Within its fourth season, the first train departs on 4 October 2023, diving deeper into the potential of regional multi-stakeholder dialogues to advance transboundary cooperation and explore practical challenges throughout inception and implementation stages. The session will feature case studies from regional dialogues fostered in the Southern and Eastern Europe, Southern Africa, and South Asia regions. Potential for spin-off action and replication of successful dialogue format will be presented from Central America.
Just like the first three seasons, the fourth season continues to showcase best practices and case studies in transboundary water governance, connect wider audience with the leading experts in the field and discussing implementation of water management approaches in different contexts and locations. Every session is conducted in an interactive, responsive, and engaging fashion as we strongly believe in the importance of building a diverse community of practice.
The session series is part of the Governance for Transboundary Freshwater Security Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). Participants are encouraged to sign up to the MOOC in advance of the webinar series.
Season 4
- Session 16: Building trust and using water data for successful water negotiations (12 December 2023): What are the necessary pre-conditions for data and information sharing between riparian countries? What is the role played by national information systems for transboundary negotiations? The session focuses on effective ways of using water data for water negotiations and water diplomacy in transboundary basins.
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Session 15: Multi-stakeholder regional dialogues: Key ingredients for success (4 October 2023): What are the key ingredients for success of multi-stakeholder regional dialogues? How could they contribute to advancing transboundary cooperation? Jointly hosted by GWP and IW:Learn, the session focuses on the findings of the recent GWP publication and presents the evolution and results of regional dialogues fostered in the Southern and Eastern Europe, Southern Africa, South Asia and Central America.
Season 3
- Session 14: Using data in transboundary water management & negotiations (2 November 2022): What types of data are critical to policymaking and implementation? What databases may be useful? How can data enhance dialogues and how can negotiations overcome data challenges? What is missing from datasets?
- Session 13: The role of institutionalized cooperation in shared basins – What’s the recipe for effective basin governance? (10 October 2022): This event will address the impact of basin organizations on the sustainable and cooperative governance of shared water resources, with a particular focus on the functioning of RBOs, in a highly interactive way during the session.
- Session 12: Indigenous people in the governance of transboundary waters (15 September 2022): The 12th online interactive session explores the ways how to better involve indigenous people in the governance of transboundary waters and practical examples of the role of indigenous people in transboundary water management.
Season 2
- Session 11: Multi-level Governance for Transboundary Water, Climate, and Disaster Management and Risk Governance (15 June 2022): The 11th online interactive session explores the multi-level governance (MLG) in the transboundary water context with a particular focus on disaster management, such as flood management.
- Session 10: Transboundary Water Agreements ( 16 February 2022): Does the design of a Transboundary Water Agreement matter? And if so, how does design affect an agreement's performance? Are there certain key ingredients that should structure Transboundary Water Agreements and other arrangements?
- Session 9: Water Diplomacy & Negotiation (16 November): How can water diplomacy enhance cooperation and prevent conflicts? What are the actual practices used in negotiations? What is the role of the international community and stakeholders to prevent or resolve conflicts over transboundary waters?
- Session 8: The Source-to-Sea Approach in International Water Law (19 October): What are the rules of international law that govern the marine interface? How can we manage these different parts of the marine environment holistically in coherent legal frameworks? What are examples of best practices at the intersection of the marine and riverine environment?
- Session 7: IWL & International Dispute Settlement (21 September): What are the linkages between international water law and dispute settlement? What are the historical and ongoing cases? What are the steps to solve and international dispute? What is the role of the International Court of Justice (ICJ)?
Season 1
- Session 6: IWL & Groundwater (15 June): How is transboundary groundwater governed – what are the legal rules that apply and how to implement these in practice? Focus on existing best practice and key challenges.
- Session 5: IWL & Infrastructure Projects (18 May): What are the legal rules and procedures for building major infrastructure? How does international water law, human rights and international investment law combine to deal with these issues?
- Session 4: IWL & Climate Change (20 April): What strategies are there to help countries adapt to/tackle climate change within a transboundary contact? What are the legal challenges and how can national, regional and global legal requirements be addressed?
- Session 3: River Basin Organisations and the Implementation of Treaty Commitments (16 March): River Basin Organisations (RBOs) can play an important role in advancing transboundary water cooperation, including supporting countries in the implementation of their treaty commitments. This session will explore the different ways in which RBOs support countries with this.
- Session 2: IWL & Protection of Ecosystems (16 February): Would a stronger focus on protecting ecosystems of international watercourses help avoid potential conflicts or address existing disputes?
- Session 1: Transboundary Water Agreements (19 January): What is a transboundary water agreement and why is it important? Are there examples of best practice that can help where no agreements exist?