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www.watercooperation2013.org
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Overview
Water is vital or lie, pivotal or human development and necessary to keep
our environment healthy. There is a xed amount o water on the planet and
with increasing population, economic development and changing liestyles,
undue pressure has been put on the world’s limited water resources
leading to increased competition or water and creating situations o
potential confict. But water can be used as an instrument o peace and
development as every action involving water management requires
eective cooperation between multiple actors whether at the local or
international scale.
If any of the people involved in water management do not cooperate,
the ‘cooperation chain’ is broken and water resources will not be
managed in the most effective way, with adverse effects on humanlives and the economy. When water resources are cooperatively shared
and managed, peace, prosperity and sustainable development are
more likely to be achieved.
Building a village water pump in sub-Saharan
Africa requires local actors to cooperate.
Bringing water from a river to irrigatefarmland requires regional cooperation.
Rivers cross politicalboundaries andinternational cooperationis necessary to sharethe water resources of a transboundary riverbasin between upstream
and downstream userswith different andsometimes conicting needs, claims andcultures.
Countries also needto cooperate on thesharing of transboundarygroundwater, an
important and increasing source of freshwater.
© UN Photo/Shaw McCutcheon
© UN Photo/Fred Noy
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Water is essential for life
Water is a vital element or human existence and allecosystems on Earth, naturally shared through the
hydrological cycle. It is the most precious resource on
our planet. The ulllment o basic human needs, our
environment, socio-economic development and poverty
reduction are all heavily dependent on water. Although
there is enough reshwater on the globe or everyone,
resources are unevenly distributed in time and space. In
many regions, clean reshwater is becoming increasingly
scarce due to population growth, urbanization, changes
in liestyle, economic development, pollution and climate
change. The growing pressure on water resources
creates potential competition between dierent uses and
users and makes it more dicult to manage water in a
sustainable and equitable manner. Good management o
water is especially challenging due to some o its unique
characteristics: the hydrological cycle is highly complex
and perturbations have multiple eects on quantity,
quality and availability elsewhere; water cuts across all
social, environmental and economic activities and touches
upon multiple sectors; and water does not respect political
and cultural boundaries, be they local, regional or national.Water is a shared resource and its management needs to
take into account a wide variety o conficting interests.
Water cooperation is crucial to peace
and sustainable development
Cooperation is essential to strike a balance between the
dierent needs and priorities or sound water management.
The potential or water cooperation is great. Evidence
indicates that good examples o water cooperation greatly
outshine water-related conficts. All water systems are
extremely complex, be they management systems at the
local or national level, internationally shared river basins
or parts o the natural hydrological cycle. Managing
these systems requires multiple actors, rom users
to practitioners and managers, experts rom various
disciplines and policy- and decision-makers.
Water cooperation between dierent social groups,
economic sectors, regional governments, countries, and
present and uture generations, is crucial not only to
ensure the sustainable and equitable use o water but also
1. Why care about water cooperation?
The Water Tribunal in Valencia, Spain
In the ertile region o Valencia, a
century-old water tribunal settles
disputes between irrigators. The region
is amous or its network o irrigation canals which
was built by the Romans two thousand years ago.
Field owners who derive their water rom the same
canal orm communities with their own statutes.
Violations o these statutes are adjudicated by the
Water Tribunal. The eight administrators o the
Tribunal are elected every two years by a total o
11,691 members, and gather once a week to decide
on matters o irrigation. The Tribunal has existed
or more than a thousand years and has been
recognized by UNESCO as an outstanding example
o Intangible Cultural Heritage since 2009.
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N E S C O / J o s é J o r d a n
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to create and maintain peaceul relations between people.
Water cooperation requires the integration o all relevant
interests and perspectives, ostering innovation, building
trust, developing capacities and making decisions that are
acceptable and understood by all. In this context, water
cooperation needs to embrace multiple perspectives, be
inormed by a variety o disciplines and extendto all levels, rom the local to the national to
the international level, and across all socio-
economic sectors.
At the government level, dierent
ministries can cooperate and mainstream
awareness on water management into
other sectors; at the community level
users can cooperate through water users’
associations; at the transboundary level
joint management institutions canhelp to distribute and protect shared
resources; and at the international
level dierent UN agencies can work
together to promote the sustainable
management o water.
Cooperation mechanisms vary in terms o decision-making
structures, levels o participation and rules and regulations.
They can take the orm o inormal agreements or ormal
institutions, and they range rom a simple exchange o
inormation to joint management mechanisms and
activities such as capacity development.
Water cooperation as a
peacemaking strategy
Water can also be a catalyst or cooperation and or
building peaceul relations beyond the resource
itsel. Oten negotiations over a practical issue such
as water provide a basis or dialogue even when
political relations are strained. For example,
Jordan and Israel held secret talks over
the management o the Jordan River rom
the 1950s even though they were at war
until 1994. Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and
Vietnam continued to exchange inormation
on the Mekong River throughout the Vietnam
War. Water cooperation can thus also serve
as an avenue or peacemaking, building trust and
mutual understanding.
Transboundary water cooperation in Latin America
UNESCO’s Potential Confict Cooperation Potential
(PCCP) programme acilitates multi-level and
interdisciplinary dialogue to oster peace,
cooperation and development by building capacity to manage
transboundary water resources. For example, research on Lake
Titicaca involved stakeholders rom both Bolivia and Peru.
A joint document was prepared outlining the status o confict and cooperation in this transboundary water
body. In 1992, Bolivia and Peru created the Bi-national
Autonomous Authority o Lake Titicaca recognizing the
importance o the joint management o the lake. The PCCP
programme worked to build on this cooperative will and
to acilitate a joint vision common to all stakeholders
through a joint case study providing a orum or cooperative
action, and a joint management strategy while at the same
time increasing knowledge o the shared water body.
©FAO/Pietro Cenini
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2. What are the key messages?
The Strategic Partnership for groundwaterin the Mediterranean Sea (MedPartnership)
Addressing the over-extraction and degradation o
the groundwater o Mediterranean coastal aquiers
requires the collective eort o countries and leading
organizations to protect the marine and coastal environment.The MedPartnership supports the creation o an inventory o
coastal aquiers in the region including transboundary aquiers
to assess the legislative, policy and institutional reorms that can
contribute to their more eective collaborative management by
Mediterranean countries.
Case studies can highlight innovative approaches and tools or water
resource management that subsequently contribute to capacity
building activities and technology transer and the establishment o
regional action plans or coastal aquier management.
33 Water3cooperation3builds3peace
Access to water can be a source o a confict, but it is also a catalyst or cooperation and peace building. Cooperationon such a practical and vital issue as water management and drinking water supply and sanitation services can
help overcome cultural, political and social tensions, and can also build trust and social peace between dierent
groups; genders, communities, regions or states.
33 Water3cooperation3is3key3to3socioeconomic3development,3poverty3eradication,3 social3equity,3gender3equality3and3environmental3sustainability Universal access to ecient drinking water supply and sanitation services is the oundation or the ulllment o basic
human needs and contributes to the achievement o all the Millennium Development Goals. Inclusive, participatory
and gender sensitive governance o water and cooperation between dierent stakeholders can help to
overcome inequity and prevent conficts in access to water and thus contribute to poverty eradication,
socioeconomic development and improve the living conditions and educational chances, especially o women and children.
33 Water3cooperation3creates3tangible3economic3beneftsAll economic activities depend on water. Cooperation can lead to a more ecient and
sustainable use o water resources, e.g. through joint management plans creating
mutual benets and better living conditions, and gender sensitive water governance.
33 Water3cooperation3is3crucial3to3preserve3water3resources,33ensure3their3sustainability3and3protect3the3environment3Water cooperation makes possible and promotes the exchange o scientic
knowledge, including gender disaggregated data and inormation,
management strategies and best practices, which is undamental or theprotection o the environment and to achieve sustainable development.
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3. What are the objectives of the year?
Water cooperation in the Arab
and Western Asian Regions
Arab countries are cooperating on the management
o shared water resources through various inter-
governmental ora. These include the Arab Ministerial
Water Council, which adopted the Arab Strategy or Water
Security in the Arab Region to meet the challenges and the uture
needs o sustainable development (2010-2030), highlighting
the importance o regional cooperation among Arab States or
the management o shared water resources, the protection
o Arab water rights, and the improvement o access to watersupply and sanitation services. Regional cooperation at the
basin level is also being pursued to improve the management
o shared surace and groundwater resources by adopting a
common vision and the establishment o an inventory o shared
surace and groundwater resources in the Western Asia sub-
region, which is being prepared by the United Nations Economic
and Social Commission or Western Asia (UN-ESCWA).
The UNECE Water Convention - a unique legal framework fortransboundary cooperation - is going global
The UNECE - United Nations Economic Commission
or Europe’s Convention on the Protection and Use
o Transboundary Watercourses and International
Lakes (Water Convention) acilitates water cooperation to
protect and ensure the quantity, quality and sustainable
use o transboundary water resources. Since 1992,
the Convention has provided a legal and institutionalramework, and a programme o work involving knowledge
exchange, capacity building, projects on the ground, policy
advice, sot-law instruments and regular assessments. In
2013 the Convention is expected to ‘go global’ contributing
to the International Year o Water Cooperation. The Protocol
on Water and Health jointly serviced by UNECE and the
World Health Organization aims to protect human health
and well-being through the sustainable management o
water resources and the provision o sae drinking water and
adequate sanitation.
The International Year and the World Water
Day 2013 aim to encourage and nurture watercooperation to:
Raise awareness on the importance, benets
and challenges o water cooperation;
Enhance knowledge and develop
capacity or water cooperation;
Spark concrete and innovative action
towards water cooperation;
Foster partnerships, dialogue and
cooperation around water as a top
priority, during and beyond 2013;
Strengthen international cooperation among
institutions, users, social and economic
sectors and others in order to reach a
consensus on Sustainable Development
Goals or the post-2015 era which will
eectively address our uture water needs.
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In December 2010 the United Nations General Assembly
(UNGA) declared 2013 as the United Nations International Year o Water Cooperation (Resolution A/RES/65/154). The
proposal submitted by a group o countries was initiated by
Tajikistan. The UNGA requested UN-Water to coordinate the
Year making it a truly global UN-eort.
In August 2011 at its 15th session, the 30 member agencies
o the UN-Water consortium ocially appointed UNESCO
to lead preparations or both the 2013 International Year
and the World Water Day in cooperation with the United
Nations Economic Commission or Europe (UNECE) and with
the support o United Nations Department o Economic and
Social Aairs (UNDESA), the UN-Water Decade Programme
on Capacity Development (UNW-DPC) and UN-Water Decade
Programme on Advocacy and Communication (UNW-DPAC).
UN-Water agreed that the World Water Day (WWD) on 22
March 2013 should also be dedicated to the same theme.
UN-Water has called upon UNESCO to lead the 2013 United
Nations International Year on Water Cooperation, in view o
the Organization’s mandate to pursue the goals o peace
and sustainable development and its multi-dimensional
mandate in the natural and social sciences, culture,
education and communication and its signicant and long-
standing programmes contributing to the management o
the world’s reshwater resources.
4. How did the UN declare 2013 theInternational Year of Water Cooperation?
Water cooperation to manage foods
The International Flood Initiative (IFI)
aims to persuade policy-makers to
change rom a model o deense against
foods towards the integrated management
o foods to maximize the long-term benets
and to minimize the hardship, loss o lie and
damage to goods. Its guiding principles are
living with foods, equity or all stakeholders,
empowered participation, inter-disciplinarityand trans-sectorality, and international and
regional cooperation. UNESCO’s International
Hydrological Programme (IHP), WMO, UNU, UN-
ISDR and IAHS cooperate on the International
Flood Initiative (IFI). The secretariat o the IFI
is based at the International Centre or Water
Hazard and Risk Management (ICHARM) a
UNESCO center, hosted by the Public Works
Research Institute in Tsukuba, Japan.
© UN Photo/Evan Schneider
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FRIENDs o water cooperation: sharing scientic data across borders
In
order to understand hydrological processes at a regional or global scale, in particular concerning
shared water resources and in the context o climate change, it is vital that nations collaborate
on analyzing and sharing hydrological data and knowledge. Flow Regimes rom International and
Experimental Network Data (FRIEND), an international network supported by UNESCO’s International Hydrological
Programme (IHP) aims to oster and consolidate cross-disciplinary networks that acilitate cooperation or research
and capacity building, development o analytical tools and data sharing. FRIEND has eight regional groupings and
over 162 participating countries.
The UN proclaimed 2013 as the International Year on
Water Cooperation (UN General Assembly Resolution
65/154). Diverse activities around the world will help
raise awareness o the potential o and challenges
to water cooperation, acilitate dialogue among
stakeholders, and promote innovative solutions. World
Water Day on 22 March 2013, also on the theme o
water cooperation, will be one o the key events o the
Year.
UNESCO will lead the coordination o the activities,
with support rom UNECE, UNDESA, UNW-DPC, and
UNW-DPAC, on behal o UN-Water, and will encourage
stakeholders at international, regional, national and
local levels to take action on water cooperation so as
to create a momentum that goes beyond the year itsel.
UN-Water is the inter-agency coordination mechanism
or all reshwater and sanitation-related issues. Based
on a history o close collaboration among UN agencies
it was established in 2003 by the UN High Level
Committee on Programmes. UN-Water aims to oster
greater co-operation and inormation sharing among
its 31 UN Members and 27 other international partners.
UN-Water monitors and reports progress towards
global objectives related to water, or example through
the World Water Development Report (WWDR) and
organizes the annual World Water Day on 22 March.
AT A GLANCE: WATER COOPERATION 2013
World Water Day:wwd2013@unesco.org
International Year of Water Cooperation:iywc2013@unesco.org
www.watercooperation2013.org