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A Matter of Survival

that are becoming more frequent and damaging as a result of appropriate, amended or supplemented by additional legal
global warming. The EU Directive on Floods thus needs to be instruments and operational programs to deal with the problems
strengthened. of transboundary aquifers and water quality.

While not immediately applicable everywhere, the European Institutional Coherence
standards already serve as an important point of reference for
water management in other parts of the world. Moreover, they International norms, standards and data systems represent the
could represent a valuable technical tool in the evolution of core of the international effort for improved water management.
the global norms and techniques relevant to measuring water It is natural that sovereign states play the primary role in this
quality. context and that national policy making remains fundamental.
However, it is increasingly recognized that stronger international
Important guidelines and standards are emerging through the cooperation, including stronger cooperation at the global level is
work of several UN specialized agencies. For example, WHO needed so that water use will be fully understood as an emerging
has developed guidelines for drinking water contaminant levels common concern that connects most of the impacts of climate
and health-based targets for contaminants in wastewater used change. The need for stronger international cooperation was
to irrigate crops or in aquaculture. FAO developed quality recognized by Agenda 2030, and in SDG 6 on sustainable water
guidelines for irrigation water and guidelines for water quality and sanitation in particular.
for livestock and poultry.
The question of global cooperation and its institutional aspects
These are important and necessary achievements. But more is was studied in the years 2004-2015 by the UN Secretary-General’s
needed both in terms of substantive standards, and in terms Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation (UNSGAB) which
of their effective implementation. Naturally, such rules can highlighted a mismatch between the holistic and ambitious 2030
be established by individual states, based on international Agenda and its vision of water and sanitation management, and
guidelines and standards, or by transboundary water cooperation the fragmented international political structures available to
mechanisms, by regional organizations such as the EU and by contribute to the implementation of this vision. To overcome
global institutions, particularly the UN system. An important the current fragmented institutional landscape, UNSGAB
role will continue to belong to the specialized agencies and recommended the creation of a UN Intergovernmental
programs of the UN. Committee on Water and Sanitation, following a proposal
from the Budapest Water Summit 2013. This Committee would
Development of an international system to deal with various be comprised of representatives of UN Member States. The
aspects of water quantity and quality is still a work in progress. strengthened UN-Water would function as its secretariat. This
Lessons learned so far have created an understanding about the body would review, inter alia, the setting up of a comprehensive
strengths and weaknesses in the use of different international global water and sanitation monitoring framework to support
instruments in this context. The binding international treaties SDG 6 follow up, based on high-quality data sets.
such as the 1997 UN Watercourses Convention and the 1992
UNECE Water Convention provide a useful legal framework. The existing global water cooperation structure is still
However, experience has shown that they take a very long time fragmented – as shown in the preceding paragraphs of this
to be drafted and adopted, and then acceded to by states. report. The UNSGAB initiative is welcome and timely. There may
be other ideas coming from the High-Level Panel on Water and
Some of these instruments can be conceived as legally binding, Sanitation (SDG 6) as well as from other quarters.
for example the idea of an additional protocol on international
aquifers to be added to the 1997 UN Watercourses Convention. We the members of the Global High-Level Panel on Water and
The 1992 UNECE Convention, open to all UN Member States since Peace generally agree that the creation of an intergovernmental
2016, includes two Annexes that will be helpful in the process structure on water and sanitation, endorsed by UN Member
of the Convention’s implementation: Annex II - Guidelines States and part of the UN system, would enable more effective
for developing best environmental practices and Annex III - global water cooperation work with regard to questions of water
Guidelines for developing water-quality objectives and criteria. quantity and quality in general.

In is important that the core of the legal principles and norms
relating to international water cooperation are supplemented
by more specific standards. They should gradually include
appropriate norms on water quality. However, development
of these norms would probably require a variety of inputs. The
usual treaty making process would have to be complemented by
other techniques, some of which have emerged from the work
of transboundary water cooperation systems. Others are the
result of activities of regional organizations and from the work
of the relevant UN specialized agencies, funds and programs.
Transboundary water management agreements should be, as

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