Environment and Energy

Facts -World Water Day 2009

• Globally, there are 263 watersheds that cross the political boundaries of two or more countries;
• These watersheds representing about one half of the earth’s land surface and forty percent of global population;
• 145 countries have territory within one or more of these international basins;
• 33 nations have over 95 percent of their territory within international river basins;
• There are more than 3,600 treaties relating to international water resources dating from AD 805 to 1984. The majority of these treaties are concerned with some aspect of navigation;
• In the last 50 years, 200 water-related treaties have been negotiated and signed;
• The total number of water-related interactions between nations are weighted towards cooperation - there have been 507 conflict-related events as opposed to 1,228 cooperative ones;
• In the 20th century, only seven minor skirmishes took place between nations over shared water resources, while over 145 treaties were signed during the same period of time;
• The UN Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses was adopted May 21, 1997 after 27 years of development. The Global Convention sets out the basis rights and obligations between States relating to the management of international watercourses;
• While the ten-year anniversary of the Watercourses Convention passed in May 2007, only 16 nations have ratified the Convention. For the Convention to enter into force, 35 ratifications are needed.
• There are an estimated 300 transboundary aquifer systems in the world which lie under 15 percent of the earth’s land surface;
• The UN Convention on the Law of Non-navigational Uses (1997) covered groundwater in a very limited way. 19 articles on the law of transboundary aquifers have been drafted by a team of hydrogeologists and lawyers drawn from UNESCO’s International Hydrological Programme (IHP) and the UN International Law Commission. The 6th Committee of UN General Assembly endorsed the articles and adopted a resolution on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers on Friday, 14 November 2008.
• Two-thirds of the world’s 64 “Large Marine Ecosystems” (LME), where 85% of the world’s annual wild fish harvest are caught, are shared by two or more countries.