Stronger Cooperation on Transboundary Aquifers, Basins Key to Resolving Conflict over Finite Resource, Deputy Secretary-General Tells Water Diplomacy Panel
Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at the High-Level Panel on Water Diplomacy, in Stockholm today:
It is my pleasure to participate in this important Panel event and address a topic that has for long been close to my heart. I gained more insights on the pressing need for water diplomacy and water cooperation when I was the Minister for Environment of Nigeria.
I note with appreciation that this Panel builds on the report published by the United Nations and the World Bank, “Pathways for Peace”, and the report of the Global High-Level Panel on Water and Peace, “A Matter of Survival”. Their findings underscore a basic fact on the ground: In today’s interconnected world, water availability is directly related to peace and security.
However, strains on water are rising in all regions. Climate change, pollution and growing demand for water are adding up to scarcity and ever greater challenges to sustainable water management. Only 2.5 per cent of the water on the planet is fresh water. The rest is too salty to drink or to use for agriculture unless we resort to energy-costly de-salination.
By 2050, the world population is projected to rise to 9 billion. Nine billion people sharing a finite resource — water. One third of the world’s population already lives in countries with water stress. As the impacts of climate change grows, so too will the prospects of further stress.
And if we continue on our current path, the world may face a 40 per cent shortfall in water availability by 2030. It is projected that, by 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity. Two thirds of the world population will be experiencing serious stress conditions.
Today, more frequent and more intense periods of drought are devastating communities in the Horn of Africa, the Sahel, the drylands of East and Central Asia, and many other parts of the planet.
Apart from causing hunger, droughts drive people from the countryside to cities, increasing pressures on unsustainable rural-urban migration, which can lead to widespread instability. A long period of drought and its consequences may, in fact, have been one of the factors behind several regional conflicts. Growing water scarcity can also create tensions between countries sharing rivers, lakes and aquifers.
Notwithstanding this scenario, it would be a mistake for us to get caught up in “water-war” rhetoric. Water can represent a source of cooperation, a source of shared growth and a source of mutual support. When we examine history, we see that cooperation over water can prevail over conflict over water.
Through water diplomacy, sometimes known as “hydrodiplomacy”, neighbouring states can be reminded of the benefits of cooperating around water resources. Water, fairly shared, can indeed become a confidence-building measure, so urgently needed in many of today’s conflict areas.
The 1960 Indus Water Treaty between India and Pakistan has survived disputes between the two countries, providing a framework for resolving disagreements over water use. In the Middle East, water use has been an area where cooperation has been possible between some countries. In Central Asia, the United Nations is collaborating closely with the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea.
In the pan-European region, the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes has fostered collaboration since 1992, when the break-up of the former Soviet Union draw new borders in the region. Similar cooperative initiatives have taken place in other parts of Asia, in Africa and in Latin America.
As we work to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, we must capitalize and expand on these initiatives through hydrodiplomacy.
Water security encapsulates complex and interconnected challenges and highlights water’s centrality for achieving a larger sense of security, sustainability, development and human well-being. Many factors contribute to water security, ranging from biophysical to infrastructural, institutional, political, social and financial – many of which lie outside the water realm.
Sustainable Development Goal 6 of the 2030 Agenda is dedicated to ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. Sustainable Development Goal Target 6.5 aims to implement integrated water resources management at all levels, including through transboundary cooperation. Sustainable Development Goal indicator 6.5.2 tracks the proportion of transboundary basin area with an operational arrangement for water cooperation.
We now have a baseline for this indicator which shows that the average national percentage of transboundary basins covered by an operational arrangement is only 59 per cent. Moreover, only 17 countries have all their transboundary basins covered by operational arrangements.
If we want to achieve target 6.5 by 2030 and realize the multiple benefits that transboundary water cooperation offers, we must accelerate progress. Particular efforts are needed to strengthen cooperation on transboundary aquifers where cooperation has been weak.
The United Nations is fully committed to support global efforts on water‑related Sustainable Development Goals and promoting water cooperation.
A major tool of the United Nations to strengthen transboundary water cooperation is the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes or Water Convention. Originally negotiated as a regional framework for the pan-European region, the Water Convention was amended to become accessible globally. As of 2016, all United Nations Member States can accede to it. In February this year, Chad became the first African Party and many other countries are following suit.
The Convention is a hydrodiplomacy tool as it provides a multilateral platform in the United Nations that supports water cooperation by building capacity, promoting the exchange of experiences, developing common policy responses, and monitoring and fostering progress.
I encourage all Member States to consider accession to the Water Convention as an important step towards strengthening transboundary water cooperation.
Another important tool is the 2018-2028 International Decade for Action “Water for Sustainable Development”, declared by the General Assembly. At the launch of this Water Action Decade last March, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Action Plan emphasizes learning and knowledge exchange so that countries, the United Nations system and all stakeholders can use the Decade to make informed choices and evidence-based decisions.
At the United Nations, we believe that prevention means doing everything we can to help countries avert the outbreak of crises that take a high toll on humanity, undermining institutions and capacities to achieve peace and development.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development embodies the paradigm shift on prevention through its emphasis on interlinkages among the Sustainable Development Goals.
Last month, in New York, the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development reviewed Sustainable Development Goal 6 to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
We heard during the Forum that the world is not on track to meet the Sustainable Development Goal 6 targets by 2030. Too many people still lack access to water and sanitation. Too many girls miss school because they do not have separate toilets and far too many children die from preventable diseases.
The vital importance of water for sustainable development and for sustaining international peace and security must be recognized.
We must strengthen hydrodiplomacy in the framework of water stress-related conflict-prevention strategies and take action where water-related risks may exacerbate fragility, conflict or forced displacement.
In this regard I would also like to endorse the recommendations of the High‑Level Panel on Water and Peace on the central role of water cooperation at local, transboundary and global levels for a sustainable water management and to contribute to peace and security.
Finally, strengthened cooperation and coordination in the United Nations system on water issues through UN Water will be instrumental to support efforts towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and in particular Sustainable Development Goal 6.
I look forward to today’s discussions on how we can work together to link water diplomacy and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.