2022 marks the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention), adopted in Helsinki in 1992.  Estonia, currently chairing the Water Convention, will be hosting the following events in Tallinn and online:

Fourth joint meeting of the Working Group on Integrated Water Resources Management and the Working Group on Monitoring and Assessment (Swissotel Tallinn and online, 28-29 June 2022)

The meetings of both Working Groups under the Water Convention will be held jointly to exploit synergies in the work of the two bodies. The joint meeting will start on Tuesday, 28 June at 10 a.m., and end on Wednesday, 29 June 2022 at 6 p.m.

The main objectives of the 4th joint meeting of the two working groups are to:
1.    Review implementation of the Water Convention programme of work for 2022–2024;
2.    Discuss progress in the Convention’s global opening and ongoing and planned activities;
3.    Review progress in activities supporting monitoring and assessment and information-sharing in transboundary basins;
4.    Discuss the implementation of decisions taken by the Meeting of the Parties at its ninth session (Geneva and online, 29 September–1 October 2021).

Special event marking the 30th anniversary of the Water Convention (Tallinn Creative Hub and online, 30 June 2022)

The anniversary event, organized by the Ministry of the Environment of Estonia and UNECE, in cooperation with Finland, will mark the thirtieth anniversary of the Convention. In an interactive format, it will review achievements and lessons learned in the last thirty years under the Convention, as well as discuss future challenges and how the Convention can help to address them. The event will be held on Thursday, 30 June 2022, starting at 9.30 a.m. and ending at 5.30 p.m.

Documents
Documents for the meetings are made available in the below table.

Participation
The meeting is open to experts representing governmental authorities, joint bodies, non-governmental as well as international organizations and other interested stakeholders, from the academia or the private sector.

Format of the meeting
It is expected that most participants take part in person to the meetings in Tallinn, Estonia. Online participation will also be possible. The working languages for the meeting will be English, French, Russian and Spanish.

Registration
Delegates planning to attend the meeting, even virtually, are requested to register as soon as possible, but by no later than 14 June 2022, using the following link: https://indico.un.org/e/unece-joint-WG-IWRM-MA-30-anniv. In case of difficulties, please contact the secretariat by email ([email protected]).

Visa application  
Estonia is part of the Schengen area. Participants requiring a visa are therefore invited to register as soon as possible and start the visa application procedure at least 5 weeks in advance. If you need a personal invitation letter for visa purpose, please indicate it clearly in the registration. The Schengen visa has to be applied for at the Estonian representation or at the representation of the Member State representing Estonia in issuing Schengen visas. More information about visas can be found at: https://vm.ee/en/applying-visa-schengen-area
 
Financial support
Eligible participants from countries with economies in transition and developing countries may apply for financial support to facilitate their participation in the meeting. However, due to limited funding only a maximum of one participant per country/organization is eligible for support. Applications for financial support should be submitted to the Secretariat ([email protected]) as soon as possible, but not later than 20 May 2022 using the financial support request  form which needs to be duly signed and stamped by the authorizing official. No application will be accepted after this deadline.