​[MUSIC] [MUSIC] Hello. We are welcomed here at the Palais des Nations by Ms Francesca Bernardini, Secretary for the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes. Hello Francesca. >> Hello >> So, here is my first question. >> The 1992 Convention, also known as the Helsinki Convention as it was adopted in 1992 in Helsinki. It came into force in 1996. This year marks its 20th anniversary. There are now 41 Parties to the Convention: 40 countries, plus the European Union. It is important to emphasize that these Parties are sometimes upstream, sometimes downstream, and this is important in the context of cross border cooperation. The Convention was originally negotiated as a regional cooperation framework for European countries but was amended in 2003 to allow membership to any UN member country. The Convention aims to protect and ensure the quality and quantity of transboundary water resources as well as their sustainable management. The Convention is based on three fundamental principles which are also the principles of customary international law. These include the obligation to prevent, and reduce transboundary impact, to ensure an equitable and reasonable use of water resources, and to ensure cooperation through common agreements and joint bodies. It is through this third obligation, that the other obligations come to fruition. In any case, ensuring sustainable water management is the main objective of cross border cooperation. What is important to emphasize is that it is not just a legal text, but it it also a living tool, a framework tool that has an institutional framework where all Parties meet with several subsidiary bodies and many activities developed in the institutional framework of the Convention. This makes it a living tool. The obligations are divided into two parts. The first part is made up of general obligations applicable to all Parties which establish a number of measures that must be put in place so that the Parties can ensure, prevent, control and reduce transboundary impact and ensure a reasonable and equitable use of the water resources, including obligations for establish systems for monitoring, research and development, and the exchange of information. I believe that this second part is the most important and also the most specific part of the Convention and the New York Convention that details obligations specific to riparian Parties. This means all States Parties to the Convention sharing surface or groundwater. These Parties, according to the Convention, are obliged to enter into agreements and establish joint bodies for the management of their transboundary waters. The Convention also sets out minimum obligations for Parties and these joint bodies, including consultation, monitoring and evaluation, information exchange, alert and alarm systems, action programs, with a common objective and mutual assistance. So, in a few words. The main achievement linked to the obligation to develop agreements happened in the 1990s. The region was marked by new borders as a result of the end of the Soviet Union and the former Yugoslavia, and the Convention created a series of transboundary agreements between these new countries whose water was perviously considered national. The Convention inspired a series of agreements. First, the Danube Convention, which was negotiated at the same time as the 1992 Convention and which reflects it very closely. But also the agreements on the Dniester between Ukraine and Moldova, the agreement on the Save, the agreements on the Chu-Talas between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, and also a series of bilateral agreements between Pan-European countries, now the countries of the European Union, Hungary, Slovakia, Hungary-Slovenia, but also many countries of the European Union and non-EU countries such as Estonia-Russia, Russia-Ukraine, but also outside this region. For example, the Russia-Mongolia agreement was inspired by the Convention. This was the Convention framework's first great accomplishment. The activities within the framework of the Convention have enabled cooperation, have enabled countries to implement the framework more effectively, including all the guidelines developed for a more accurate interpretation of the Convention and which give specific guidance. For example, guidelines were established for flood management, linked to the establishment of a joint evaluation program which addresses adaptation to climate change in a transboundary context. Not only did this allow the creation of agreements, but also ensures continuous progress in the framework of cooperation. These activities (developed within the framework of the work programme which is adopted at the meeting of the Parties which takes place every three years) respond to the various difficulties encountered in the management of their transboundary waters. For example, at the moment, we are working on very newsworthy themes. For example, the nexus between water, food, energy, and ecosystems in the transboundary context, or, for example, in the context of adaptation to climate change, always in transboundary basins. The work on climate change is typical of what happens within the framework of the Convention. Work has been ongoing since 2006 and the work began with an acknowledgment from the Parties that the impact of climate change will present a great challenge. The first thing they did was to create new policies. How to best cooperate over a transboundary basin whilst taking into account the risks of climate change and the transboundary impact or, on the other hand, what happens if one riparian Party undertakes the unilateral construction of a dam, which can have transboundary implications for others. The development of the policy was the first step. But it did not end there. The idea was also to promote the implementation of the policy through pilot projects which, in some transboundary basins, became the first basins in the world to have adopted, for example, a joint vulnerability study within the transboundary framework. Then there are the joint strategies for how to best adapt these to transboundary basins. With regards to sustainable development goals (SDGs) within the context of cross border cooperation, there have been some great advances. For the first time, via a text negotiated within the UN, consensus was reached on the need for cross border cooperation. The last time this happened was in 1992 with Agenda 21. This reflects a political shift and reflects the importance of the theme. The fact that in target 6.5 of the SDGs on water and sanitation, there is a call for cooperation for cross border cooperation from a political perspective. The Convention will certainly have a role as it is the sole actor in the UN framework with a mandate for transboundary cooperation to help countries achieve this target. All the activities of the Convention, of course, will help these efforts, in both Party and non-Party countries. It is important to stress that the Convention is a tool for cooperation and these activities are open to all, Party or non-Party. and that's very important. Another very specific role of the Convention is linked to evaluation, monitoring progress and transboundary cooperation. An indicator has been adopted by the Statistics Committee on transboundary cooperation and the reporting system established within the Convention will allow this indicator to be monitored. >> Thank you very much Francesca for these insights. I am sure, that you have provided us with a much better appreciation of both the conventional framework but also the institutional framework which plays a pioneering role in the implementation of this Convention. In the sequence that follows, we take a closer look at the actors involved in the implementation of the Conventions and the role of civil society in the promotion of the water Conventions. {0}Thank you."{/0} {1} {/1} ​[MUSIC]
