Protocol on Water and Health
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The Protocol on Water and Health (under the UNECE Water Convention) is an innovative piece of legislation, taking the issue around ensuring access to safe water and adequate sanitation very far; it can even be interpreted as a way of implementing and putting into action the Right to Water.
The aim of this workspace is to provide UNDP-relevant background and information about the Protocol, discuss partnership opportunities and provide programming support to practitioners
Contents |
Introduction & Background
For more general information on The Right to Water, see also this article and the resources in the "HRBA to Water Governance Toolkit"
Description and Purpose of the Protocol on Water and Health
see legal full text of Protocol on Water and Health to the 1992 Convention on the Protecton and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes
- Background
- The Protocol was adopted and signed by 36 countries at the third Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health, London, 1999. It entered into force in August 2005 and to date has been ratified by 20 countries. The entry into force of the Protocol has speeded up the ratification process. Still it remains a challenge to foster ratification, especially in countries in ECCCA and SEE which most need the Protocol.
- Objective(s)
- The main aim of the Protocol is to protect human health and well being by better water management, including the protection of water ecosystems, and by preventing, controlling and reducing water-related diseases.
- The Protocol is therefore a pioneering multilateral agreement linking social and environmental aspects and addressing development and poverty issues. The Protocol is closely linked to the MDGs (Goal 4 to reduce child mortality - lack of safe water and adequate sanitation has been recognized as a major cause of child mortality -and Goal 7 to ensure environmental sustainability (in particular target 10 - Halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking-water and basic sanitation by 2015 - and target 11 - Achieve a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020). Furthermore the Protocol offers a platform to go beyond target 10, since its final objective is to grant access to drinking water and sanitation to everybody.
- The Protocol displays innovative features of modern environmental law which will be strong assets for its implementation:
- It request Parties to establish targets and target dates tailored to their environmental, social and economic conditions and provides for the establishment of a mechanism for review of compliance (of a non-confrontational, non-judicial and consultative nature).
- It includes provisions for international cooperation and international support for national action to support its implementation. Lack of resources for interventions in the areas of the Protocol often hamper global and national efforts in low and middle-income countries. This calls for strategic planning of investments. The Protocol provisions on international cooperation could offer opportunities for the creation of a forum where low and middle-income countries could review the effectiveness of their investments in the areas related to the Protocol and where donor countries could meet the needs of low and middle-income, on the basis of data on progress achieved required under the Protocol.
- Approach / Work Programme(s)
- The working programme for 2007-2009 was discussed & adopted at the First Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol on Water and Health to the UNECE Water Convention, held in Geneva from 17 to 19 January 2007. The meeting was organized by UNECE in cooperation with the WHO Regional Office for Europe, which are jointly servicing the Protocol (almost unique feature for multilateral agreements).
- For an effective implementation, The Protocol requires a close national coordination of different sectors (environment, water management, health, international assistance). Moreover the private sector (water supply and sanitation companies) has a key role to play in the Protocol’s implementation.
What makes this Protocol important (from UNDP perspective)?
- Goes beyond the usual limitated focus on quantity-aspects in water-related - particularly transboundary - projects
- Human Rights Appraoch to development
- Fully in line with HDR 2006 recommendations (right to water - and mean it; develop national action plans to ensure access to Water & Sanitation to all; internaional support to implement these national plans...)
- a legally binding provision & framework for international development cooperation (thus potential projects)
Right to Water / Human Rights-based Approach on Access to Water & Sanitation
See also FAQ: The Right to Water
- Materials
Water as a Human Right? EMILIE's paper ...
- 1989: Right for Children
- Right to Education
access to people with disabilities...?
NEEDS FURTHER ELABORATION ... Juerg.staudenmann 11:47, 19 Jan 2007 (CET))
Working Programme 2007-2009
The draft [LINK programme of work] includes activities related to: the support to Parties and non-Parties in the definition of, and monitoring progress towards targets and target dates; the development of a mechanism to facilitate the preparation of international assistance projects and the coordination between donors and recipient countries; surveillance of water-related disease and response systems; the human right to water and equitable access to safe drinking water; water supply and sanitation and climate change adaptation strategies; and public awareness and capacity building activities.
UNDP-relevant and supported activities
- Programme Area I
- Implementation
- Activity 1.2 Ad-Hoc Project Facilitation Mechanism: UNDP's pledged support as on of the Main Partners (see [ TOR of the Ad-Hoc Project Facilitation Mechanism])
- Activity 1.4 Public awareness, education, training, research and development & information, potential: was postponed due to lack of a lead country stepping forward. However, potential synergies or even concrete cooperation could be envisaged thinking of the UNDP-Coke Partnership on Water
- Programme Area III
- Sharing of Experience
- Activity 3.1 Equitable access: Under the lead of France with support Switzerland and Belgium, a study on existing solidarity mechanisms for water use in urban and rural areas will be conducted, and a "good practice document" drafted. UNDP will support this work
- Activity 3.2 Task Force on Extreme Weather Events: With Croatia leading this activity (tbc), UNDP will support (and possibly co-chair) this activity aiming at finding strategies to satisfy water supply & sanitation needs (a) in short-term critical situations and (b) in the long-term (Climate Change). There are potential synergies with UNDP's strategic priorities and foreseen activities in the area of CC & Adaptation; and potential support/backstopping could also be sought from UNDP/CPR-colleagues.
- Activity 3.3 Integrated Management of small water supply and sanitation systems: UNDP didn't pledge explicit support, but could consider making available experience from its EcoSan- activities.
- Activity 3.4 Regional and subregional workshops: UNDP could, case by case, consider co-organizing with UNECE, WHO and other partners
(Programming) Opportunities for UNDP & Partners
Areas of Intervention
Donor / Partner "Grography"
Ad-hoc Facilitation and Clearing House mechanism
draft decision & TOR - has been amended at First Meeting of Parties
- Regional level: Member and non-member parties invited to participate.
- tasks: identifyopportunities for collaboration (donor-recipient country)
- Finish project
- ....
- aiming to work with other intl. organization
Compliance Committee
Decision & TOR - has been amended; most importantly that also signatory states can nominate members (Art. II para 5)
Juerg Staudenmann to be nominated as member
Points of discussion
UNDP Positions / Viewpoints
- Support to "zero-tolerance" target for water-born diseases / water quality
- Rights-based appraoch / Right to Water and the Protocol
(see above)
Key documents and Resources
Key documents and Resources of the Protocol
- Water and Health Protocol
- Official UNECE-site: http://www.unece.org/env/water/text/text_protocol.htm
Meetings (Outcomes / Documents / Reports)
First Meeting of the Parties (15-17 Jan 2007, Geneva)
- Meeting Documents (Official UNECE-site)
- At their fist meeting, Parties have set the basis for future joint work under the Protocol.
- They confirmed chair of Bureau: Ms. Sonja Varga (ROMANIA)
- elected the members of the Compliance Committee (and of the Bureau) and
- adopted the programme of work for 2007-2009.
- BTOR / UNDP's interventions (by Juerg.staudenmann)
- Discussion on Rule of Procedures: Shoudl NGO's and other non-signatories be allowed to be invited by Bureau Secretariat? (Germany, Switzerland, UK obted to delet provision 20.4 in draft rules of procedure) -- Working Group to discuss
- Confirmation and committemnts of all parties to working programme 2007-09
- Declaration of the Parties: <...>
Further Readings and Related Resources
In the Press
A World of Thirst - Poor sanitation. Pollution. Wasteful irrigation. The planet's freshwater supply is terribly managed (UNDP's Andrew Hudson on issues around Water & Health (U.S. News, 27 May 2007)
Source(s)
DESCRIBE/LINK SOURCE(S) OF INFORMATION/LESSONS HERE
