International Roundtable on Protection and Sustainable Use of Trans-boundary Waters in South East Europe, 15-16 December 2011, Zagreb, Croatia

1. Speaking points for Marco Keiner for the International Roundtable on Protection and
Sustainable Use of Transboundary Waters in Southeastern Europe”
Zagreb, Croatia (15-16 December 2011)
State of Transboundary Water Resources Management in the SEE - Mapping the issues
15 December, 10:15
1. It is a great pleasure for me to participate in this Roundtable on Trans-boundary Water
Management. I want to thank the German Ministry of Environment in cooperation with the Croatian
Ministry of Regional Development Forestry and Water Management, GEF IWLEARN, World Bank
and Global Water Partnership for organising this very important meeting. UNECE attaches great
importance to the Petersberg Phase II / Athens Declaration Process1 through which we have
(together with partners) been supporting cooperation as well as the initiation of multi stakeholder
dialogue processes, e.g., the one for the “extended” Drin River Basin.
2. Transboundary water cooperation is fundamental in South Eastern Europe (SEE) where about
90% of the territory falls within shared basins. More than half of the thirteen major transboundary
rivers and four shared lakes in the region are shared by three or more riparian countries. In addition,
there are some 60 shared aquifers or groundwater bodies identified.
3. These transboundary waters present considerable needs for cooperative management for
various purposes, including protection of water quality, sustainability of water quantity, navigation,
hydropower generation, flood control and conservation of natural habitats and biodiversity. The
experience in the Danube and Rhine to bring together navigation and environment, as well as the
ongoing dialogue, again in the Danube and Sava to involve the hydropower sector are positive
developments that need to be strongly supported and replicated in other basins.
4. In order to keep the status of transboundary waters and related cooperation under scrutiny
and share valuable experience in the process, the Meeting of the Parties to the Convention on the
Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (UNECE Water
Convention) decided to carry out regional assessments. The Second Assessment of Transboundary
Rivers, Lakes and Groundwaters, which was presented for the first time at the Seventh
“Environment for Europe” Ministerial Conference in Astana, Kazakhstan on 21 September 2011, is
the latest product in this process. We have received extremely positive feedback on the report, and
therefore I am pleased to make a few general remarks about it.
5. To give you the scope, this comprehensive overview of the status of transboundary waters in
the European and Asian parts of the UNECE region covers more than 140 transboundary rivers, 25
transboundary lakes, about 200 transboundary groundwaters and 25 Ramsar Sites or other wetlands
of transboundary importance. It has been carried out under the auspices of the Meeting of the
Parties to Water Convention, under the leadership of Finland, in close cooperation with water
and/or environment administrations of some 50 countries and with involvement of more than 250
experts and in close cooperation with many partners. The process involved extensive collection of
1
Coordinated by Germany, Greece and the World Bank, acting in cooperation with the GEF, UNECE and UNDP,
with the technical facilitation of GWP Med

2. official information by transboundary basin and organization of 5 subregional workshops over 2
years.
6. The Assessment illustrates that transboundary resources are faced by numerous challenges:
water pollution from operating and old industrial facilities, mines, urban wastewater and
agriculture, illegal wastewater discharges and illegal waste deposits, groundwater pollution, water
scarcity and destructive floods.
7. We see in the Assessment that considerable progress has been made in SEE in lawmaking but
there are still deficiencies in implementation and enforcement, and the level of transboundary
cooperation is uneven due to diverse difficulties (e.g. low political priority, finances, institutional
capacity, conflicting interests). EU Accession process is the main driver of policy reform also in the
field of water and environment in general. However, as the process of approximation to the
standards of the EU in recent years has attracted most of the limited human resources available in
the countries, it has, in some instances, had adverse effects on transboundary cooperation. The
UNECE Water Convention has a special role to play in SEE, as it offers a common platform for EU
and non-EU countries, including for exchange, knowledge transfer and creation of a common
understanding. It is also a useful tool for assisting the implementation of EU water legislation by
non-EU countries.
8. SEE is predicted to become increasingly affected by climate change in numerous ways.
Indeed, the subregion is currently one of the most at risk of water scarcity in Europe. The
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has predicted decreased amounts of summer
rainfall for the region and an increase in the frequency and severity of droughts and other extreme
weather events. Hence climate change is an important aspect to be taken into account for the
management of water resources in the subregion. Without adequate transboundary coordination in
adaptation measures there is a risk of negative impacts from unilaterally taken measures.
Transboundary cooperation enables the sharing of costs and benefits of adaptation measures, better
managing uncertainty through exchange of information, broadening the knowledge base, and
enlarging the range of measures available.
9. This — like other above-mentioned challenges — can only be tackled in a joint effort by all
riparian countries. Cooperation between the basin countries has been initiated and is evolving in
various ways, supported by many international organizations and in particular the European Union.
New agreements, protocols and other types of treaties have been signed for example on the Sava
River, but are still lacking for many other basins in the region.
10. A main objective behind the preparation of the Second Assessment was to provide a
basis for further progress and thereby stimulate action to improve the status of shared waters and
related ecosystems by different actors including Governments, river basin organizations, the
international community and the civil society. We also want other actors to use the assessment
findings for their work. Take advantage of it: it has been done to be used.
11. UNECE had an extremely good cooperation with the Global Water Partnership
Mediterranean on preparing the SEE part of the Second Assessment, and I am pleased that Dimitris
Faloutsos will present subregional findings from the assessment.

3. 12. Looking ahead, future work within the Water Convention will build on the findings of
the Second Assessment. We foresee a stock-taking exercise on the results in February to contribute
to designing the future short-term and long-term strategy under the Convention.
As for the preparation of future assessments, discussions have already started in the framework of
the Water Convention. While there is not yet a final decision, the proposed approach is two-tiered
approach:
1) A third assessment with the same scope as the Second Assessment could be prepared in 8–10
years time; considering that the response time of ecosystems is long and at least 8 years will be
needed to measure substantial progress
2) At the same time, there is the opportunity to focus in more detail on specific issues. Thus a
special edition could be prepared within 4 years with a focus on a specific theme such as a specific
pressure factor (agriculture, hydropower) cross-cutting theme (climate change, biodiversity) or a
response measure (development of Integrated Water Resources Management plans). The special
edition will likely be limited in scope to a representative number of basins.
13. We very much welcome ideas on possible future scope as well as possible new
partnerships. The Second Assessment has been the product of a “great team” with partners from
different institutions, in line with the cooperative spirit of the Convention. We want future editions
to follow the same approach.