6th World Water Forum, session 1.5.2 coordinated by UNESCO Chair INWEB, Mar 2012 Print

The UNESCO Chair - International Network of Water-Environment Centres for the Balkans (INWEB) at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh), Greece, coordinated session 1.5.2. at the 6th World Water Forum in Marseilles, 12th - 17th March 2012.  The session was entitled:

DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE REGIONAL AGREEMENTS FOR COOPERATION AND PEACE
IN TRANSBOUNDARY SURFACE AND GROUNDWATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

Background and objective
Bi- and multi-lateral agreements on transboundary rivers, lakes and aquifer water resources management
are important tools for enhancing effective cooperation, involving political commitment and implementing
joint water management plans.
There are three main obstacles for developing and implementing agreements on shared water management:
(1) lack of political willingness, (2) differences in socio-economic and cultural levels between riparian
countries and (3) lack of trust, conflicting objectives and different priorities between countries, in relation to
their history, sovereignty and possible territorial claims.
The main objective of this session is to identify tools and methodologies and to summarise innovative
solutions in order to increase the number of such agreements, improve their quality and facilitate their
implementation by involving stakeholder participation.

Programme
Introductory remarks on the importance of effective regional agreements for cooperation and peace,
including the current situation and future challenges – Gretchen Kalonji, Assistant Director General for Natural
Sciences, UNESCO - Jacques Ganoulis UNESCO/INWEB, AUTh
Presentation of new solutions and four relevant case studies to address effective solutions, two from
transboundary groundwater aquifers and two from transboundary river basins

  • DIKTAS: Dinaric Karst Aquifer System, South Eastern Europe - Treidel Holger, UNESCO
  • The Transboundary Aquifers and the Jordan River Basin - Ahmed AlYaqoubi, Water Resources
  • Directorate, Palestinian Water Authority (PWA), - Deeb Abdelghafour, Water Resources Development,
  • PWA
  • The GUARANI Aquifer System, South America - Ofelia Tujchneider, CONICET, Argentina
  • The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) - U.S.-Canada, Susan Hedman, USEPA -
  • Mike Goffin, Environment Canada

Panel summary: solutions for new agreements and improving existing ones
Interactive debate: lessons learnt, problems, tools and methodologies for effective solutions
Concluding remarks and future activities

An interview with Prof. Ganoulis, coordinator of the UNESCO Chair INWEB, may be found here (you will need to scroll down under the YouTube screen)

interview

6th World Water Forum

 

http://www.worldwaterforum6.org/en/