn more! The recording of the event can be found here.

The key questions addressed through this web cast include: Why is the development of the Mekong drawing so much international attention? What are the main interests by its riparian states and major power rivalries, such as China and the U.S.? As the livelihood of millions of people depends on this river, can their interest be met amid ongoing debates on the development and management of the basin? And how does the Mekong context compare to other regions in Asia and the world?

Learn more! The recording of the event can be found here.

The primary purpose of this workshop is to support countries in from Southeast Asia, East Asia, South Asia and Oceania in SDG 6.5.2 reporting exercise. The workshop is an invitation only event participated primarily by the governments in the region, but the first plenary part of this workshop will be broadcast live through facebook (to be provided through UNESCO Jakarta office facebook).

Learn more! The recording of the event can be found here.