Meeting of the Parties to the Water Convention

The Parties to the UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International lakes (Water Convention) will meet for the fourth time in Bonn on 20-22 November 2006, at the invitation of the Government of Germany. The meeting will mark a milestone in the history of the Water Convention: the tenth anniversary of its entry into force. At the meeting, Parties will adopt new policy tools to support transboundary water management, such as the Model provisions on transboundary flood management, the Rules on the payments for ecosystem services in integrated water resources management, the Safety guidelines and good practices for pipelines and the Strategies for monitoring and assessment of transboundary rivers, lakes and groundwaters. Parties will also consider a preliminary assessment on the status of transboundary waters in the UNECE region which is under preparation for the sixth Ministerial Conference “Environment for Europe” (Belgrade, 10-12 October 2007). In addition, Parties will agree on the workplan for 2007-2009, which will include implementation projects to support transboundary water management in the region, development of new guidelines or other kind of soft-law instruments, capacity building activities, the establishment of a well designed information system under the Convention and the transfer of the Convention’s experience to other regions of the world. Activities will focus on aspects of crucial importance for transboundary water cooperation, such as IWRM in a transboundary context, flood management, joint monitoring and assessment, payments for ecosystem services, transboundary groundwaters management, water and industrial accidents, etc. In light of the entry into force of the Protocol on Water and Health in August 2005, Parties to the Convention will also make arrangements for cooperation with the Parties to the Protocol on joint activities.