The Task Force on Water and Climate, established at the fourth session of the Meeting of the Parties under the joint leadership of Germany and the Netherlands, has focused its work on the two below areas. The future activities, as decided by the fifth session of the Meeting of the Parties, will focus on pilot projects and on sharing experience between the projects.
(a) Water and adaptation to climate change.
The Task Force prepared the Guidance on water and adaptation to climate change in cooperation with the Task Force on Extreme Weather Events under the Protocol on Water and Health, led by Italy; thus, it also covers health issues. The Guidance represents the first joint product under both the Convention and the Protocol. It has been adopted by the Convention's fifth session of the Meeting of the Parties.
The Guidance was prepared by a drafting group comprised of representatives of national authorities, international organizations and NGOs on the basis of indications and comments received at the two Task Force meetings and the third and fourth meetings of the Working Group on Integrated Water Resources Management. It was also circulated for comment to the Convention focal points three times and was submitted for review to 20 experts.
Following the adoption of the Guidance on Water and Adaptation to Climate Change at the fifth session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Geneva, 10-12 November 2009), Parties decided to foster implementation of the Guidance through a programme of pilot projects and a platform for exchanging experience with adaptation to climate change in the transboundary context. A workshop held on 10 and 11 May 2010 inaugurated this new phase of work on climate change adaptation under the Convention.
Workshop “Water and Climate Change: How to develop an adaptation strategy in transboundary basins”
The Workshop on adaptation to climate change in transboundary basins provided an ideal forum for not only launching the pilot projects, but also for sharing experience between the ongoing initiatives in the region. Difficulties and lessons learnt from the Rhine, Danube, Portugal, the Great Lakes, the United Kingdom and many more were presented. The workshop and the subsequent third meeting of the Task Force on Water and Climate under the Convention held on 12 May also provided an opportunity to discuss how to design the platform for sharing experience most effectively and for the benefit of the pilot projects as well as for other water managers and policy-makers working on adapting water management to climate change.
Second workshop on water and adaptation to climate change: challenges, progress and lessons learnt”.
« We have to act now » and “It is better to be approximately right than precisely wrong” was concluded by more than150 water and climate experts, including many from outside the UNECE region such as Afghanistan, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Morocco, Jordan, Tunisia, etc., gathering in Geneva on 12-13 April 2011 for the “Second workshop on water and adaptation to climate change: challenges, progress and lessons learnt”. “During the workshop, different approaches for adaptation and dealing with uncertainty were discussed such as the adaptation cube, used for developing the adaptation strategy for the Southern African Development Community, jointly operating infrastructure, using and preserving ecosystems for adaptation, structural measures, reducing water use, integrated flood management, economic analysis for evaluating adaptation options etc.
Pilot Projects on adaptation to climate change in transboundary basins
The pilot projects aim to promote cooperation on adaptation to climate change in transboundary basins in South-Eastern Europe and in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia. There are four pilot projects that are directly supported by the Water Convention: The project on the Chu Talas Basin, the project on the Dniester Basin, the project on the Sava Basin. They are developed in the framework of the Environment and Security Initiative (ENVSEC) and in cooperation with other organizations such as UNDP, OSCE, UNEP and WMO.
The project on the Chu Talas Basin, shared by Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, is implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UNECE and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). This project will increase the adaptive capacity of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and of the Chu-Talas Commission to ongoing and future climate change impacts, ensure coordination of adaptation actions in the Chu-Talas basin and thereby help to prevent possible negative effects on regional security.
The project on the Dniester Basin, shared by Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, is implemented by the OSCE, UNECE and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The project aims to reduce risks from climate change - and specifically flooding - for security by improving the adaptive capacity of recipient countries. More specifically, the project aims to expand and further strengthen cooperative management in the Dniester river basin to address cross-border management of floods, taking into account both current climate variability and long-term impacts of climate change on flood risks.
The project on the Sava River Basin, shared by Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia, is implemented by the International Sava River Basin Commission and UNECE. The project aims to support further expansion and strengthening of collaboration in the Sava River basin, to address transboundary management floods, specifically taking into account impacts of climate change on flood risk management.
The overall objective of the Neman project, implemented by UNECE and UNDP Belarus is to improve integrated river basin management and transboundary cooperation in times of a changing climate in the Neman river basin. The project aims to strengthen the capacity to adapt to climate change of the countries sharing the Neman river through supporting dialogue and cooperation on the needed steps to design an adaptation strategy in the transboundary context. It will aim to reach a common understanding on future water availability and water use taking into account possible climate change impacts
The different activities for each project can include a baseline study of ongoing and completed climate change studies and adaptation activities in the basin, the development of joint climate change impact assessment for the whole transboundary basin, using scenarios and modelling and the proposals for adaptation measures to be taken in the basin.
The three projects have started in Spring/ Summer 2010.
Platform for sharing experience on water and adaptation to climate change in transboundary basins
The platform enables the exchange of experience, good practices and lessons learned to support implementation of effective projects and initiatives to adapt water management to climate change in the pan-European region. It includes the creation of an online platform, face-to-face meetings and workshops, the collection of good practices and studies and workshops on specific topics. The online platform is available at:
(b) Transboundary flood management
A workshop was organized on 22 and 23 April 2009 by the Governments of Germany and the Netherlands, UNECE and the World Meteorological Organization. The goal of the workshop was to exchange experiences and knowledge between EU and non-EU countries, in order to improve international cooperation in the field of flood management. It included presentations and discussion of ten case studies from the whole UNECE region. The workshop concluded with a call for pilot projects, for further implementation and enforcement of the Convention’s obligation and for regional workshops.
