The Global High-Level Panel on Water and Peace was created in 2015 in Geneva at the initiative of 15 co-convening UN Member States to analyse water in the context of maintaining peace and security and to move this issue from a technical to a political level. Chaired by Dr. Danilo Türk, the former President of the Republic of Slovenia, the Panel presented its landmark report, A Matter of Survival, in Geneva in 2017. The Geneva Water Hub, acted as Secretariat to the Panel.
Work of The Panel
The High Level Panel on Water and Peace focused on the nexus between water and co-operation and how this maintains peace and security. This included preventive activities and arrangements, such as trans-border water cooperation regimes and institutions, the protection of water infrastructure during armed conflicts and water arrangements in the context of post-conflict peace-building. Over a period of two years the Panel held consultations and public hearings with all relevant organisations and stakeholders to:
Develop a set of proposals aimed at strengthening the global architecture to prevent and resolve water-related conflicts;
Facilitate the role of water as an important factor of building peace and cooperation; and
Enhance the relevance of water issues in national and global policy making.
Mr. Franck Galland, Managing Director of Environmental Emergency & Security Services, France
Mr. Abdelaaziz Ameziane, General Engineer, Ministry of Water, Morocco
Report and Recommendations: A Matter of Survival
In September 2017 The Global High-Level Panel on Water and Peace presented its keynote report ‘A Matter of Survival’ to UN and civil society audiences in Geneva and New York. concluded two years of work developing concrete proposals and recommendations to enable water to be an instrument of peace. These included:
Rethinking international water cooperation with the United Nations at the centre of necessary policy and institutional changes. It recommended that the UN General Assembly convene an intergovernmental Global Conference on International Water Cooperation, to develop a cooperation strategy, defining specific priorities, and developing an action plan for the five-year period following the Global Conference.
That international efforts to maintain peace and security should include effective policies for the protection of water infrastructure against all attacks, including terrorist attacks, while giving special priority to the humanitarian needs of affected civilian populations. The United Nations Security Council bears primary responsibility in this regard and should consider adopting, within its action for the protection of civilians in armed conflict, a resolution on the protection of water resources and installations in all the situations on the Council’s agenda.
The increased utilization of transboundary water agreements and institutions, as well as the relevant “soft law” instruments. This is because, despite numerous principles, norms and institutions that provide the basis of international water cooperation and result in greater stability and conflict prevention, in many areas of the world much still remains to be done to expand transboundary and regional water cooperation to the desired level. This applies to river basins, including some traditionally sensitive river basins, as well as to internationally shared aquifers.
The need to leverage water as an instrument of cooperation and peace. The Global High-Level Panel on Water and Peace proposed a Global Observatory for Water and Peace to facilitate assistance to governments in using water as an instrument of cooperation, to avoid tension and conflicts, and to build peace. The GOWP would work closely with existing organizations, that specialize in water cooperation and harnessing the potential of water in building peace, at the global and regional level.
Since the report’s launch, it has been a key resource for major global water meetings, such as the Stockholm International Water Institute’s World Water Week, and the UN’s High Level Panel on Water Diplomacy. The panel’s Chairman, Dr Danilo Turk was named 2018 U.S. Water Leader Award Recipient by the U.S. Water Partnership. A report “Determined Steps” was published by the Geneva Water Hub at the beginning of 2019 outlining follow-up and implementation activities in relation to the recommendations of “A Matter of Survival”.
Group of Friends on Water and Peace
In response to the high interest generated by The High Level Panel on Water and Peace, a was created in early 2016. It provides participating countries with the opportunity to interact with the work of the Panel and offers them a platform for regular dialogue on the issues and recommendations in A Matter of Survival.
