Page 89 - report_A Matter of Survival

Annex III
Background

The decision to establish the Global High-Level Panel on Water and Peace to examine water and peace linkages was taken in response to the
need expressed for over two decades by successive Secretaries-General of the United Nations from 1993 to 2013.
The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) appreciated the importance of examining such a linkage based on its own
experience in several transboundary river basins in different parts of the world.
Research published in 2013 by the Strategic Foresight Group (SFG), a think tank based in India, covering 219 shared river basins from 148
countries demonstrated a strong correlation between water cooperation and regional peace.
SDC therefore asked the Strategic Foresight Group to consult governments and experts from across the world to gather perspectives. SFG
teams met with the governments of the United States, Senegal, South Africa, Switzerland, Hungary, Austria, Singapore, and South Korea. In
addition, SFG teams also had informal consultations in Turkey, Jordan, Kenya, the United Kingdom and India. The visits included the three
main UN centers in New York, Geneva and Vienna. A large number of experts and officials were also interviewed by phone.
These consultations in different parts of the world revealed that water was recognized internationally as a development and human rights
issue, but its implications for peace and security were inadequately addressed. At a time of growing water scarcity, it was necessary to
explore how water conflicts could be prevented and moreover, how water could be converted from a potential source of crisis into an
instrument of peace.
The Government of Switzerland therefore decided to convene a meeting of government representatives of interested countries in Geneva on
4-5 May 2015. The meeting was attended by the following countries: Cambodia, Chile, Colombia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana,
Hungary, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Morocco, the Netherlands, Oman, Senegal, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United
States of America. Representatives of international organisations engaged in water issues also presented their perspectives.
The meeting participants decided to establish a Global High-Level Panel on Water and Peace to be co-convened by those countries that
wanted to play such a role. The following 15 countries decided to be Co-convening Countries: Cambodia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Estonia,
France, Ghana, Hungary, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Oman, Senegal, Spain, Slovenia, and Switzerland.
The Government of Switzerland, through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, offered to cover the expenses of the initiative,
with additional contributions to cover local expenses to be met by host countries convening future meetings of the Panel.
It was decided at this meeting that the Co-convening Countries would nominate eminent persons as Members of the Global High-Level
Panel, who would participate in an independent capacity and honorary role, without drawing any salary.
The Meeting of Interested Parties appointed the Geneva Water Hub as the Secretariat of the Global High-Level Panel and requested support
from the Strategic Foresight Group to the Panel and its Secretariat in various forms.
The Global High-Level Panel on Water and Peace was formally inaugurated on 15 November 2015 at an inter-ministerial gathering presided
over by Mr. Didier Burkhalter, Federal Councillor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland.

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