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2.2 United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda 2030
140 transboundary rivers, 25 transboundary lakes, about 200 transboundary groundwaters, 25 Ramsar sites and other wetlands of transboundary importance. It presents a broad analysis of transboundary water resources, pressure factors, quantity and quality status, and transboundary impacts, as well as management responses and future trends.
Over the last decade, the problems arising around the quality and quantity of water resources have become more acute in almost all transboundary river basins in the EaP countries, which calls for joint actions by the countries. However, financial constraints, the reluctance among national water agencies to facilitate data and information exchange and, in some cases, the loss of institutional memory due to the frequent reorganisation of the water agencies, staff turnover and repeatedly changing governments with varying political priorities, present limitations for underpinning knowledge-based policymaking in the water domain. All these acute problems require the commitment from and participation of all riparian and upstream countries.
Given that transboundary basins cover around 60 % of the EU's territory (EC, 2019a), Member States have a vast experience of cooperation in such basins. EU water diplomacy calls for enhancing EU diplomatic engagement on water and facilitating the prevention, containment and resolution of conflicts, contributing to the equitable, sustainable and integrated management of water resources, as well as promoting resilience to climate change impacts on water (EC, 2018). In this context, the EU reiterates the need for full compliance with international environmental safety standards while developing projects in EU neighbouring countries which impact on transboundary water resources.
All countries have taken action to affirm their commitment to attaining the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) and are therefore actively involved in international policies for environmental protection and sustainable development. The main UN platform for joint and harmonised international actions for UN SDGs at the global level is the United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (UNHLPF, 2020). Since 2015, all six countries have actively worked with the HLPF and are creating the necessary national infrastructure for implementation of the UN SDGs, also in the area of water. Two political goals most frequently referred to in the region concern drinking water supply and sustainable water use.
Within the EU Water Diplomacy initiative, the EU promote accession to and implementation of international agreements on water cooperation: in particular, UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International
Box 2.1 The Water Convention
The 1992 Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention) not only promotes cooperation on transboundary surface waters and groundwater but also strengthens their protection and sustainable management. It provides internationally recognised norms for measuring the effectiveness and efficiency of sustainable development. The status of ratification of the Water Convention by the EaP countries is given in Table 2.1:
Armenia and Georgia have not yet acceded to the Water Convention. Despite some legacy bilateral agreements existing among the Caucasus countries in the Soviet era before 1991, it is not clear how relevant they are now in practice (Yildiz, 2017). The UNECE Water Convention has recently become a global instrument, whereby countries outside the UNECE region can accede to the Convention.
Table 2.1 Status of ratification of the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes
Participant
Azerbaijan Belarus Republic of Moldova Ukraine
Signature Ratification, Accession(a), Acceptance(A), Approval(AA)
3 Aug 2000 a 29 May 2003 a 4 Jan 1994 a 8 Oct 1999 a
Source: (UN, 2020).
