Participation of the Platform for International Water Law at the 9th World Water Forum in Dakar
High Level Panels
Protection of Water and Water infrastructure during Armed Conflict
Tuesday 22 March; 13.30-15.00, Room 11 Expo - Geneva Water Hub, with the support of Switzerland
This Panel is an important milestone for ensuring better protection of water and water infrastructure, before, during and after armed conflicts. With the support of the Swiss Confederation, the Geneva Water Hub invites you to contribute to the discussion. This High-Level Panel will create the dialogue required to ensure access to safe drinking water and sanitation services before, during, and after armed conflict. The discussion will further broaden the international legal framework protecting water and water infrastructure in times of armed conflicts including relevant principles of human rights law and international environmental law. It will provide a unique opportunity to explore cross-sectoral linkages between SDG 6, SDG 9, SDG 11 and 16, and the Agenda 2063.
Mara Tignino ensures the coordination of this High-Level Panel.
Ordinary Sessions
Preventing conflicts by facilitating dialogue and cooperation on transboundary water resources
Tuesday 22 March; 10.45-12.15, Room 7 Expo – coordinated by UNECE, Geneva Water Hub, Turkish Water Institute (SUEN)
The ordinary session focus on existing tools and means to ensure peace, catalyze sustainable development and prevent conflicts by facilitating dialogue and cooperation over transboundary water resources. Through the Blue Peace approach on water diplomacy, it brings together representatives of States, international organizations, and river basin organizations as well as civil society groups to share good practices on the management of transboundary water resources as an instrument of peace.
Mara Tignino ensures the coordination of this ordinary session.
Promoting peace by developing and implementing legal frameworks for transboundary water resources
Tuesday 22 March, 13.30–15.00, Room 4 Expo – coordinated by UNECE, Geneva Water Hub, INBO
This session will provide an overview of how to advance transboundary water cooperation through the development of legal frameworks from the initiation to implementation stages. The session will discuss gaps and challenges based on the result of the reporting 6.5.2. It will provide a discussion on tools and instruments available to different water management actors. It will also provide a discussion of the examples of the application of international water law principles in practice at basin and regional level.
Komlan Sangbana and Mara Tignino ensure the coordination of this session.
Side events on the Swiss Pavilion
Wednesday 23 March; 13:30-14:30
Large dam construction is experiencing a renaissance worldwide. Damming a river is an opportunity for energy production and agriculture development. It can however create conflicts between sectors across multiple scales. Focusing on these challenges and on existing dynamics at play, the Geneva Water Hub and IUCN’s Environmental Law Centre launched the initiative “Dams: water flows regulation in a fragmented world”.
Its first endeavour is to elaborate an assessment of the legal tools applicable to dams planning, developing and monitoring. This assessment includes a compendium of references grouping and analyzing the main frameworks and principles to be considered when addressing the challenges of dams in general and large dams in particular.
In the context of this Geneva Water Hub and IUCN initiative, this session aims to discuss the challenges and opportunities for cooperation in the Euphrates and Tigris basin. After presenting the lessons learnt from the joint regime on dams in the Senegal river and the Practical Guide for the Development of Agreements or Other Arrangements for Transboundary Water Cooperation, the speakers will exchange on the need to establish a legal framework on the Euphrates and Tigris basin based on the principles of international water law.
Mara Tignino presents the Geneva Water Hub and IUCN’s Environmental Law Centre’s initiative “Dams: water flows regulation in a fragmented world”.
Youth Space
Stories on water infrastructures and pathways for solutions
Wednesday 23 March; 11:00-12:00, Geneva Water Hub, International Secretariat for Water (ISE) and World Youth Parliament for Water (WYPW)
This panel is part of a series of intergenerational dialogues organized for 3 years by the Geneva Water Hub, the International Secretariat for Water and the World Youth Parliament for Water to foster youth engagement on the thematic of water and peace. Approximately two billion people live in areas affected by armed conflict, where the destruction of water infrastructure is increasingly common. As noted by the ICRC and UNICEF reports, the consequences for the most vulnerable communities are severe. When water and sanitation services are disrupted, water-borne diseases and epidemics proliferate. To address this emergency, the Geneva Water Hub will host a high-level panel on March 22 entitled « Protection of Water and Water Infrastructure before, during and after Armed Conflict ». It is in the wake of this event that the co-organizers would like to conduct a session exploring the impact on youth, but also the role that youth can play in protecting infrastructure and promote peace. The session will feature three dialogues between experts and youth leaders from fragile areas, conflict and violence contexts.
Mara Tignino participates in one of the three intergenerational dialogues.
French Space
Tuesday 22 March; 10:00-11:00 (GMT, Dakar time) / 11:00-12:00 CET; Geneva Water Hub, Partenariat Français pour l'Eau, CICR, ES2
Cette session permettra une discussion active afin d’alerter sur l'importance de la protection des infrastructures d'approvisionnement en eau potable en zones de conflits et les mesures existantes. Les panelistes discuteront du cadre légal relatif à la protection des infrastructures hydrauliques, des rôle et responsabilités des parties prenantes aux conflits, avec des illustrations sous forme de retours d’expérience.
Mara Tignino participe à cette session.
4 avr. 2022