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Around 3.6 billion people live in contexts that are highly vulnerable to climate change and many of them are in transboundary basins. Droughts do not recognize borders, pose transboundary risks, and require cooperation to address them. The 6th IPCC assessment (2022) and the IPCC synthesis (2023)…
Ensuring the principles of environmental democracy are upheld in relation to modified organisms/genetically modified organisms (LMOs/GMOs) can help countries to address biodiversity loss and support progress on a number of Sustainable Development Goals, in particular Goals 2 (zero hunger), 15 (life…
Sierra Leone shares four major rivers with the neighbouring countries of Guinea and Liberia, including the Great Scarcies, Little Scarcies and Moa shared with Guinea, and Mano River shared with Liberia. All provide crucial freshwater that sustains ecosystems, livelihoods and the well-being of…
Burkina Faso is one of the Sahelian countries hardest hit by the effects of climate change, experiencing torrential rains and floods, as well as periods of insufficient rainfall.   To  help address these challenges, through adaptation, resilience and concerted, shared management of its water…
Originally introduced in policy and development discussions in 2011, the water-food-energy-ecosystem nexus approach has evolved into a pivotal framework for sustainable development and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  Work on the water-energy-food-ecosystems nexus under the…
Cooperation and management of transboundary waters, which span over 45% of the world's surface and serve as vital resources for nearly half of the global population, face the imminent threat of underfunding. The last reporting exercise on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicator 6.5.2 (2020),…
The Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (Protocol on PRTRs) sets international standards for reporting on pollutant releases from a range of economic activities, such as mineral industry operations, plastic production, waste and wastewater management or the rearing of poultry or…
Transparency in the environmental performance of economic activities and effective public access to environmental information, especially on products, are indispensable in addressing pressing environmental challenges. This also supports a just transition towards a green and circular economy,…
The Mediterranean Region, home to over 510 million people, is an important crossroads for economic, social and cultural exchanges between Europe, Africa, Asia and other continents. The region is rich in biodiversity, but has come under pressure due to the intensive exploitation of mineral resources…
The European Commission has proposed a new legislation, the European Critical Raw Materials Act, to ensure a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials for the EU. The Act, on which the European Parliament and the European Council reached a provisional agreement on 13 November,…
In the pan-European region, citizens are feeling the impacts of climate change through extreme weather events. This undermines equitable access to water and sanitation as human rights, due to increasing water scarcity and increased burden of water diseases due to overflow of untreated sewerage…
Transboundary rivers, lakes, and aquifers play a vital role in supporting the livelihoods of billions of people worldwide. Roughly 60% of global freshwater flow is in shared basins. About 40% of the world’s population lives in shared basins. The development and management of transboundary water…
Almost all of Botswana’s territory sits within transboundary rivers basins. Although landlocked, Botswana is therefore a ‘water-linked’ country. The Cubango-Okavango, Limpopo, Orange-Senqu and Zambezi Rivers all provide crucial freshwater arteries that supply people and nature, including the…
An estimated 3.6 billion people face inadequate access to water at least a month per year – a figure expected to increase to more than 5 billion by 2050.  According to WMO, over 50% of global catchment areas and reservoirs displayed deviations from normal conditions in 2022, of which the majority…
In the Drina River Basin, shared mainly by Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia, working together across borders and jointly addressing water and energy challenges is a key part of effective climate action and the green transition.    As part of the Sarajevo Energy and Climate Week (25-29…
The public and civil society have a crucial role to play in tackling key environmental challenges. To make the most of this potential, continued efforts are needed to uphold their rights to shape environmental decision-making.  To this end, the Working Group of the Parties to the Convention on…
Bringing together countries to share progress and experience on how to effectively manage their shared waters is a key characteristic of the Water Convention. Cooperation for the management of transboundary waters to promote sustainability, peace and security is the Convention’s mantra - especially…
Central Asian countries are actively working towards improving access to water and sanitation. Despite recent progress, Kazakhstan's aging infrastructure, lack of human resources and financial constraints still limit the access of rural population to improved water and sanitation services. In 2022…
For some time now, Uzbekistan has been engaged in various activities under the UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention). An international round table entitled “Aarhus Convention: Effective…
Over two-thirds of Togo’s water resources are shared, notably through the Mono River basin (shared with Benin) and Volta River basin (shared with Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Mali), as well as aquifers in the coastal sedimentary basin (shared with Ghana, Benin and Nigeria).   In a…
On 8 June 2023 Namibia became the first Southern African country, and 8th country in Africa, to accede to the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (UN Water Convention).   Namibia, which has a population of some 2.5 million people, shares…
Finland and the Republic of Namibia, both countries which are strong advocates for transboundary water cooperation in their respective regions and globally, have just embarked on a two-year pilot Twinning Initiative to exchange experiences, build capacity and strengthen bilateral cooperation on…
Guaranteeing safe access to drinking water and sanitation remains a challenge in the pan-European region, with 16 million people still lacking access to basic drinking water services and over 29 million people not having access to basic sanitation, including hundreds of thousands who have to…
How can regional and international cooperation be fostered in a region that faces unprecedented water scarcity? How can the benefits of this vital resource be shared to increase resilience to climate change? The Third Baghdad International Water Conference titled "Water Scarcity, the Mesopotamian…
Uzbekistan is one of the world's largest producers of gold and uranium. In the last 40 years, Uzbekistan has built a strong mining industry, which is expected to grow in the years to come, given that only 20 % of the country’s territory has yet been explored. The expected rise in the number and…