15 March 2016: Indicators for the water-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) should address both integrated water resources management (IWRM) and transboundary water cooperation, argues a paper from the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) International Hydrological Programme (IHP) and the Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance (SCELG). The paper underscores the importance of transboundary water cooperation to achieve other SDGs and targets, including ones on environment, energy and food.

UNESCO-IHP and SCELG prepared the paper, ‘Transboundary Water Cooperation and the SDGs,’ within the context of negotiations on the proposed SDG indicators. The paper points out that SDG target 6.5 calls for countries to implement IWRM at all levels, including through transboundary cooperation, by 2030, but the proposed indicators to measure this target only address IWRM, which focuses on domestic water management. They do not, it notes, seek to measure transboundary water cooperation, which aims to achieve cross-border management. The authors stress that both IWRM and transboundary water cooperation are necessary to ensure sustainable water management.

Since the paper’s release, the UN Inter-Agency and Expert Group on the SDG Indicators (IAEG-SDGs) has revised the proposed indicators for target 6.5 to include a second indicator: “proportion of transboundary basin area with an operational arrangement for water cooperation.” UNESCO says this is a positive step, and recommends further work to define “proportion of transboundary basin” and “an operational arrangement,” along terms suggested in the paper.

UN-Water, the inter-agency coordination mechanism on freshwater, has designated UNESCO-IHP and the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) as responsible for the development of the monitoring of indicator 6.5.2.

The paper argues that the indicator should be broad enough to reward cooperative frameworks that aim to exchange information, even if they are not fully developed IWRM systems, explaining that, for aquifers, many cooperative frameworks are at a very initial stage. The paper further suggests including an indicator on incentives for cooperation, such as to measure “regular meetings of the riparian countries to discuss IWRM and/or exchange information.” Over time, the indicators can be reviewed and possibly revised to respond to changes in availability and quality of information, the paper suggests.

The paper also addresses the relevance of transboundary waters to people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership; and the relationship between water and sanitation and sustainable development, including references to water and sanitation throughout the SDGs.

The set of global indicators proposed by the IAEG-SDGs was considered by the UN Statistical Commission at its 47th Session, held from 8-11 March 2016, in New York, US. The Commission agreed with the proposed indicators as “a practical starting point,” and mandated the IAEG-SDGs to continue its work to further develop and improve the indicators. [UNESCO Press Release] [Transboundary Water Cooperation and the SDGs] [IISD RS Coverage of SDG 6] [IISD RS Story on UNSC 47 Decisions]