Event Description
The side event will promote discussions on the role and relevance of the 1997 UN Convention on the Non-Navigational Uses of International watercourses to European states. The event will follow-up from commitments made during the 5th World Water Forum, with a view to assessing progress among European countries and to outline a roadmap towards having the UN Watercourses Convention in force by 2011.

• WWF webpage on the convention
  
• EU regional assessment
  
• UN Watercourses Convention booklet

Event Summary and Conclusions
In 2006, WWF launched a global initiative underscoring the value of international water law for international peace and development, centred on the ratification process of the 1997 UN Watercourses Convention. The Convention counts 17 contracting states – 18 short of the necessary for entry into force – a goal we are calling on states to meet by 2011.

As part of this initiative, the event promoted discussions on the Convention’s relevance to European states in facilitating the adoption of watercourse agreements in the developing world, catalyzing knowledge and experience exchange between Europe and other regions, and supporting development cooperation policies and climate change adaptation in a transboundary context.

Discussions focused on the following points: a) the European Union’s role in accelerating the process through block ratification, with Sweden as a contracting state and the member currently holding the EU Presidency; b) the convention would not generate additional obligations for European states. Their own legal instruments, while in harmony with the Convention, establish more stringent standards; c) having benefited from their implementation, Europe should lead efforts for bringing into effect an equivalent tool at the global level; c) the Convention does not provide for a meeting of parties and a secretariat. Implementation would occur mainly through watercourse arrangements or agreements, which, across Europe, are largely in place; d) widespread European ratification would send other nations a strong political signal, in line with Europe’s long tradition of upholding the rule of law; e) it is in Europe’s own interest to support the Convention. The region is largely dependent on water resources from the developing world, including from poorly managed transboundary basins, in the form of virtual water embedded in imported products.

For more information on the Convention and its ratification initiative, please visit the WWF web site.