UNDP - GEF Portfolio

International Waters

The GEF International Waters focal area targets transboundary water systems, such as river basins where water flows from one country to another, multi-country lake basins, groundwater resources shared by several countries, or large marine ecosystems (LME) bounded by more than one nation. The GEF helps countries work with their neighbors to modify human activities – including agriculture, industry, mining, water and other resource extraction, fishing and wastewater management – that place ecological stress on the water systems and degrade them, often affecting their downstream use by another country or community. In this way, water use conflicts can be prevented, security and livelihoods improved, habitats protected, health risks minimized and water resources used sustainably for the benefit of all.

The GEF recognizes that the world’s freshwater and marine systems represent essential global environmental resources that are now under enormous stress. GEF International Waters projects target priority global transboundary environmental and water resources concerns including nutrient overenrichment, overuse and conflicting uses of water resources in surface and groundwater systems, degradation of physical habitats in coastal and near-shore marine areas, lakes and watercourses, the introduction of aquatic alien species, and excessive exploitation of living aquatic resources and associated biodiversity.

The GEF plays a catalytic role in helping nations agree upon and implement policy, legal, and institutional reforms, and make full use of funding and investment opportunities to address agreed transboundary waters priorities. Although the GEF does not serve as a financial mechanism for a specific UN convention on international waters, it supports the overall objectives of many relevant regional and global conventions, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, Regional Seas conventions and numerous river and lake conventions, and works with a wide range of international partners including UN agencies, river/lake/groundwater/ocean commissions and non-governmental organizations. GEF interventions often work towards the adoption of regional and global conventions and the setting up of multi-country institutional mechanisms, to encourage commitment to sustainability by participating governments after the GEF project ends.

The International Waters portfolio of projects which UNDP implements on behalf of the GEF is worth over US$1.05 billion ($321 million in GEF grants) It covers over 20 international water bodies including large marine ecosystems, lakes and river basins, and shared aquifers in over 100 countries.

Projects implementing stress reduction measures in major transboundary waterbodies are underway in the Danube, Black Sea, Benguela Current LME, Caspian Sea and Pacific SIDS. There are also 20 integrated coastal management sites operational in 12 countries in East Asia, which are being extensively replicated. Many projects target strengthening joint integrated management of freshwater resources in shared lakes and rivers and groundwater systems. Stress reduction results include measurable reductions in pollution loads and evidence of ecosystem recovery, such as in the Danube/Black Sea basin..

UNDP has also worked to ensure that mechanisms for the sustainable management of tuna fishing are now in place for nearly half of the world’s tuna stocks; that six countries have adopted and are implementing ballast water management reform to counter the threat of invasive species transfer through ship’s ballast water; and that another six countries are reforming mining policies, transferring sustainable technologies and introducing sustainable livelihood options to reduce mercury pollution from artisanal gold mining. UNDP also recently conducted an innovative project, involving the creation of artificial engineered wetlands which now treats 25,000 m3 of Cairo’s municipal wastewater each day, and which is being replicated nationally and regionally.

Other key outcomes from international waters projects implemented by UNDP for the GEF include the completion of 12 Transboundary Diagnostic Analyses, 12 Strategic Action Programmes or equivalent completed with most already adopted at ministerial level, four legal mechanisms adopted at regional level (Caspian, Dnipro, Tanganyika, Pacific Fisheries) and one at the global level (Ballast Water). In addition 13 multi-country management institutions have been created or strengthened - eight regional freshwater, four regional marine/coastal, and one dealing with global transboundary waters.

UNDP, in cooperation with UNEP, World Bank and the GEF Secretariat, has also initiated a special learning project - IW:LEARN – designed to stimulate and facilitate exchange of experiences and lessons learned among different international waters projects. IW:LEARN also organizes an International Waters conference every two years to bring together country representatives from all GEF International Waters projects to share lessons, experience and good practices.

See also:
Project write ups

More information
Types of Projects in International Waters
Operational Policies in International Waters

UNDP-GEF Project Websites