Statement by CEO Monique Barbut on World Water Day 2007

Winning the Water Wars? New Models for Post-Conflict Cooperation on Water

Washington, DC, 22 March 2007 - On World Water Day 2007, we stand face-to-face with the frightening specter of increasingly scarce and poor-quality water around the globe. In the public glare of this urgent problem, there are success stories which identify real solutions. They deserve to be aired and understood.

One such story is the unprecedented Declaration on the Enhancement of Cooperation agreement signed by the 16 countries of the Danube River Basin and Black Sea to make integrated water resources management a reality. The agreement was reached at a Ministerial Conference in Bucharest, Romania on February 23, 2007.

The situation by Danube Basin countries is a common problem throughout the globe. Most of the world’s large rivers cross multiple countries on their way to the sea, often resulting in water use conflicts and missed opportunities for security and sustainable development.

But in the Danube River basin, a focus on water resources has drawn the states together rather then dividing them. Since the early 1990s, the 16 countries of the Danube Basin and the downstream Black Sea have overcome political barriers, several wars, and the collapse of centrally-planned economies to work collectively to establish an integrated water resource management system for this most international of all river basins.

Action has been planned on emergency responses to spills, floods, warning systems, and a problem of nutrient pollution that impacted the river, its ecologically valuable delta and the Black Sea. Polluted by too much fertilization, the river became a smelly mess where fish and other life could not survive and tourism no longer thrived. The Danube Delta lakes were impaired and the northwest corner of the Black Sea was void of oxygen from nitrogen pollution from fertilizers, livestock, human sewage, and industrial pollution.

To repair the situation, the countries of the region, with support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the European Union, undertook a series of projects since 1991 to build an international institution to oversee the agreement, foster flood and spill warning systems, develop political commitments for action over the next decade, and reduce pollution loading to the basin and the downstream Black Sea. The United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme, and the World Bank each helped with certain functions, in partnership and collaboration with the EU.

The Danube Basin report released at the February conference noted that over the 15 years since the start of the GEF-funded projects, nitrogen pollution emissions were reduced by 20 % and phosphorus pollution emissions reduced by 50%. The Black Sea is about the only case out of the hundreds that exist where such a “dead zone” has been reversed, and in fact, biodiversity is reestablishing itself as pollution is reduced.

In fact, 134 different countries have received a total of $900 million in funding from the GEF for projects with a total cost of $4 billion between 1992 and 2006 working collectively with their neighbors on shared waters.

Countries in critical places such as the Senegal, Nile, Niger, Okavango, Mekong, Parana, and Amazon River Basins are making progress, with GEF assistance, on their shared waters. The Danube basin can serve as a model for collective action and coherent support from development partners that can pay future dividends in terms of water and environment security.

On World Water Day, let us take heart from these collective efforts toward water solutions which can ultimately benefit us all.

About the GEF

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is an international financial mechanism with 176 member countries that addresses global environmental issues while supporting national sustainable development initiatives. GEF grants support projects in developing countries related to biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, the ozone layer and persistent organic pollutants. GEF’s implementing agencies—the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), and the World Bank—share credit for GEF’s measurable on-the-ground achievements. Since its inception in 1991, GEF has achieved a strong track record of support to developing countries and countries with economies in transition, providing $6.2 billion in grants and leveraging $20 billion in co-financing for over 1,800 projects in 140 countries. Through its Small Grants Programme (SGP), GEF has also made more than 7,000 small grants, up to $50,000 each, directly to nongovernmental organizations and community organizations.

Media contact:

GEF: Clare Fleming, +1.202.458.4679, cfleming@TheGEF.org