Preventing conflicts over access to water requires regional co-operation, says OSCE Secretary General at Budapest Water Summit

Water can become a potential source of conflict both within countries and between countries that depend on the same water sources and is now widely considered an essential element of national and regional security. Managing water resources to prevent conflicts, making full use of existing multilateral tools to maintain and enhance regional security, were key topics of OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier’s address to the Budapest Water Summit on 8 October 2013.

“We must constantly reiterate the idea that water is a collective good that should be utilized fairly both within countries and across national borders,” Zannier said. ”It is especially important to emphasize this point to those states that continue to treat water as an exclusively national or bilateral issue because this viewpoint can pose a serious obstacle to more inclusive, comprehensive and effective approaches to water management.”

Zannier spoke about the OSCE’s experience in promoting regional co-operation in water management in the Dniester River Basin, the South Caucasus and Central Asia, and stressed that water cooperation is a priority in the joint workplan of the incoming Swiss and Serbian OSCE chairmanships for 2014 and 2015.

“This will significantly raise the profile of water issues on the OSCE agenda,” Zannier said.