Response on World Development Movement’s ‘Stop Water Wars’ Campaign
February 2008
Thank you for your letter about the UN Convention on Watercourses. I am replying as the Minister who leads on the issues raised.
We recognise that changing patterns of water availability, partly as a result of climate change, will necessitate stronger regional co-operation over shared water resources. Water use underpins economic growth, is essential to food security and the livelihoods of the poor, and is a central component of any strategy for sustainable development. For these reasons, water resource management is one of the central three pillars of DFID’s forthcoming water policy paper.
DFID has undertaken an analysis of the development benefits and practical implications of UK accession to the Convention. We have also discussed this with other bilateral counterparts and specialist water agencies, and sought views from colleagues in other government departments to reach a joint conclusion.
We recognise that the existence of the Convention is helpful. It codifies accepted international customary law on shared international watercourses and provides a framework for the development, management and protection of international waters, and to promote their optimal use for current and future generations.
However although the Convention provides for equitable and efficient allocation of water resources between states, translating this into action in basin negotiations is a far from certain process. None of the large countries that share waters with their neighbours (Brazil, China, Egypt and India) in low and middle-income regions except South Africa have ratified or acceded to the Convention. After 10 years only 16 countries have ratified or acceded. 35 countries are required for it to enter into force. The process of accession would not be straightforward. On the balance of evidence, we consider that the UK’s accession, at this stage, is likely to have little benefit.
Non-accession to the Convention does not in any way prevent the UK from playing an active role in supporting transboundary water programmes. The principles in the Convention have been widely used in agreements developed for shared waters. That it has not entered into force appears not to have limited its usefulness and application.
DFID is, for example, supporting programmes to improve management of groundwater shared between Israel, Occupied Palestinian Territories and Jordan, and in Africa through the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI). These programmes have produced significant benefits based on practical approaches to water allocation and benefit sharing. DFID’s engagement with the NBI focuses on the strategic direction of the initiative, building the capacity of its institutions, and helping to develop better progress and impact monitoring systems. The NBI is achieving good progress in building trust and confidence between the ten basin countries, contributing to regional stability and serving as a catalyst for greater regional integration, both economic and political.
In neither case is accession to the Convention considered necessary for these programmes to be successful.
I hope this is helpful.
Gareth Thomas
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for International Development
