The Mediterranean Network of Basin Organisations (MNBO) is holding a high-level conference in Paris next month to explore how hydro-diplomacy can be pursued in the Jordan Basin to secure good quality sufficient water for future generations in the Middle East and foster a culture of water for peace in the region.
Hydro-diplomacy is defined as a purely technical (first priority) and policy-related (second priority) approach that could facilitate the implementation of integrated water resources management (IWRM) at the hydro-geographic basin, called "new water mass", which includes both conventional and non-conventional waters.
The Conference – Hydro-diplomacy and climate change for peace in the Middle East: Case of the Jordan River Basin - will focus on the following main themes:
- Hydro-diplomacy of Jordan for security of future generations
- Hydro-diplomacy for equitable water sharing of Jordan river basin: integrated management within UN legal framework
- Hydro-diplomacy and innovative approaches: which technological and financial tools?
International bodies including the UN, the European Union and the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) have already undertaken several attempts in the Middle East to guide nations towards the concept of cooperation to deal with the lack of water in their countries.
Formulating negotiation strategies on international watercourses based on IWRM is seen an opportunity for the development of a transboundary basin to handle multiple uses of water, avoiding potential conflicts between riparian countries.
Jordan, together with Palestine, is currently trying to develop the Red Sea-Dead Sea Canal (RSDSC) project which foresees the mobilization of more than one billion cubic meters of non-conventional water to meet regional needs.
The project cost has been estimated at $10 billion US dollars by the World Bank and brings together all the riparian countries which expressed their intention to join the dialogue on the project, apart from Syria and Lebanon.
Information about the conference is being disseminated via the Euro-Mediterranean Information System on know-how in the Water sector (EMWIS) international portal.
EMWIS is the only operational tool for cooperation between the 43 Euro-Mediterranean countries in the water sector, made up of members of the 27 EU member states of the EU and 16 Mediterranean Partner Countries (Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Mauritania, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey)
The EMWIS initiative is based on active participation and on the sharing of information and experience acquired by the partner countries at local, regional and national levels.
The goal is for Middle East countries to use hydro-diplomacy in order to manage their conflicts on a permanent basis. For all these countries, the challenge is to use the strategy of dialogue and regional cooperation as an opportunity to achieve together coordinated progress in the areas of human and economic development, water resource protection and cultural advancement. The consolidation of a water culture for peace is seen as essential for the countries bordering the Jordan Basin.
Click here for more information about the conference which will be held on the 13th of December 2016 at the French Senate in Paris.
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