Stories and Solutions: GRID-Arendal Annual Report 2015

Transboundary Waters

With nearly 90 per cent of the world’s population living in countries where freshwater resources cross borders, the peaceful cooperation and sustainable use of shared waters is critically important. In Africa alone there are 63 shared river basins – important hubs for economic development and regional integration. Last year GRID-Arendal’s Transboundary Waters Programme focused on three water basins in Africa – Lake Victoria, Okavango and Limpopo – and the Caspian Sea basin in Eurasia. GRID-Arendal also continued to support the Interim Secretariat of the Tehran Convention, 8 which is the first legally binding regional agreement between all five Caspian littoral States. 9 The convention lays out the general requirements and the institutional mechanism for environmental protection in the Caspian region.

Congo River Basin’s dense forests in Dzanga- Ndoki National Park. Photo: Peter Prokosch

Refocus Africa The project to Refocus Africa’s Environmental Information Management and Networking continues to strengthen its networks in Africa. Through the website africaein.net, the project profiled in detail the state of the environment and trends in 21 out of Africa’s 54 countries. The profiles provide quick environmental overviews of the countries and the web site provides access to copies of recent national state of environment reports (where they are available). The goal is to build a single environmental information portal for Africa. The project was financed by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and received in-kind and technical support from UNEP’s Regional

Office for Africa where a Junior Professional Officer seconded by Norway to UNEP had activities under the project as part of her tasks. The 15th session of the Africa Ministerial Conference on the Environment held in March acknowledged the positive impact of Refocusing Africa’s Environmental Information Management and Networking through its decision 15/7. 10 It called upon UNEP and its collaborating partners (including GRID-Arendal) to support African countries in building and strengthening national and regional capacities in environmental information management through the Africa Environment Information Network.

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