Strategy for Water in the Mediterranean

Union for the Mediterranean

Strategy for Water in the Mediterranean

Pre-final DRAFT

March 2010

Including comments

received by the WEG and Observers until 5 March 2010

Abbreviations and Acronyms

Union for the Mediterranean

Strategy for Water in the Mediterranean

Pre- final D R A F T – 10 March2010

Preface

Water is essential to sustain life and develop societies. In the Mediterranean, water is a scarce and threatened resource. The Strategy for Water in the Mediterranean (SWM) aims at providing a guiding document with orientations and objectives on water resources management and protection agreed by all countries in the Union for the Mediterranean, supported and enriched through inputs from stakeholder groups including the civil society.

The long-term SWM’s objectives are to conserve water quality and to balance quantity of used and available water to achieve regional sustainable economic growth, social prosperity, access to water for all and environmental protection and rehabilitation. The SWM aims at stimulating the development of policy, cooperation and technological tools, promoting the exchange of knowledge and contributing to peace and stability.

The SWM is structured around four main thematic fields i.e. effective water governance, water and climate change adaptation, water demand management, efficiency and non-conventional resources as well as water financing optimization and valuation.

Follow up action-planning and concrete projects development with a focus on sustainability will be essentialto the successfulimplementation of the SWM, addressing specific water challenges and help achieving solutions to problems of regional concern.

1. Introduction: Why a Strategy for Water in the Mediterranean

The importance of achieving a closer and action-oriented cooperation among the Mediterranean riparian states is reflected in the development and implementation of several regional processes including in the efforts of consolidating the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM). The UfM aims at making substantial contribution to de-polluting the Mediterranean Sea, implementing solar and transport plans, addressing economic and financial disparities, strengthening of existing cooperative schemes and building capacity. The UfM promotes environmental sustainability and water within this frameworkrepresents an essential resource to protect and manage.

In that context, the Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Water (Dead Sea, Jordan, 22 December 2008)agreed to prepare a shared and long-term Strategy for Water in the Mediterranean(SWM) and approved guidelines for its elaboration. A Euro-Mediterranean Water Expert Group (WEG) was entrusted to work on preparing the present SWM, which has followed a structured, open and inclusive regional preparatory process involving national governments, local authorities and regional stakeholders.

The SWM[1] aims at providing a common policy framework for achieving Integrated Water Resources Management in the countries of the Mediterranean Region, fostering effective cooperation between Euro-Mediterranean partners within the overall context of sustainable development.The Strategyaims at contributing,inter alia, to preserving scarce water resources, improving water governance, enhancing water and sanitation services and their durability, promoting sustainable development, poverty eradication, peace, international security and justice, respect for human rights and gender equity, eradication of the root causes of difficulties including in occupied territories, and social exclusion in the Region.

On this basis, the SWM aims to complement and assist implementation of international and regional processes and initiatives including, among other,those responding to the Millennium Development Goals, World Summit for Sustainable Development Targetsor the Protocols under the Barcelona Convention and the UNEP/Mediterranean Action PlanMediterranean and the Strategy for Sustainable Development. Furthermore, the SWM takes note of other coordinated processes in the field of water engaging countries of the Mediterraneaninter alia the EU Water Framework Directive, the African Ministerial Council on Water and initiatives of the Arab League.The SWM aims to complement and not substitute other obligations undertaken by the countries of the region. Furthermore, the SWM promotes and abides to internationally accepted principlessuch as the polluter-pays principle, and promotes common but differentiated responsibilities according to respective capabilities.

The SWM is a guiding document,presenting a framework of agreed principles, orientations, recommendations for action and targets at regional and national levels. It addresses a range of keyissues, and sets time intervals for meeting targets by2015, 2020, 2025 and beyond. These have to be monitored and reviewed by competent mechanisms within the UfM.

The SWM shall be translated into both immediate and far-reaching policies, operational initiatives and tangible actions and projects at local, national and regional levels. In support of these measures, a futureregional Action Plan will serve as a ‘roadmap’ to match policy choices developed in the current SWMwith major on-going and future operational plans and the implementation ofselectedprojects through governments, local and regional authorities, international financing institutions and stakeholder organizations, as well as,promote new financial commitments fromall partners.

1. Challenges and Opportunities facing water resources in the Mediterranean

Water resources in the Mediterranean countries are limited and unequally distributed in space and time. The countries to the South receive a mere 10% of the total annual average rainfall.‘Water poor’[2] people in the Regioncount to more than 180 million, while those faced with water shortage[3]exceed 60 millions. Some countries of the south and east have run up a 160% renewable water resources deficit.

Intensiveabstraction for domestic, agricultural and industrial purposes has led to depletion of surface and groundwater bodies.Overexploitation of groundwater resources in particular have led to seawater intrusion in coastal aquifers.Over the last 50 years, water demand for all sectors of activity together has doubled to reach 280 km3/year in 2007. Agriculture is the major consumer with 64% (varying from 50% to 90% in some countries), followed by industry (including the energy sector) at 22% and the domestic sector with 14%. Generally speaking, water use efficiency is far from satisfactory, especially in agriculture. Furthermore, discharges of domestic, industrial and agriculture wastewater has led to deterioration of water quality. 3

Access to potable water is above the global average and showing real progress (it is estimated that 75 million inhabitantsreceived accessbetween 1990 and 2006).Today, the proportion of the population enjoying access to improved water services stands at over 90% in the majority of the Mediterranean countries, particularly at the urban centres.Service to the urbanpoor remainsinadequate in many parts of the Region, and over 20 million inhabitants are still deprived of access to improved water services.

Since 1970, temperatures have risen by nearly 2oC in Europe’s South-West region (Iberian Peninsula, South of France). Temperatures have also increased in North Africa. Rainfall has dropped by 20% in several Southern European regions. The forecasted impacts of climate changefor the 21st century render the current challenges even more pressing.[4]

Over the last decades, focus of investment in the water sector was directed toward intense development of water infrastructures including dams, irrigation and drainage systems, water supplyand wastewater treatment systems, or hydropower electricity production. However, the institutional and regulatory framework to manage these investments and to plan next steps has not been adapted as rapidly. In the Mediterranean, as elsewhere in the world, several countries are currently undertaking water governance reforms, orienting priorities and practices towards IWRM. Among other fields of importance,governments should addresswater scarcity, decentralization of water supply,food security and the water-energy and water-agriculture-food-environment nexus.

TheSWM, with political support and agreed objectives, presents opportunities to tackle more efficiently water challenges in the Region. The four priority fields addressedby the SWM are elaborated uponin the thematic Chapters 3.1 to 3.4, providing a brief account of the current status, defining the primary objectives to be met, outlining key approaches and instruments and concluding with recommendations for action.Related operational objectives to be met within the short (2012-1015), medium (2016-2020) and long (2021-2025 and beyond) termare presented in Chapter 4.

Further to these, mainSWM cross-cutting objectives,that are common to all thematic fields addressed and for which implementation should be considered as constantly progressing, include:

3. Four major priority themes for the Strategy for Water in the Mediterranean

The following four key themes encompass key challenges confrontedin the Mediterranean Region:

3.1 Enhancing effective governance for integrated water resources management

3.1.a. Setting the Scene

Progress on design and implementation of water governance reforms can be documented in most of the Mediterranean countries. However, more sustainable governance approaches need to be established at local,national, and transboundary levels, inspired by appropriate and internationally accepted IWRM principles and practices, including management at the appropriate local (catchment, basin, sub-basin) level. In that respect, many Mediterranean countries still suffer from lack of planning capabilities, effective operational strategies, fragmentation of responsibilities between authorities including decentralization concerns, weak policy implementation and law enforcement. In addition, they demonstrate weak monitoring and assessment at the national, local and transboundary levels, limited technical, management and implementation capabilities to effectively address water challenges, and financial constraints to implement policies.

The basins of rivers, lakes and aquifers are the relevant natural geographical territories in which to organize an integrated and sound management. River basins are the natural territories in which water runs on the soil or in the sub soil, whatever are the national or administrative boundaries or limits crossed.

Furthermore, water administration depends not only on the specific institutions that directly manage water resources but also on the overall governance context in which the reforms occur. Democratic institutions, decentralization, access to information, participatory approaches, gender equity, transparency in decision making and accountability are among the key elements for good water governance. Local authorities play an increasingly active role in provision of water and sanitation services to the public though their role need to be further strengthened and assisted. Decisions concerning the appropriate degree of decentralisation need to consider also the presence of economies of scale in service provision. Water and sanitation services are generally capital intensive and require the capacity to mobilise sufficient financial and other resources for operation and capital maintenance. Hence, decentralisation should not jeopardise overall sustainability or the creation of cost effective solutions.The prospects for improved and sustained water reform are linked to other factors as well, such as macroeconomics, demographics, and social and political stability in a country.

Overall, the prescriptions for improved water management in most sectoral strategies (e.g. utility restructuring, enforcement of environmental regulations, resource valuation, or cost recovery for services) are important, but they will only have the anticipated effects when water reform is planned as part of a more holistic approach that includes political, institutional, legal, social and economic changes, taking into account agriculture, industry, energy, tourism and nature conservation.

In turn, effective water governance forms a basis for sustainable development, political stability, peace, international security and justice,respect for human rights including gender equity, safeguarding public health, eradication of the root causes of conflicts including in occupied territories, poverty reduction and social exclusion.

3.1.b. Objectives and priorities

Water governance-related objectives need to:

• Ensure that water is managed as a primary/basic human need and that water supply and sanitation are essentialsocial services. Public authorities must take adequate measures to make this effective and affordable.

• Ensure sustainable water and sanitation service provision supported by appropriate regulatory frameworks and effective institutional settings.

• Promote and strengthen decentralization to the most appropriate level (“principle of subsidiarity”). To apply the integrated approach to best effect, the local management level needs to be considered, i.e. catchment, sub-basin or basin, as appropriate.

• Promote collaboration at transboundary level, building upon and contributing to regional integration and cooperation, taking into account economic, social and environmental problems, as a means for avoiding conflict and promoting peaceful co-operation.

3.1.c. Approaches and instruments

Although IWRM provides a framework of principles and good practices for water governance, it is recognized that there is no ‘one-solution-for-all’ at the national level. This is mostly due to country particularities, the large number of sectors involved and the complexity of managing and balancing among diverse needs and often competing interests. At the transboundary level, IWRM becomes even more challenging, particularly since it often involves national sovereignties.

Nevertheless, it is widely recognized that there is a wealth of valuable experiences to share at the regional, sub-regional, national and local levels and ground for a coordinatedstrategic planning. This knowledge sharing can be assisted by regional stakeholder organizations. An important tool for needed reforms is the update of national water strategies and the development of operational national IWRM plans as well as management plans at catchment level (river basin, aquifer, etc) that are in accordance with national development plans and strategies.

In general, and despite the development of strategies, operational plans and regulationare progressing slowly in most of the countries in the Region, while policy implementation and law enforcement remain insufficient in many of them. Moreover, despite the obvious negative impact of corruption on water resources and services, remedial anti-corruption measures are not being adequately addressed in water reform programmes.

3.1.d. Recommendations for Action

1. Reform institutional settings supported by the clear definition of roles and responsibilities, and enhance inter and cross-sectoral coordination and coherence. Balance between central and decentralized planning and operational river basin management to improve efficiency.

2. Establish and enforce appropriate legal and regulatory instruments for sustainable use of water resources, with an emphasis on implementation and corresponding enforcement mechanisms. Among others, establish settings for water rights and permits and introduce environmental standards including the ‘polluter pays principle’. Establish inspection and monitoring mechanism with an emphasis on effective law compliance and enforcement system.

3. Introduce and/or improve transparency and accountability governance mechanisms and operate them as an integral part of the overall management system at country and local levels. Fight corruption and increase the integrity of the water sector in implementation of water policies, plans and actions.

4. Operationalize and/or promote tangible actions to improve cooperation on sustainable use and protection of transboundary water resources through coordinated action of riparian states, in conformity with international law, and making use where appropriate of existing instruments and treaties as a useful framework for conflict prevention (e.g. the UN Convention on the Law of Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses of 1997).

5. Protect and safeguard the functioning of natural ecosystems as a key condition for good quality water as well as for ensuring and enhancing the necessary goods and services they provide, including ecological ones, and a thriving biodiversity, in accordance notably with the provisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Ramsar Convention.

6. Align IWRM and Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) policies as means for tackling outstanding challenges related to rapid coastal development and marine pollution.

3.2. Adapting to climate change and enhancing drought and flood management

3.2.a. Setting the Scene

According to recent studies including the Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), climate change will impact upon water resources in the Mediterranean. Phenomena such as recurrent and persistent droughts, overall decrease in precipitation, followed by river flow decrease, more intense rainfall overfewer days causing floods and soil erosion, serious long-term decrease of soil moisture accelerating desertification are expected to intensify significantly. Other serious impacts of climate change, notably global warming, in the Mediterranean will emerge from the rise in sea level resulting inter alia in salt water intrusion in coastal aquifers, in loss of inhabitable and arable land as well as in serious alterations of natural habitats in a Region already experiencing increasing developmental pressures in the coastal areas.

Such phenomena affect directly freshwater availability both in terms of quantity and quality in the Region. Consequently, they pose serious threats to human health as less available water for human consumption becomes more prone to pollution incidents and water-borne diseases. In addition,important economic sectors critically linked to water might be affected: (i) agriculture threatening food-security and causing losses of revenues from decreased yields, (ii) fishing due to changes in ocean circulation, increasing of water temperature and acidification and changes in costal ecosystems (iii) energy security including decreased hydropower potentialand vice-versa high energy requirements for water related processes, (iv) tourism with reductions of inflows and loss of revenues due to inferior services caused byless water availability (vi) infrastructure development with increased risks for planning and investment. Such phenomena not onlyimpact the natural environment and biodiversity of the Region threatening important wetlands and habitats for safeguarding overall ecological balance but also the provision of ecosystem services and goods on which people’s livelihoods depend.