771st meeting, 31 October 2001


    Item 9.2

    Management of transboundary water resources in Europe – Strengthening the capacity of territorial authorities for a co-operation and sustainable integrated management
    Recommendation 100 (2001) of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE)
    (CLRAE Rec_100(2001))

    Decision

    The Deputies adopted the following reply to Recommendation 100 (2001) of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe on “management of transboundary water resources in Europe”:

    “1. The Committee of Ministers has considered Recommendation 100 (2001) of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe on “management of transboundary water resources in Europe”.

    2. It has brought this Recommendation to the attention of the Governments of its member states and transmitted it for information to the Select Committee of Experts on Transfrontier Co-operation (LR-R-CT).

    3. The Committee of Ministers is aware of the complexity of the issues raised in the Recommendation and of the need to tackle them in a comprehensive and co-operative way, involving central governments, local authorities and specialised agencies, as the case may be, in the countries concerned.

    4. It encourages member states to share information and experience about the management of transboundary water resources, using the information technologies available.

    5. It recalls that in the framework of the Open Partial Agreement on Major Hazards (EUR-OPA), a conference will take place in Strasbourg – on 19-21 November 2001 - on the prevention of risks associated with water management, and specifically, pollution and flooding. The Conference will discuss the possibility of monitoring water quality via the Internet, using the technology developed in the framework of the EDRIM programme (a permanent telecommunications network, using space technologies as an aid to decision-making and co-operation in risk management). 

    6. As regards the role of local and regional authorities in drawing-up awareness raising and public participation programmes, the Committee of Ministers also recalls that the Steering Committee on Local and Regional Democracy (CDLR) adopted in June 2000 a report on “Establishing a strategy on transfrontier co-operation in the field of waste and sewage”. This report describes international standards and practices in this area, but also schemes involving transfrontier co-operation on the establishment and management of services for the collection and processing of waste and sewage. It is available online, on the relevant Council of Europe’s Internet site ( www.local.coe.int ).

    7. The Committee of Ministers recalls that in the framework of the Economic Commission for Europe of the United Nations, three legal instruments with their respective programmes of work could be useful for resolving some problems raised by the CLRAE: the UN-ECE Convention on the protection and use of transboundary watercourses and international lakes and its Protocol on water and health, as well as the UN-ECE Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters, of which the two Conventions are in force ( www.unece.org ).

    Finally, it also recalls that in view of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (2-11 September 2002, Johannesburg, South Africa), an international Conference on freshwater will take place in Bonn on 2-7 December 2001, organised by Germany in co-operation with the United Nations, the three main themes of which shall be “Governance”, “Financing” and “Capacity development and technology transfer” ( www.water-2001.de ).”