Présentations Colloques

2016 is an important year for the scientific community addressing the challenges of transboundary aquifer governance. On the one hand, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) will again discuss the set of Draft Articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers+ on the other hand, the SDGs indicators framework will be adopted by the UNGA.**The presentation will first address the issue of transboundary aquifer governance. Responding to the calls of the UNGA made in 2008, 2011 and 2013 (A RES 63 124, 66 104 and 68 118), the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme (UNESCO-IHP) continued its contribution in the field of transboundary aquifer governance by offering scientific and technical assistance to interested Parties or States through the activities of the International Shared Aquifers Resources Management (ISARM) Initiative. **Since its launch in 2000, ISARM has achieved outstanding results by developing and applying innovative methodologies for a global assessment of transboundary aquifers, mapping their location worldwide and enabling concrete cases of cooperative management mechanisms in different regions of the world. **However, further ISARM efforts will be needed to encourage interested States to consider using the Draft Articles as “guidance” when considering agreements or arrangements for the management of transboundary aquifers as provided for in A RES 68 118. **In the 2030 Agenda, progress towards operational arrangements for water cooperation will be tracked by the indicator on target 6.5.2 of the SDG 6. The work of ISARM, and UNESCO as one of the entities responsible for its global monitoring, will be crucial for providing relevant data, as well as for developing the monitoring methodology and for its testing in pilot countries. The inclusion of a stand-alone indicator for SDG 6.5 that captures a transboundary water cooperation element brings together the discussion on transboundary aquifer governance and SDGs. In fact, SDG 6 will be fully met only if more countries start looking into ways of cooperating over transboundary aquifers using also the Draft Articles as “guidance”. **