Ivory Coast joins UN Water Convention as 10th African nation

Ivory Coast joins UN Water Convention as 10th African nation

Subject: IR

Sec: Int conventions

Context:

• Ivory Coast joined the United Nations Water Convention, becoming the 10th African nation. In 2024, at least three more African nations, which include Sierra Leone, Zambia and Zimbabwe, are in the final stages of accession and joining the convention.

More about  News:

• Ivory Coast joined the convention to enhance cooperative water management across borders in response to growing water stress and the effects of climate change on the water resources it shares with its neighbours.
• It is now the 53rd Party (country) to the 1992 UN Water Convention, which is also known as the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes.

UN Water Convention:

• The Convention was initially established as a regional framework for the pan-European region.
• Ivory Coast shares eight transboundary river basins (Black Volta, Bia, Tanoe, Comoe, Niger, Sassandra, Cavally et Nuon) with six of its neighbours, which include Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
• Niger basin, which is the continent’s third-longest river at 4,200 kilometres and traverses nine countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria), is one of Africa’s most vulnerable regions to climate change.
• Niger River basin is the largest decrease in river flows in all of Africa due to climate change, according to a recent study titled Combined impacts of climate and land-use change on future water resources in Africapublished in the journal Hydrology and Earth System Sciences on 8 January 2024.
• Under the convention, the parties (or nations) are required to cooperate for the sustainable management of transboundary waters.
• While all 54 countries are facing water insecurity, Ivory Coast is categorised as the 40th “water insecure country in the continent”, according to the Global Water Security 2023 Assessment.
• Meeting the water needs of the country’s 30 million residents, whose population is growing by 5 per cent annually, presents numerous challenges. The region’s water supplies are threatened by urbanisation, climate change effects such as drought and flooding, and pollution from industrial and agricultural waste, illicit gold panning, and untreated wastewater, stated the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), which services the UN Water Convention.
• In the context of increasing water scarcity and high demand for water in Africa, Cote d’Ivoire’s accession as the 10th African Party to the 1992 Water Convention is a significant step for the continent.
• No transboundary aquifers shared by the country are covered by operational arrangements, shows the UN portal on SDG 6.

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6:

• Ensure access to water and sanitation for all. Access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene is the most basic human need for health and well-being. Billions of people will lack access to these basic services in 2030 unless progress quadruples.

Significant for Africa:

• Potential to stimulate economic growth, secure livelihoods, and alleviate poverty.
• Transboundary water (TBW) resources, where 63 international transboundary river basins cover about 62 per cent of the region’s land area and account for 90 per cent of the total surface water.
• Development in Ivory Coast strengthens the continent’s strong momentum for water
• Cote d’Ivoire’s accession is a milestone for multilateralism and reaffirms the role of the UN Water Convention as a tool to support water cooperation for peace, sustainable development, and climate change adaptation across borders.