12th meeting of the Working Group on IWRM & the Workshop on recent progress on transboundary water cooperation

The twelfth meeting of the Working Group on Integrated Water Resources Management (WGIWRM) under the Water Convention  will be held on Wednesday, 5 July and Thursday, 6 July 2017 in the Palais des Nations in Geneva, starting at 10 a.m. on 5 July and ending at 5 p.m. on 6 July.  

One of the main objectives of the meeting will be to discuss the reporting under the Convention and the reporting on SDG indicator 6.5.2, for which UNECE and UNESCO are the custodian agencies. All countries will be invited to share their experiences in the reporting exercise and will provide feedback on the process, the questionnaire and the explanations received. The Working Group will also discuss the initial outcomes of the reporting and the next steps. It will discuss whether to revise the reporting template and how to review progress on the Convention’s implementation and on indicator 6.5.2, in particular with regard to analysing, storing and displaying the data and preparing the report for the Meeting of the Parties and the relevant inputs to the high-level political forum on sustainable development. Active participation by Parties and non-Parties in the meeting is therefore crucial.

The Working Group meeting will be preceded by a “Workshop on recent progress on transboundary water cooperation: from getting cooperation started to its long-term sustainability” on 4 July. The workshop aims to support countries and basin organizations in advancing step-by-step their cooperation on transboundary surface and groundwaters, from the starting off of cooperation and step-by-step establishment of agreements and joint bodies, to the progressive development and long-term support to cooperation. Please find attached the concept note.

Participation and registration

The working languages in both meetings will be English, French, Russian and Spanish.

Both meetings are open to experts representing governmental authorities, joint bodies, non-governmental as well as international organizations and other interested stakeholders, from the academia or the private sector. Focal points are kindly requested to facilitate nomination of appropriate national representatives.

Delegates attending the meeting are requested to register by 20 June 2017 using the following link: https://www2.unece.org/uncdb/app/ext/meeting-registration?id=XRCT1s
In case of difficulties please contact the secretariat by e-mail (mayola.lidome@unece.org)

Visa application and hotel reservation

Since Switzerland is part of the Schengen area, visa applications may take 5 weeks. If you need a personal invitation letter for visa purpose, please indicate it clearly in the registration. Participants requiring a visa are therefore invited to register as soon as possible and start the visa application procedure at least 5 weeks in advance.

Geneva will be extremely busy at the time of the meetings, so we strongly encourage participants to book their hotels as soon as possible. Participants might also consider the option of not staying in Geneva itself but in nearby cities in Switzerland or France which are easily connected by public transport. Please note that the UNECE secretariat is not in the position to help with hotel booking.

Financial support

Eligible participants from countries with economies in transition and developing countries may apply for financial support to facilitate their participation in the meeting. Applications for financial support should be submitted to the UNECE secretariat (mayola.lidome@unece.org) as soon as possible, but not later than 20 May 2017 using the attached financial support request form which needs to be duly signed. No application will be accepted after this deadline.

Website

All relevant documents will be made available at:  

http://www.unece.org/index.php?id=43613#/    for the Working Group  and http://www.unece.org/index.php?id=45714#/ for the workshop.