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UNESCO AND GREEN CROSS INTERNATIONAL JOIN FORCES TO AVERT WATER CONFLICTS

UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura and Mikhail Gorbachev, President of the non-governmental environmental organisation Green Cross International (GCI)Unescopress, December 12 - UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura and Mikhail Gorbachev, President of the non-governmental environmental organisation Green Cross International (GCI), today signed a two-year agreement at UNESCO Headquarters aimed at joining forces to help to avert potential conflicts over the world's water resources.

Some 261 river basins worldwide extend over more than one country and, as demand for water continues to rise and water becomes increasingly scarce, the potential for disputes over this shared resource remains a threat to peace.

The agreement will mean pooling the results of two complementary approaches to world water security. While UNESCO will continue to develop educational tools aimed at decision-makers and governments through its programme "From Potential Conflict to Co-operation Potential ()", GCI will raise awareness at grassroots level, with its "Water for Peace" project. "We have the same objectives and aims," said Mr Matsuura, "but we can reach different audiences."

Unofficially announced in a joint UNESCO/GCI workshop at last week's International Conference on Freshwater in Bonn, the new ": Water for Peace" initiative will involve case studies on major shared river basins. UNESCO will focus its attention on the Rhine, Aral Sea Basin, Incomati, the Mekong, Jordan, Danube and Columbia Rivers. These case studies will analyse the existing co-operation mechanisms developed by the states involved. Meanwhile, GCI will cover the Jordan, Volga, Okawango, Danube, Volta and Parana-Plata river basins. GCI's work in the field will use questionnaires in local languages to gather information on water issues, and in some cases (eg the Danube) will produce handbooks and leaflets to raise awareness of the potential for conflict.

The joint UNESCO/GCI initiative will contribute to the World Water Assessment Programme's (WWAP)first World Water Development Report, due to come out in time for the Third World Water Forum in Kyoto, in 2003. WWAP is a joint response by 23 UN Agencies to address key challenges defined by ministers at last year's Second World Water Forum in the Hague. UNESCO acts as host for the WWAP Secretariat.

The ": Water for Peace" project should tip the balance in favour of the potential for co-operation, and away from the potential for conflict, thus reinforcing a longstanding tendency to find peaceful solutions to conflicts over water. "Despite the potential for wars over shared rivers," said Mr Matsuura, "history shows that conflicts over water do not escalate. Rather, they bring people together to find solutions." The last war over water was 4,500 years ago.