Faced with increasing water stress and climate change impacts on the water resources it shares with its neighbours, Cote d’Ivoire has joined the United Nations Water Convention – a UN treaty to improve joint water management across borders.
It is the 53rd Party to the Convention and 10th African country to join the 1992 Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, known as the 1992 UN Water Convention. This further consolidates the strong momentum for water cooperation in Africa, where over 90% of water resources are in 63 basins shared by two or more countries.
“Cote d’Ivoire’s accession is a milestone for multilateralism and reaffirms the role of the UN Water Convention as a tool to support water cooperation for peace, sustainable development and climate change adaptation across borders. I encourage all countries worldwide to join this proven instrument for water diplomacy and I reconfirm our commitment to support them in this process”, said Tatiana Molcean, Executive Secretary of UNECE, which services the UN Water Convention.
“The accession of Côte d’Ivoire to the UN Water Convention will support relations with countries with which we share water resources. In our capacity as defenders of water in the context of the United Nations, we must use transboundary cooperation to reinforce peace, and for harmonious and sustainable development in our countries”, said Minister of Water and Forest of Côte d’Ivoire, Laurent Tchagba.
Cote d’Ivoire, the 9th largest economy in Africa and 5th fastest growing economy on the continent, shares eight transboundary river basins (Black Volta, Bia, Tanoé, Comoé, Niger, Sassandra, Cavally et Nuon) with its neighbours, which include Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Meeting the water needs of the country’s population of some 30 million people, which is growing by 2.5% annually, brings significant challenges. Its water resources are threatened by urbanisation, climate change impacts including drought and flooding, while water quality is deteriorating due to pollution from agricultural, industrial waste, illegal gold panning and untreated wastewater. Water resources are also unevenly distributed across the country, with areas of water stress in the north and north-east.
According to the last Sustainable Development Goals indicator 6.5.2 report, in Cote d'Ivoire only 25% of the transboundary basin area is covered by operational arrangements. No transboundary aquifers shared by the country are covered by operational arrangements.
Cooperation is indispensable to address Africa’s water challenges
Since the global opening of this treaty to all UN Member States in 2016, Chad, Senegal, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Togo and Cameroon became the first African nations to accede, before being joined by five countries in 2023 – Nigeria, Namibia and the Gambia, in addition to Iraq and Panama who became the first Parties in their respective regions. Over 20 more are in the process of joining, the majority of which are in Africa, including Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone, which are in the final stages of accession.
The four largest economies of West Africa – Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire -- are now Water Convention Parties.
The 10th session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Water Convention, to be held in Ljubljana, Slovenia (23-25 October), is expected to further catalyze this momentum.
Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Claver Gatete, said "In the context of increasing water scarcity and high demand for water in Africa, Côte d’Ivoire's accession as the 10th African Party to the 1992 Water Convention is a significant step for the continent. The UN Economic Commission for Africa - ECA - will continue to work in partnership with the UN Economic Commission for Europe – UNECE – to promote transboundary water cooperation to address climate change impacts and reduce conflict risks, fostering an enabling environment for the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals and Africa’s Agenda 2063."
Reinforcing transboundary cooperation helps countries to jointly develop and implement climate change adaptation strategies, which are key to reduce risks linked to flooding, drought and other climate related events, which cost African countries between 2% and 9% of their GDP.
According to the African Development Bank, one in every three people in Africa currently faces water insecurity, only 58% of Africans have access to safely managed drinking water services, and 72% of people lack basic sanitation services. Water, however, also has huge transformational potential, considering less than 5% of cultivated land is irrigated today and only 10% of hydroelectricity potential in Africa is utilized.
With Sub-Saharan Africa’s population forecast to double by 2050 and climate change impacts set to intensify, strengthening cooperation across borders is crucial to addressing water challenges and seizing opportunities on the continent. Fortunately, Africa, along with Europe, is among the regions with the highest levels of water cooperation, illustrated by a number of established joint bodies to manage many of its transboundary rivers and lakes, such as the Lake Chad Basin Commission, the Niger Basin Authority, Senegal River Basin Development Organisation, Volta Basin Authority, and the Cubango Ovakango River Basin Commission. Joining the UN Water Convention further reinforces this cooperation.
However, the latest data for Sustainable Development Goals indicator 6.5.2 revealed that in sub-Saharan Africa, one-third of the countries in the region sharing transboundary rivers, lakes, and aquifers have 90% or more of their transboundary basin area covered by operational arrangements.
The Convention requires Parties to prevent, control and reduce negative impacts on water quality and quantity across borders, to use shared waters in a reasonable and equitable way, and to ensure their sustainable management through cooperation. Parties bordering the same transboundary waters are obliged to cooperate by concluding specific agreements and establishing joint bodies.
In addition to facilitating cooperation on surface water, the Water Convention helps countries work together on groundwater reserves, which are less susceptible to climate change impacts and hence crucial for climate change adaptation. 40% of the continent is situated on transboundary aquifers, where 33% (381 million people) of Africa’s population resides. The UN Water Convention has supported pioneering cooperation on the Senegal-Mauritania Aquifer Basin, leading to the establishment by the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania and Senegal of a joint body to support its cooperative management.
Recognizing that sound transboundary water management needs to be rooted in solid national governance, the Water Convention supports new Parties to develop national implementation plans. Following multistakeholder processes, Togo, Senegal and Ghana, for instance, have started using their plans to mobilise resources for implementation, while Chad is set to do the same following the recent validation of its plan; the development of Guinea Bissau’s plan is underway, while Nigeria and Cameroon are expected to follow in the development of their plans.