Recognizing that cooperation can be encouraged and facilitated by broadening the perception of the potential benefits of transboundary water cooperation, Parties to the UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention) decided to develop by 2015 a Policy Guidance Note on how the full breadth of cooperative benefits might be identified, assessed and adequately communicated, together with the costs of inaction.
The workshop, organized in the framework of the Water Convention, gathered about 100 participants and provided a platform to:
- Discuss between stakeholders with different backgrounds (water practitioners, politicians, parliamentarians, journalists, researchers...) the benefits of transboundary water cooperation and how benefits assessment can support the transboundary water cooperation processes;
- Share experiences, good practices, challenges faced and lessons learned on the identification, assessment and communication of the wide range of benefits that can be generated by transboundary water cooperation;
- Support the further development of the draft Policy Guidance Note on identifying, assessing and communicating the benefits of transboundary water cooperation.
The Workshop was organized under the leadership of the Government of Estonia, funded by Estonia, Switzerland and Luxembourg, with the support of the UNECE secretariat in partnership with UNESCO.