Secretariat - Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities

Water scarcity has increasingly been coupled with international security. Rather than water scarcity in itself, water-related conflicts are, to a large extent, caused by the way in which water and its use are governed. Governing water inevitably involves governing conflicting interests.

According to recent analysis, e.g. the 2006 UNDP Human Development Report, there is no absolute shortage of water in the world, rather, key issues are poverty, inequitable access to water and flawed water management policies.

Improving governance of water resources is, therefore, of high priority for the OSCE. The OCEEA works on water issues through the ENVSEC Initiative and also in close cooperation with the UNECE Secretariat of the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes. In coordination with these and other partners, the OSCE has supported the establishment of the Chu and Talas Commission between Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, developed an action programme to improve the legal framework covering the Dniester water resources between Moldova and Ukraine and initiated a network of local actors on the Sava river. The OSCE has also supported regional transboundary river monitoring in the Kura-Araks/Aras river basin.

Central Asia - Chu-Talas basin

Assisting Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan in setting up an interstate water commission on the Chu and Talas rivers

Southern Caucasus - Kura-Araks/Aras basin

Re-establishing regional water-monitoring systems and shared public access databases

Eastern Europe - Dniester river

Supporting regional co-operation on the management of the Dniester basin

South-Eastern Europe - Sava river

Developing a network of local actors on water resource management and supporting the establishment of a permanent Sava commission