Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes

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Water Convention
Start date:	1992
Scope:	Other
Policy area:	Environment
Legal status:	Legally binding
Type of instrument:	Regulatory
Form of instrument:	Convention
Language:	English
URL:	Water Convention website
Format:	html
Access:	Free
Publisher:	UNECE
Country(ies):	USA
Date:	7/11/2011

The Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention) promotes ecologically sound management and conservation of shared freshwater ecosystems in Europe and neighboring regions. The Convention takes a holistic approach based on the understanding that water resources play an integral part in ecosystems as well as in human societies and economies.Its commitment to integrated water resources management replaces an earlier focus on localized sources of pollution and management of separate components of the ecosystem.

Objective	To strengthen local, national and regional measures by protecting and ensuring the quantity, quality and sustainable use of transboundary water resources
Target	Water quantity and quality problems
Policy and/or legal framework	United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)
Monitoring, assessing and reporting	Programmes for monitoring the conditions of transboundary waters
Linkage(s) to policy processes, instruments and institutions	WFD, UNEP, UNDP
Main formal decision making body	Meeting of the parties
Main implementing body	Parties and signatories to the Convention
Keywords	Water quality and water transboundary problems, transboundary water courses, international lakes, contaminated water, droughts and floods, international cooperation

FOREST EUROPE criteria	FOREST EUROPE indicators	ToSIA indicators
Protective functions	Protective forests-soil, water and other ecosystem functions	Water and air pollution, water use