Press Release

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The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to be trained on the Water Convention - A practical way to facilitate accession

 

Geneva, 28 October 2009 --

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, with the support of the Government of Sweden, jointly organized a workshop on the UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Water and International Lakes (Water Convention). The workshop took place in Skopje on 28 October 2009 and brought together various government authorities as well as non-governmental organizations and businesses dealing with water management in thе country. The event, designed to respond to the specific needs of the country, focused on the legal, practical and economic implications of accession to and implementation of the Convention as well as the complementary roles of the Convention and the European Union Water Framework Directive.

The newly developed Guide to Implementing the Convention was the key background document for the workshop and will now be tested in real situations. At the workshop, international experts from Parties to the Convention (Germany, Hungary and Slovakia) shared their experiences with implementation and addressing the major challenges and presented good practices for cooperation on transboundary waters. “The exchange of experiences and dissemination of good practices and lessons learned among the community of Parties and non-Parties is one of the biggest strengths of the Convention and a driver of continuous progress towards cooperation and sustainable management of transboundary waters”, stressed Ms. Heide Jekel of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, who chairs the Meeting of the Parties to the Convention.

“This workshop contributed to the efforts undertaken by my country in implementing the relevant EU water legislation and the Water Convention. Our goal is to fully implement the Water Convention and to provide sufficient administrative structures that will ensure sustainable water management. Therefore, we need to raise the awareness of all stakeholders and the public with regard to this Convention and the obligations deriving from it. We welcome the forthcoming UNECE Guide to Implementing the Convention and together with this workshop we consider them as tools that will enhance our capacity to ratify and implement the Water Convention”, said Dr. Nexhati Jakupi, Minister of Environment and Physical Planning of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, in the opening speech at the workshop.

As much as 90 per cent of the territory of the countries of South-Eastern Europe falls within transboundary river basins, with the consequence that countries depend heavily on each other for water resources. Transboundary water cooperation is thus an important issue for the subregion and a priority for UNECE and the Water Convention. UNECE strongly supports non-Parties from the subregion in their efforts to accede to the Convention.

The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, which initiated the workshop in Skopje, considers that such practical training should significantly facilitate accession. The event also set an example for other countries wishing to accede but still requiring more clarity about the benefits offered by the predictable and transparent framework of transboundary cooperation provided by the Convention.

The Water Convention’s main objectives are the protection of transboundary waters by preventing, controlling and reducing transboundary impacts, as well as their reasonable and equitable use. The Convention promotes the sustainable management of water resources, including of the related ecosystems. The Convention requires its Parties to cooperate and create a legal and institutional framework for the joint protection and management of shared waters.

Since its entry into force in 1996, the Water Convention has provided an important legal framework and has made many contributions to improving transboundary water management in the pan-European region. Currently, 35 countries and the European Community are Parties to the Convention. In South-Eastern Europe, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are considering accession; Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Romania and Slovenia are already Parties.

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Ref: ECE/ENV/09/P25