Valuing the invisible: Transboundary groundwater resources cooperation

During the 77th Session of the UN General Assembly, the side-event Valuing the Invisible - the Importance of Transboundary Groundwater Resources Cooperation, was organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and UN-Water.

The side-event brought the attention of the Permanent Missions to the results of the second monitoring exercise of water cooperation (SDG indicator 6.5.2), the importance of cooperation on transboundary aquifers, the available tools, including the two legal instruments, namely the Draft Articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers, that the 6th Committee will discuss during the 77th Session of the UNGA, and the Model Provisions on Transboundary Groundwaters of the 1992 Water Convention.

The event also discussed how to better integrate transboundary groundwater and water cooperation more broadly in the New York discussions at the General Assembly and in the UN 2023 Water Conference (22-24 March 2023, New York). 

• The recording of the side-event is found on UN Web-TV.
• Download the concept-note and agenda.

Watch recordings of the second part of the side-event, Success stories - Examples of water cooperation in transboundary aquifers:

• Stampriet Aquifer System, Botswana
• Guarani Aquifer, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay