The launch workshop was organized to get inputs and views from authorities and key stakeholders, in order to confirm the scope and detail the components of a follow up project to the assessment of the water-food-energy-ecosystems nexus in the Drina River Basin in the Western Balkans.

In the workshop, representatives from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia agreed to jointly investigate options for formalizing river flow regulation, occurrence of erosion and sedimentation, as well as ways to promote investment into renewable energy.  The views by the authorities and key stakeholders helped to shape and detail the package of activities proposed in the framework of the Water Convention. In addition to the above-mentioned issues, the activities to be carried out 2018-2019 include providing guidance and outlining procedures for harmonized monitoring and bilateral information exchange. 

The project responds to the findings of the report “Assessment of the Water-Food-Energy-Ecosystems Nexus and benefits of transboundary cooperation in the Drina River Basin”, a main outcome of the project “Greening economic development in Western Balkans through applying a nexus approach and identification of benefits of transboundary cooperation”. The project was funded by the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea, which has also granted the necessary funding for the new project to support Drina countries in further strengthening transboundary cooperation in some of the areas identified. 

The assessment process fostered cooperation across sectors and borders in the Drina River basin by identifying intersectoral synergies and determining measures that could respond to the challenges related to the multiple needs of basin countries for common resources. The nexus assessment identified a broad range of opportunities and concrete benefits of transboundary cooperation across sectors, but also of improved intersectoral coordination nationally.

A press release on the workshop is available here.