Marine and freshwater systems, including surface waters and groundwater, constitute the world's water resources, which provide drinking water, sustenance, income, transportation routes and other amenities to a majority of the human population. Much of the earth's water resources is shared by two or more countries (e.g., 261 international river basins comprise 45% of the earth's total land area; 70% of the world's 50 large marine ecosystems, where 95% of the world's fish are caught). Within the GEF context, the term "international waters" refers to the following: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed seas and estuaries, in addition to rivers, lakes, groundwater systems, and wetlands with drainage basins that overlap or share borders.

Poorly managed and uncoordinated human activities across sectors are threatening these shared water resources internationally and the livelihoods of billions of people who depend on them. Major threats include sea and land-based pollution, depletion of freshwater resources, habitat loss, introduction of exotic species, and over-harvesting of living and non-living aquatic resources.

Addressing these threats requires UNDP-GEF projects in the international waters focal area to aim at achieving a comprehensive, ecosystem-based approach to the sustainable management of international waters and to incorporate both developmental and ecological needs. Action programs take remedial and preventive approaches to restore and maintain the proper functioning of critical shared waterbodies and foster sustainable resource use. Rather than an international waters convention, regional and international agreements often provide guidance and the legal framework for developing projects in this focal area.

International waters projects fall under the following categories of Operational Programmes (OP). Each OP describes an aspect of the focal area and includes eligibility criteria:

OP 8: Water Body-Based Programme

OP 9: Integrated Land and Water Multiple Focal Areas

OP 10: Contaminant-Based Programme

OP 12: Integrated Ecosystem Management (Multifocal)

UNDP-GEF Project Sites
Yellow Sea Large Marine Ecosystem

Lake Peipsi/Chudskoe Basin Management Programme

Global Mercury Project

Integrating Watershed and Coastal Area Management in Small Island Developing States of the Caribbean (IWCAM)

Dnipro Basin Environment Programme

Environmental Protection of the Rio de la Plata and Maritime Front

Train-Sea-Coast Programme

Global Ballast Water Management Programme

International Waters Learning Exchange and Research Network (IWLearn)

Black Sea Environment Programme

Caspian Environment Programme

Danube Regional Project

Partnerships in Environmental Management of the Seas of East Asia

Gulf of Guinea

Lake Tanganyika

Nile Basin Initiative

Red Sea and Gulf of Aden

TumenNET (Northeast Asia Action Programme)

Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem Program

Strategic Action Programme for the South Pacific Small Island Developing States

Small Island Developing States Network - SIDSNet

Environmental Citizenship for Pollution Reduction in the Danube River (Hungary and Slovenia)

 
International Waters Agreements (Partial List)
UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)

International Maritime Organization

RAMSAR Convention on Wetlands