The Nubian Project

Objective 4: Establish the framework to implement the SAP

To ensure effective implementation of the SAP, an agreed and improved legal, institutional and management framework will need to be established. Efforts should include work toward preparing a new legal mechanism or convention for the NSAS for the future, and a strong regional institution.

The framework will be based on enhancing cooperation between the four NSAS countries and key stakeholders in the region, especially through strengthening the Joint Authority. National and international legal experts will be involved as appropriate (e.g. Ministry of Foreign Affairs representatives from each country).

Activities related to legislative changes will begin with a review of current national groundwater legislation and policy documents in the four NSAS countries. There will also be a review of existing bilateral and multilateral aquifer and water resources agreements and regional legal and institutional mechanisms.

Lessons learned from other UNDP-GEF IW projects will be reviewed, including those supporting new and existing legal and institutional frameworks for transboundary waters such as the Niger River Basin, Nile River Basin, Caspian Sea and Lake Tanganyika. Lessons from other parallel GEF aquifer projects including the Guarani, Iullemeden and North Sahara aquifers will also be used, especially through established information mechanisms such as GEF’s ‘IW-LEARN’.

The project will provide linkages to emerging global processes in strengthening groundwater management and governance including efforts to develop a global groundwater legal framework.

At the same time, however, it is recognized that global experiences, efforts and models to date in the area of transboundary aquifer and groundwater legal frameworks and regulation remain limited with little precedent. For example, the UN Watercourse Convention (1997) considers groundwater only when there is an interaction or relation with surface water. Actions here are therefore considered to be a major legal challenge.