Geneva — Zambia has joined the UN Water Convention to improve water management within and across its borders in response to severe drought and ongoing water scarcity, the UN has announced.
The southern African country declared a National Crisis and Emergency in February 2024 due to a drought severely impacting food and energy production for its population of 21 million people.
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), which administers the convention, noted on Sept. 10 that Zambia sits within the cross-border Zambezi and Congo River basins.
“Zambia’s accession to the Convention is a significant milestone for the country in its strategic efforts on multiple fronts towards collectively strengthening its transboundary water cooperation,” said Sonja Koeppel, the Water Convention secretary.
Zambia is the 55th country (and 12th from Africa) to join the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (UN Water Convention).
It follows closely the accessions of Cote D’Ivoire and Zimbabwe in July.
Zambia’s move further consolidates the strong momentum for water cooperation in Africa, where more than 90% of freshwater rivers, lakes, and aquifers are shared by two or more countries, according to the Convention.
Koeppel noted that Zambia will be celebrated globally as a new party to the convention during the 10th session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Water Convention.
Event in Slovenia
That event will be in Ljubljana, Slovenia (Oct. 23-25), and it is expected to further “catalyze” the momentum for accession to the convention across the world, she said.
Collins Nzovu, Zambia’s Minister of Water Development and Sanitation of Zambia, said, “Zambia’s accession to the United Nations Water Convention is a strong instrument to help us reach water-related sustainable development goals.”
An engineer, Nzovu said Zambia’s access will support global adaptation action.
“This will lead to enhanced bilateral and multilateral cooperation in transboundary water resources management, particularly now as we face the devastating effects of climate change in the region,” said the Zambian minister.
Southern Africa is facing extreme water stress, and several countries in the region have declared national drought emergencies in the past year.
Alongside Namibia as the first country in the region in 2023 and Zimbabwe in 2024, as well as Botswana and Tanzania currently, in accession processes, Malawi has also indicated its readiness to start the process to join the UN Water Convention and its related tools.
Effective global framework
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The UN Water Convention is seen as an effective global legal and intergovernmental framework and a unique platform within the UN system (serviced by UNECE).
It supports cooperation and sustainable management of shared waters, including groundwaters.
Zambia is already a party to several basin agreements and a member state of the associated river basin organizations, including the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA), Zambezi Watercourse Commission (ZAMCOM), and Lake Tanganyika Authority (LTA).
Accession to the convention can enable support from signatories enable experience-sharing with basins and countries worldwide, and facilitate access to financing.
