The UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) hosted the fourth workshop on water and climate change in transboundary river basins, which also served as the first meeting of the global network of river basins on climate change adaption.
Bringing together 120 participants, including representatives from agriculture, hydropower and industry, the workshop, which was held from 25-26 June 2013, in Geneva, Switzerland, included a session on linking transboundary adaptation strategies to national adaptation strategies.
3 July 2013: The UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) hosted the fourth workshop on water and climate change in transboundary river basins, which also served as the first meeting of the global network of river basins on climate change adaptation.
Bringing together 120 participants, including representatives from agriculture, hydropower and industry, the workshop, which was held from 25-26 June 2013, in Geneva, Switzerland, included sessions on: linking transboundary adaptation strategies to national adaptation strategies; streamlining adaptation strategies at different levels; transboundary adaptation serving multiple purposes; boundaries in the water, energy food nexus; tools for climate change adaptation in a transboundary context; and lessons learned for transboundary cooperation in climate change adaptation.
The workshop also included a basin exercise, which gave participants the opportunity to discuss within the context of their basins: climate change impacts; elements of a transboundary adaptation strategy; vulnerable sectors; and means to integrate modeling tools, economics, cost-benefit analysis and other approaches into adaptation strategies.
The meeting was held back-to-back with the sixth meeting of the Task Force on Water and Climate under the UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention), which took place on 27 June 2013, in Geneva, Switzerland, to address the implementation of climate change adaptation activities under the Water Convention’s programme of work for 2013-2015.
The global network of river basins on climate change adaptation was founded at the sixth World Water Forum, held in Marseille, France, in March 2012. The network includes the following basins: the Amur/Argun/International Dauria Protected Aria; the Chu Talas; the Congo; the Danube; the Dniester; the Drin; the Meuse; the Mekong; the Neman; the Niger; the Rhine; the Sava; the Senegal; the Tonle Sap; the Upper Paraguay; and the Northern Sahara aquifer system. [UNECE Press Release] [UNECE 4th Workshop on Water and Climate in Transboundary River Basins] [UNECE 6th Meeting of the Task Force on Water and Climate]