Third SMM stakeholders’ workshop, September 25-26, 2018, Kisumu, Kenya
Second SMM stakeholders’ workshop, May 6-9, 2018, Mbale, Uganda
First Sio-Malaba-Malakisi basin stakeholders’ consultative workshop: initiation of a Benefit Opportunities Assessment Dialogue, 16-18 May 2017, Kisumu, Kenya
Regional Training on Hydrodiplomacy & Negotiation Skills for IGAD Water Resources Protocol Negotiation Members 27-28 February 2017 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Legal Assessment Tool on Water Governance (LAGO) as dialogue instrument, 13-14 June 2016, El Salvador
On June 13th and 14th, 2016 a course on Water Governance in a National Context was held with approximately thirty representatives of the private sector to strengthen the dialogue on appropriate legal instruments for good water governance, provide technical inputs to strengthen capacities in water management in the national context, learn about good practices on water laws of other countries and discuss El Salvador´s Water Bill.
In the context of analysis and discussion of the Water Bill in El Salvador, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN) with the support of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) applied the Legal Assessment Tool on Water Governance (LAGO) as a dialogue instrument with the private sector.
On June 13th and 14th, 2016 a course on Water Governance in a National Context was held with approximately thirty representatives of the private sector to strengthen the dialogue on appropriate legal instruments for good water governance, provide technical inputs to strengthen capacities in water management in the national context, learn about good practices on water laws of other countries and discuss El Salvador´s Water Bill.
The cornerstone of the course was the application by the participants of the Legal Assessment Tool on Water Governance (LAGO). It was elaborated by IUCN´s Environmental Law Center as an indicative questionnaire to guide the user on the different aspects of water governance.
With this exercise, participants gained a better notion of the characteristics of the water governance regime in El Salvador, and obtained technical criteria on the strengths and weaknesses in legislation, policy and institutions. This was an input for the discussion on the adoption of El Salvador´s Water Law.
The activity was organized under Project BRIDGE: Building River Dialogue and Governance, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). For further information contact: reth [dot] porras [at] iucn [dot] org
Training Course on Water Governance in a Transboundary Context held from 17 to 18 November 2015 in Quito, Ecuador
As part of the activities promoted by BRIDGE Andes, on 17 and 18 November 2015, a Training Course on Water Governance in a Transboundary Context took place in Quito, Ecuador.
This event was attended by several representatives of the Ecuadorian Government including the National Water Secretary (SENAGUA), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Environment and other non-governmental institutions involved in the management of transboundary waters in the region.
During the course, essential aspects of International Water Law, Hydrodiplomacy and the Ecuadorian Environmental Legislation were discussed. In fact, the course provided a platform to discuss mechanisms to improve and strengthen the cooperative management of shared waters.
Additionally, participants had the opportunity to work on practical exercises related to potential conflict scenarios in transboundary basins. Through these exercises, participants were able to identify and discuss key negotiating mechanisms for the prevention and resolution of disputes in a transboundary context.
The training course also served to promote the use of tools and cooperation mechanisms designed to accomplish real water governance aimed at achieving fair and equitable distribution of benefits and services derived from freshwater ecosystems.
Dr. Alejandro Iza, Director of the IUCN Environmental Law Programme and main speaker during the training course, highlighted the important progress in the implementation of institutional frameworks for cooperation in recent years by saying: "The progress in implementing institutional frameworks show the engagement and the interest of some States of being part of global instruments which lays the legal and institutional foundations of transboundary water management".
While there are legal and institutional frameworks for transboundary waters in the region, there is still no clear commitment to adopt the UN Watercourses Convention of 1997, which is an essential step to reformulate and even update the existing legal and institutional frameworks in the region. In this context, BRIDGE Andes is committed to continue disseminating the benefits and opportunities that can be achieved from the adoption of the Convention.
Curso de Capacitación en Gobernanza del Agua en un contexto Transfronterizo llevado a cabo del 17 al 18 de noviembre de 2015 en Quito, Ecuador
Como parte de las actividades que promueve el programa BRIDGE Andes, el pasado 17 y 18 de noviembre del 2015, se desarrolló en la ciudad de Quito, Ecuador el Curso de Capacitación en Gobernanza del Agua en un contexto Transfronterizo.
Este evento contó con la participación de varios representantes de instituciones del Gobierno Ecuatoriano entre ellas, la Secretaria Nacional del Agua, el Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, el Ministerio del Ambiente y otras instituciones no gubernamentales involucradas en la gestión de cuencas transfronterizas en la región.
Durante el curso se trataron aspectos esenciales del Derecho Internacional de Aguas, la Hidrodiplomacia y el estado de la Legislación Ambiental Ecuatoriana. El curso además sirvió de plataforma para discutir mecanismos tendientes a mejorar la gestión cooperativa de aguas compartidas.
Adicionalmente, los participantes tuvieron la oportunidad de desarrollar ejercicios prácticos relacionados con escenarios de conflicto ficticios que potencialmente se pueden presentar en cuencas transfronterizas. A través de estos ejercicios se pudieron identificar y discutir mecanismos de negociación esenciales para la prevención y resolución de controversias en un contexto transfronterizo.
A lo largo de los dos días de capacitación se busco promover el uso de herramientas y mecanismos de cooperación tendientes a alcanzar una gobernanza real del agua tendiente a lograr una distribución justa y equitativa de los bienes y servicios derivados de los ecosistemas de agua dulce.
El Dr. Alejandro Iza, Director del Programa de Derecho Ambiental de la UICN y ponente principal durante el curso, resaltó la importancia de los avances alcanzados durante los últimos años en la aplicación de marcos institucionales de cooperación al expresar: “Los avances en la aplicación de marcos institucionales dan pautas del compromiso que tienen algunos Estados y su interés de querer contar con instrumentos globales que sirvan para sentar las bases legales e institucionales en la gestión de cuencas transfronterizas”.
Si bien a nivel regional existen marcos jurídicos e institucionales relativos a cuencas transfronterizas, aún no existe un compromiso claro en la región de adoptar la Convención de las Naciones Unidas de 1997, la misma que resultaría fundamental para reformular e incluso actualizar los marcos legales e institucionales existentes en la región. Es aquí donde radica la importancia del trabajo de BRIDGE Andes al dar a conocer a los tomadores de decisiones regionales de los beneficios y oportunidades que se pueden alcanzar a partir de la adopción de la Convención.
Enhancing Hydrodiplomacy and benefit sharing in the IGAD Region, meeting from 6th– 8th May 2015 in Entebbe, Uganda.
As part of the implementation of the BRIDGE Africa IGAD component, the IUCN Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO) and Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) held a meeting from 6th – 8th May 2015 in Entebbe, Uganda.
This regional meeting was attended by the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) members of the IGAD Inland Water Resources Project, legal experts from the 6 active IGAD region and IGAD Secretariat staff.
During the meeting, the participants were introduced to the BRIDGE project. There was also the identification of the areas that BRIDGE IGAD component could focus on as well as a potential basin where BRIDGE could have the most impact. Participants also reviewed the draft IGAD Regional Policy and Protocol on Water Related Data Exchange.
The BRIDGE team conducted a hydro-diplomacy and benefit sharing (introductory) training in the context of the draft IGAD regional water resources protocol. Given that the trans-boundary basins in the IGAD region lack legal and institutional frameworks for trans-boundary water governance, the UN Watercourses Convention can potentially provide policy guidance for the development of bilateral and multilateral arrangements on negotiation and implementation of watercourse agreements. The draft IGAD Regional Water Resources Protocol and Protocol on Water Related Data Exchange are also important framework instruments that incorporate the provisions of the UN Watercourses Convention and adapt them to the specific contexts in the region. The IGAD provides a regional platform for IGAD States to jointly address cross-cutting challenges in water governance in the region.
To improve the understanding of the principles of the UN Watercourses Convention, the participants analyzed a water pollution conflict scenario on a fictitious basin shared by two fictitious countries – one country accusing its neighbouring country for polluting its water sources through its mining activities. A panel from a fictitious neutral third country arbitrated the case.
The BRIDGE team facilitated a second session on benefit sharing as an additional tool for implementation of trans-boundary water governance cooperation in the IGAD region. Part of the reason why 60% of the world’s trans-boundary basins do not have frameworks for cooperative management is that in most cases riparian countries will only cooperate if benefits for cooperation could be demonstrated and if they outweigh non-cooperation.
During this session, the BRIDGE team introduced the Benefit-sharing Opportunities Assessment Tool (BOAT) which raises awareness and builds the capacity of stakeholders to maximize on the benefits of cooperation. The BOAT assists stakeholders to conduct a joint analysis of the benefits of on-going or planned activities in the basin and select win-win scenarios based on equity rather than equality. Through undertaking a joint analysis of positive and negative impacts of activities within a basin context, stakeholders can understand the different types of shared benefits (such as water supply, hydro-power generation, irrigation, navigation and economic benefits) as well as costs associated with these benefits. In so doing, the stakeholders from the riparian countries are able to see the river as a connection rather than a source of geopolitical and power tensions; and hence jointly discuss on how to share the benefits of the watershed and overcome sovereignty and administrative challenges.
The participants concluded the workshop with a practical exercise on Benefit Sharing that enabled them to explore scenarios of cooperation and non-cooperation. The exercise demonstrated that in cooperation scenarios, there is overwhelming evidence of “win-win” outcomes as opposed to the non-cooperation scenarios.
For more insights into the event, kindly check out the following links:
IGAD Website
Youtube
The Observer, Uganda
The Centre for Water Law, Policy & Science (under the auspices of UNESCO) is hosting a series of water-related events in June and July 2015, at the University of Dundee, Scotland, UK.
The science of integrated water resources management for law and policy experts – enhanced skills workshop, 23-26 June 2015: This course aims to provide participants with critical insights into the science that underpins integrated water resources management (IWRM), through an exploration of key hydrological, ecological and hydrogeological processes, methodologies and the current state of the art.
A further theme of the short-course will be to explore how the accessibility of water-related scientific data and information can be enhanced within policy/decision-making processes. This intensive short-course is targeted at water experts that have a law and policy background and/or would benefit from a refresher course in the scientific state-of-the-art pertaining to IWRM.
6th Annual International Water Law and Transboundary Freshwaters Workshop, 29th June – 2nd July 2015: The purpose of this workshop will be to explore the content, contribution and benefit of international law within the context of existing and potential challenges faced by transboundary basins (rivers, lakes and aquifers) throughout the world. A key focus will be on exploring not only the content of the law, but also implementation challenges. The workshop will benefit from the collective knowledge and expertise of world-renowned speakers all of whom have a ‘real world’ focus.
New Directions in International Water Law Symposium, 3rd July 2015: In light of recent developments in international law relating to transboundary rivers, lakes and aquifers, the Centre for Water Law, Policy & Science is holding a one-day symposium relating to New Directions in International Water Law. The symposium will bring together specialists in the field with a view to sharing cutting edge research and advancing novel research agendas. The best papers from the symposium will be published in a special open-access collection.
For additional information or to book your place, please visit http://www.dundee.ac.uk
“Two global conventions on transboundary cooperation, so what?’’, 12–17 April, 7th World Water Forum in Daegu - Gyeonbuk, South Korea
From the 12th to the 17th of April, the IUCN BRIDGE team participated in the 7th World Water Forum in Daegu - Gyeonbuk, South Korea. At the World Water forum, the IUCN BRIDGE team facilitated three thematic sessions. The first was a special thematic session on the importance the entry into force of the UN Watercourses Convention and the UNECE Water convention and the impact of States' accession and implementation of these instruments.
The second thematic session was about International Water Law and mechanisms of advancing transboundary cooperation through global, regional and basin legal instruments. The third thematic session was on water diplomacy and multilevel governance and the importance of connecting actors at different levels of governance for better implementation outcomes. The IUCN BRIDGE team also hosted a side event demonstrating lessons learnt from implementing the BRIDGE project in transboundary basins.
Read more about the participation of IUCN BRIDGE at the World Water Forum.
