The transboundary Zambezi and Congo River Basins each cover approximately 75% and 25%, respectively, of Zambia’s territorial area. With a view to possible accession by the Republic of Zambia and as an outcome regarding stakeholder engagement in the accession process from Zambia’s National Workshop on Accession on 25-26 May 2022, sub-national stakeholder workshops were convened to raise stakeholder awareness in the Zambezi and Congo Basins, respectively, on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention), the accession process and benefits of accession.

The Congo Basin sub-national workshop was jointly convened by the Ministry of Water Development and Sanitation of Zambia and the Secretariat of the Water Convention serviced by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The Zambezi sub-national workshop was jointly convened by both the Water Convention secretariat, the Ministry of Water Development and Sanitation of Zambia and the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) Zambia.

The general objective of both sub-national workshops was to inform stakeholders about the Water Convention, to raise awareness share about the processes initiated by Government of Zambia to become party to the Water Convention, including the National Workshop held on and to discuss the next steps in the accession process.

Additionally, Zambia has initiated the process to become a party to the Commission Internationale du bassin Congo-Oubangui-Sangha (CICOS) and is planning to develop an agreement and river basin authority for the Luapula River shared between Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Therefore, further objectives for the Congo Basin workshop were to support acceleration of both related transboundary water governance processes in the Congo basin.

Specifically, both workshops enabled to: 

• Inform stakeholders in the Zambezi and Congo basins about the Water Convention; 
• Identify the benefits, possible advantages and strategic objectives of a possible accession to the Convention for Zambia; 
• Inform about the accession process, benefits and implementation by Zambia as well as new African Parties; 
• Discuss the practical implementation of the Water Convention to meet the challenges of water resource management in Zambia, based on the experience of existing Parties; 
• Present the initiatives started by the Ministry of Water Development, Sanitation and Environmental Protection as part of Zambia's accession process to the Water Convention; 
• Arrange a Question and Answer session on frequently asked questions from stakeholders about the Water Convention; 
• Discuss the next steps and road map in the accession process and the contribution of this process to Zambia's transboundary and national water management. 

Results

The results achieved through both workshops are: 

• Stakeholders within the Congo and Zambezi basins were informed about the cooperation framework of the Water Convention at the global level and discussed the future engagement of Zambia with the Convention’s Programme of Work 2022-24; 
• The advantages for Zambia to become party to the Water Convention were presented; 
• Updates on the efforts initiated for Zambia’s accession to the Convention were presented; 
• The actors were informed on the next steps of the accession process and the contribution of this process to Zambia's national water management and transboundary water cooperation were discussed; 
• Actors defined a roadmap, with key milestones agreed, for accession to the Water Convention. 

The workshops were supported by the European Union through the project "Promoting accession to the Water Convention" which aims to support the accession and implementation of the Water Convention and thus to strengthen cooperation cross-border water and the sustainable and peaceful management of shared water resources.

You can see media coverage of the Mansa Workshop here and here.