The Expert Meeting on Good Practices and Lessons Learned in Transboundary Data Sharing in the framework of the Water Convention was held in Geneva and online on 18 and 19 April 2023.
The meeting consisted of two sessions on 18 April: morning from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and afternoon from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and a morning session on 19 April from 10 p.m. to 12 p.m. (CET).
Background
Initiating information exchange is fundamental for developing transboundary water cooperation. Comparable information across a transboundary basin or aquifer is necessary to form a common basis for management and related decision-making. In practice, this requires harmonized and comparable methods for monitoring and assessment. Joint monitoring and assessment of transboundary waters and information exchange are therefore among the key obligations of the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention).
The programme of work for 2022-2024 under the Water Convention, Programme area 2: Supporting monitoring, assessment and information sharing in transboundary basins, aims to support countries in initiating or further developing joint or coordinated monitoring and assessment of transboundary surface waters and groundwaters, covering both water quantity and quality aspects, and improving exchange of information and data between riparian countries. Among other activities, the programme of work for 2022-2024 envisages the preparation of a new publication Good practices and lessons learned in transboundary data exchange.
To enable the development of the new publication, case studies were collected from governments and stakeholders in 2022 and in addition, several were developed following the Regional workshop on monitoring, assessment and information sharing in transboundary basins in Central Asia (Astana, 1–2 February 2023).
Objectives
The Expert Meeting on Good Practices and Lessons Learned in Transboundary Data Exchange discussed the first draft of publication Good practices and lessons learned in transboundary data exchange. Experts were invited to contribute to the development of the publication on the basis of the first draft.
The objectives of the Expert Meeting were to:
- Provide feedback on the structure and text of the first draft of the publication Good practices and lessons learned in transboundary data exchange;
- Comment on the proposed lessons learned and identify additional ones;
- Comment on the proposed case studies and provide additional ones;
- Commit to develop additional lessons learned and case studies;
- Discuss next steps to develop the publication.
Participation
The meeting was targeted to invited experts experienced in matters related to monitoring and data exchange. The working languages for the meeting were English, French and Russian. The Secretariat would like to thank all experts for active participation.