1. International Rivers and Lakes / Groundwater

Abstract

On 29 September, the ministers in charge of water resources of the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, and Senegal met in Geneva at the initiative of the Secretariat of the 1992 United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes and adopted a declaration recording their will to cooperate in regard to the Senegalo–Mauritanian Aquifer Basin (SMAB). In the declaration, the ministers committed to, among others and in particular: (i) strengthen transboundary cooperation with a view to the strategic, integrated, and concerted management of the water resources of the Aquifer Basin (point 3 of the Declaration) and (ii) to this effect, set up a legal and institutional framework for transboundary cooperation in the sustainable management of said water resources, in conjunction with the surface water resources of the region, including the launch of a negotiation process for the delineation of such framework. The latter will take into account the legal and institutional frameworks already in place for the Senegal River and for the Gambia River—respectively, the Senegal River Development Organization (Organisation pour la mise en valeur du fleuve Sénégal (OMVS)) and the Gambia River Development Organization (Organisation pour la mise en valeur du fleuve Gambie (OMVG)) (point 5 of the declaration). The ministers directed the Regional Working Group of representatives of the SMAB, created in April 2020 with a mandate to establish a transboundary cooperation mechanism for the aquifer, to continue in this role, with new and expanded terms of reference appended to the declaration and with a strengthened capacity to deliver (point 6 of the declaration). Member states of OMVS and OMVG that are not SMAB states—that is, Guinea and Mali—are invited to take part in the process as observers, so as to benefit from the exchange of knowledge and experience, and with a view to the conjunctive management of groundwater and surface water in these states (point 11 of the Declaration). In accordance with the terms of reference appended to the declaration, the Regional Working Group’s (RWG) expanded mandate is to foster cooperation through the exchange and sharing of aquifer data, steer the negotiation process aimed at the establishment of a legal and institutional framework for the aquifer, and secure funding. The RWG will eventually be replaced by a permanent cooperation mechanism as negotiated by the aquifer countries. The RWG will consist of two representatives each from the SMAB states, one representaive each from OMVG and OMVS and one representative from the Sahara-Sahel Observatory. The OMVG and OMVS will provide Secretariat support to the group. The group will meet at regular intervals, and its decisions shall be taken by consensus. Finally, the information that is exchanged in the course of the group activities shall be treated with the confidentiality commanded by multilateral exchanges generally (text of the declaration, French original).