In Southeast Europe UNECE cooperates with the Petersberg Phase II /Athens Declaration Process. Global Water Partnership Mediterranean (GWP-Med), Athens and the Regional Environmental Centre, Szentendre are important partners.
Timok River Basin
“Bilateral arrangements for transboundary management of water resources: the Timok River Project” is implemented by the Regional Environmental Centre for Central and Eastern Europe (REC-CEE) in cooperation with UNECE under the umbrella of ENVSEC. The objective is to help develop a legal framework and other arrangements for shared water resources between Bulgaria and Serbia, focusing on the Timok River. The project has resulted in the Environmental and Risk Assessment of the Timok River Basin and in the Timok River Forum, a stakeholder consultative mechanism. Material from the project can be found on http://timok.rec.org/?page=home.
Sava River Basin
Thanks to funding from the Swedish Environment Protection Agency, a pilot project was undertaken by the Sava River Basin Commission in 2008–2009. The project was a useful step in the preparation of the first Sava River Basin Management Plan and was also instrumental for the Sava River Basin Commission to getting access to additional funding from the European Union to support the full development of the plan.
The extended Drin River Basin
The Drin transboundary system (Basin) is an illustrative example which demonstrates the interdependences between different users as well as uses/functions in five inter-connected water bodies (Prespa, Ohrid and Skadar/Shkoder Lakes and the Drin and Buna/Bojana Rivers) and the Adriatic. Cooperation has been established in the Lakes but not at the Basin level; the latter results in the Basin being managed through different and often conflicting national management approaches, and this in turn leads to the degradation of natural values, and considerable pollution export to the Adriatic Sea.
UNECE has supported, thanks to Swedish funds, the organization by Global Water Partnership Mediterranean (GWP-Med) of consultation meetings on integrated management of the extended Drin River in November 2008, May and December 2009 that brought together governmental and non-governmental representatives from Albania, Greece, Montenegro, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, as well as Kosovo ( UN administered territory under UN Security Council resolution 1244) as well as international organizations and donors. The meetings concluded that there is a need to develop cooperation in the basin.
In a project drawing on these conclusions the water competent Ministries and the joint bodies in place as well as other stakeholders in a consultation dialogue process is engaged in the development of a Shared Vision for the management of the Basin facilitating the enhancement of transboundary cooperation. The project is funded by the Swedish EPA and implemented in cooperation with GWP-Med from February 2010 to July 2011.The project is expected to result in the development of an application for a Global Environment Facility (GEF) project. For more detailed project information see: http://www.gwpmed.org/
Workshop on Integrated Transboundary Water Resources Management in South-Eastern Europe
This workshop ( Sarajevo, 18-20 May 2009) was jointly organized with RCC, GWP-Med and the International Sava River Basin Commission with the financial assistance of Sweden and Switzerland. It was part of the preparatory process for the second assessment for SEE, but also allowed for discussing key issues for transboundary waters and cooperation in the subregion linked with: (a) institutional and legal settings for cooperation, in particular the implementation of the Convention and the European Union Water Framework Directive (EU WFD); (b) multipurpose use of water resources; and (c) climate change adaptation.
Support to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to accede the Convention
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia approached the secretariat requesting assistance with acceding to the Convention. In addition to the Guide to Implementing the Convention, developed in response to this and other requests, several national activities are being planned thanks to Swedish support.
