"Eco-Accord" Projects on EU Water Initiative

Strategic Partnership on Water for Sustainable Development
EU Water Initiative – EECCA component

The EU Water Initiative EECCA component was launched at the World Summit For Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg as a partnership initiative between EU and the EECCA countries. The aim of the initiative is to address key problems and challenges in the EECCA countries in particular related to 1) water supply and sanitation, including financing of water infrastructure and 2) Integrated Water Resources Management, including transboundary river basin management and regional seas issues. The partnership initiative links the global water agreements made at WSSD, with the Millennium Development Goals and the regional agreements made for the UNECE Region at the Kiev Conference in May 2003.

The EU water Initiative was presented at the ministerial meeting in the plenary sessions and in an official document to the 5th Ministerial Conference in Kiev 21-23 May under the Environment for Europe process. The Kiev conference welcomed the EECCA component and the programme document in the declaration, urged all countries to join the initiative and confirmed the strong linkage between the EECCA Environment Strategy and the EECCA component of the EUWI. Out of seven issues of the Environment Strategy, two relates to water and the EUWI-EECCA will support the implementation of the Strategy for these issues. The EECCA component will follow the monitoring and reporting procedures set up for the Strategy. At the Kiev Conference Denmark and Russia announced they would continue as lead countries of the EU Water Initiative EECCA component. The Programme document can be accessed at ftp://eecca:WaterInitiative@ftp.dhi.dk/pub/English%20Versions/ProgrammeDocumentMaterial/KIEV.CONF_2003_INF_33_Eng.pdf.

The EU Water Initiative was presented and further discussed at the “Green Week” in Brussels in June 2003. As a result of this discussion the NGO profile of the initiative was strengthened through the development of a “NGO-package” which includes projects where NGO?s are involved in the implementation of activities of the Water Initiative.

Prioritisation of projects was discussed at a side-event during the Freshwater Conference in Dushanbee, Tadjikistan, September 2003. The conclusion was that it was up to the countries in a dialogue with potential donors to decide on the priorities and that a process of prioritisation should involve both the countries and the donors.

An important milestone in anchoring the Partnership within the EECCA region was the High Level Meeting in Moscow in March 2003, hosted by the Ministry of Natural Resources, Russian Federation and financed by Denmark. More than 125 participants, primarily from the EECCA countries and including deputy ministers, participated in the meeting. Representatives of the various countries and organisations adopted a statement expressing their support and continued commitment to co-operation on water-related issues through the Partnership (see ftp://eecca:WaterInitiative@ftp.dhi.dk/pub/English%20Versions/HighLevelMeeting_Moscow/HLM_Statement_FINAL_Eng.pdf). Another important outcome was the establishment of six sub-working groups; each chaired by an EECCA representative. These groups work continuously on the further development of the partnership and its building blocks in particular. The HLM gave a significant contribution to the list of building blocks under the initiative.

The Initiative presently has approximately 270 building blocks (BB) registered in a database, ranging from small projects to large multi-million euro programmes. The collection will continue in the implementation phase. A few statistics on BB:

An overview of all the building blocks and datasheets for each building block is available and can be forwarded to interested parties by sending an e-mail to: cht@mst.dk .

The Partnership has now – since the successful presentation at the 5th Pan-European Environmental Ministerial Conference in Kiev in May 2003 – entered the implementation phase and needs the continued (and strengthened) co-operation and contribution from its partners. Therefore, the Danish Government proposes a second regional High Level Meeting in the EECCA region to discuss important issues for the Partnership.

Two aspects seem indispensable in further developing the Partnership:

Since the EUWI is focussing on the implementation of the WSSD Plan of Implementation approved in Johannesburg, another issue that would be obvious to consider at the High Level Meeting is the status for preparation of national IWRM and water efficiency plans. According to the Plan of Implementation such plans should be prepared by all countries by 2005. The 12th CSD session in 2004 will have its focus on water, sanitation and human settlements and be a natural stock-taking opportunity for the international community on the road towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), of which the 2005 plans are an important step.

Finally, the High Level Meeting would give guidance on further work under the Partnership.

The currently planned activities under the Partnership umbrella will serve as preparation for the conference and will include, among others:

The conference agenda is planned to include the following lay out and items (not necessarily exhaustive):

Denmark has committed resources to act as lead country, in co-operation with Russia, for the Partnership until mid-2004. However, in order to broaden the involvement of other international financing institutions we encourage participation in setting up and financing the proposed regional meeting. Therefore, we hereby seek indication from partners, who might be interested in contributing to prepare, execute and finance the conference. Potentially interested parties should contact Ms. Camilla Trolle, DANCEE Programme Co-ordinator, Danish Environment Protection Agency (cht@mst.dk; tel: +45 32660100).