Assessment work under the UNECE Water Convention and SEIS Annukka Lipponen Environmental Affairs Officer Secretariat of the UNECE Water Convention

Mandate for assessments under the UNECE Water Convention Among its obligations: “The Riparian Parties shall, at regular intervals, carry out joint or coordinated assessments of the conditions of transboundary waters and the effectiveness of measures taken for the prevention, control and reduction of transboundary impact. “ In 2003 the Parties to the Water Convention decided to regularly carry out regional assessments First Assessment of transboundary rivers, lakes and groundwaters in 2007; Second Assessment in 2011 — requested by the 5 th and 6 th Environment for Europe Ministerial Conferences

Next assessments planned Approach endorsed by the Working Groups under the Water Convention 3rd comprehensive assessment of transboundary waters in and a “special edition” assessment in 2015 Special edition focus: water-food-energy- ecosystems nexus –Limited to representative basins, including basins outside the pan-European region –Part of the Convention’s work plan and closely linked to other activities of the plan –Inter-sectoral basin level process

Proposed scope of the nexus assessment Intersectoral linkages and trade-offs to be assessed at the basin level taking into account: Different water uses and their requirements Water availability, regulation, storage, resource augmentation Opportunities: additional benefits & integration Climate change & extremes: impacts on different sectors, adaptation Energy: needs, production, energy mix & trends Food: demands, agricultural production (rain-fed, irrigated, wastewater reuse), trends Water-intensity of production, possibilities for savings & increasing efficiency Relative resource scarcity and productivity Policies, drivers Governance, transboundary cooperation & how it interfaces with intersectoral processes

Status and next steps in assessment under the Water Convention Bureau has proposed a concept, endorsed by the Convention’s Working Groups; Revised concept to be presented MoP-6 (28-30 November 2012); MoP-6 to review & decide Supervising group: Nexus Task Force to be set up Exchanges with potential partners & identification of methodological expertise on-going Interest among countries & commissions explored Expert workshop on 8-9 April 2013 to work out the methodology Approach to be tested basin level process & assessments 2015 synthesis & publication

Relationship between the SEIS and the Convention’s assessments Assessments under the Water Convention mandated by MoP can enrich the SEIS with information Aiming to “serve multiple policy processes, including MEAs”, how can SEIS support these assessments?

Challenges in linking to SEIS How SEIS could support the Convention’s assessment and the two processes interfacing needs to be clarified. In earlier assessments, some inconsistency e.g. use of national vs. basin data complicated sharing with EEA. Entry into force of the 2003 amendments opening the Water Convention to countries outside the UNECE region sets a requirement for a wider geographical scope, basins from Africa, Asia and Latin America foreseen to be included Water-food-energy-ecosystems nexus requires a broad scope of information. Would SEIS capture such information? At the basin level? The process important for ownership by countries and partners; how to best manage? The scope, approach and process for assessments, hence information needs, under the Water Convention dictated by its MoP. Will SEIS be flexible enough to support its work and respond to evolving situations? The secretariat of the Water Convention keen to explore future cooperation and clarifying opportunities with EEA; EEA welcome to participate in MoP-6 & expert meeting in April 2013