Transboundary water cooperation challenges persist

Many challenges persist in transboundary water cooperation, and have also affected Namibia. The challenges, such as increased water scarcity and droughts due to climate change, development and increasing pollution, were expounded on by Sonja Koeppel, secretary of the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, also known as the 1992 Water Convention. She was speaking at a national workshop on Namibia’s accession process to the Water Convention. According to Koeppel, as an effective global legal and intergovernmental framework and platform for cooperation and sustainable management of shared waters, including groundwaters, the Water Convention helps countries to address these challenges. “Accession can enable support by the community of parties, experience-sharing with basins and countries worldwide, facilitate access to financing and raise the country profile at the international level.” It also strengthens national water management and transboundary cooperation, she said, and offers a global platform to which concerns, challenges and good practices can be brought.According to her, 60% of all water resources worldwide are shared between two or more countries.“Namibia shares all her perennial rivers with neighbouring countries and is both a mid-stream and downstream country.”Transboundary water cooperation is therefore crucial for peace, sustainable development and human well-being, she said.For this reason, she said, it was a great step forward that not only an integrated and dedicated goal on water was included in the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals, but also a requirement for countries to implement integrated water resource management at all levels, including through transboundary cooperation. Nam heavily involvedKoeppel noted that Namibia is already heavily involved in many transboundary basin organisations - including the Orange-Senqu River Commission, the Permanent Okavango River Basin Water Commission, the Zambezi Watercourse Commission and the Cuvelai Watercourse Commission.At regional level, Namibia is party to the 2000 Southern African Development Community Revised Protocol on Shared Watercourses. “And notably at global level, Namibia is already party to the UN Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses, commonly referred to as the 1997 Watercourses Convention.”In 2018, Chad and Senegal became the first African parties to the convention. Since then, Ghana joined in 2020, and Guinea-Bissau and Togo last year. Several other African countries are in advanced stages of accession, including Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire and The Gambia, and other states like Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia are starting the process. As the current chair of the African Ministers&#039; Council on Water, Namibia has an important role to play in promoting transboundary water cooperation and the Water Convention at continental level, while working towards the 2023 UN Water Conference, she said.

Transboundary water cooperation challenges persist

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Namibian Sun 2025-12-22

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Transboundary water cooperation challenges persist

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Namibian Sun 2025-12-22

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