Conference of Ministers of ECCAS in charge of Water on the validation of the draft Convention for the prevention of conflicts related to the management of shared water resources in Central Africa.

The Member States of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) included the development and adoption of a regional convention on shared water resources as one of the short-term priority actions in their Regional Action Plan on Integrated Water Resources Management.

A Regional Validation Meeting was therefore organized on 18-21 December 2017 in order to develop a final version and to reach a consensus on the draft Convention for the prevention of conflicts related to the management of shared water resources in Central Africa. The meeting also aimed to foster a comprehensive understanding by countries’ technical experts of the rules and norms governing transboundary watercourses in order to facilitate the discussion and the pre-validation of the draft convention.  On 22 December, the  Ministers in charge of water of ECCAS member States reached a consensus and adopted the Convention (see http://www.unece.org/?id=47733)

The Regional Validation Meeting brought together ECCAS Water Ministers, senior officials in charge of shared water resources from the 11 member States (Ministry in charge of Water and that of Regional Integration or Foreign Affairs) as well as basin organisations representatives and international experts. The Meeting was organized by the ECCAS secretariat with the support of the UNECE and the African Development Bank.

UNECE supported the process by organizing a one-day training in International Water Law on 18 December and by facilitating States representative’s negotiations. The Water Convention secretariat also presented the Water Convention and the Watercourses Convention at the Ministerial meeting on 22 December.

Presentations:

1. La coopération transfrontière comme outil de prévention des conflits liés à l’eau, Francesca Bernardini, UNECE PDF
2. The SADC Protocol on Shared Watercourses : Development Background and Overview of Implementation, Phera S. RAMOELI, SADC Secretariat PPT
3.  Les Principes du droit international de l’eau et les instruments universels : La Convention d’Helsinki de 1992 et la Convention de New York de 1997, Komlan Sangbana, UNECE PDF
4. Cadre institutionnel et activités de la Convention d’Helsinki sur l’eau : Comment la Convention promeut la coopération, y compris le fonctionnement pratique du cadre institutionnel, Komlan Sangbana & Sonja Koeppel, UNECE PDF
5. L’application de la Convention d’Helsinki sur l’eau en pratique : cas choisis, Sonja Koeppel, UNECE PDF 
6. Le Processus d’Adhésion du Tchad à la Convention de l’Eau de 1992 : Historique et les Leçons apprises, Mahamat Alifa Moussa, Ministry of the Environment, Water and Fisheries, Chad PDF