Background

Adopted on 17 March 1992 in Helsinki, Finland, the United Nations Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention) aims to strengthen cooperation in the field of transboundary waters and to promote ecologically sustainable protection of transboundary surface waters and groundwaters. Initially adopted as a regional convention, the 1992 Water Convention has been open to all Member States of the United Nations since 1 March 2016. Accession to the Convention supports the strengthening of the legal, technical and institutional basis for cooperation, as well as national water governance. Guinea Bissau joined on 14 June 2021. 

The implementation of the Convention's requirements is an essential obligation when acceding to the Water Convention. A common way of defining the way forward to ensure the implementation of the Convention is to develop a document defining a strategy and a plan for the implementation of the Convention. This programmatic exercise demonstrates the Party's commitment to taking all appropriate measures to operationalise accession to the Convention and the management of transboundary waters. It is also essential for gathering the internal resources needed for implementation and can help in approaching development partners for external funding.

Following its accession, Guinea Bissau now wishes to move forward with the implementation of the Convention. The development of the strategy and implementation plan for the Convention in Guinea Bissau by the Ministry of Natural Resources, with the support of the secretariat, is therefore a first step.

Purpose

The general objective of this national meeting is to enable relevant stakeholders in the water and sanitation sector, and the organisations involved, to have more information on the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes and to master its content in order to ensure its effective implementation in Guinea Bissau.

Specifically, this will involve:

• Identify the issues involved in the concerted management of transboundary watercourses and international lakes at national, regional and international level;
• Outline the national, sub-regional and global legal framework for the management of transboundary waters;
• Outline the content of the United Nations Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes in terms of benefits and obligations for Guinea Bissau;
• To examine the interaction and complementarity between the United Nations Water Convention and the regional (ECOWAS and UEMOA) and sub-regional (OMVG) legal frameworks;
• To discuss the main lines of implementation of the Water Convention in Guinea Bissau;
• Identify and define the elements of a national strategy for implementing the Convention;
• Define a roadmap for the implementation of the Water Convention that will include tangible projects; and
• Identify and engage with donors and financial and technical partners to ensure sustainable funding of the implementation phase.