23rd Economic and Environmental Forum: Water Governance in the OSCE Area – Increasing Security and Stability Through Co-operation

The Concluding Meeting of the 23rd OSCE Economic and Environmental Forum focuses on "Water governance in the OSCE area – increasing security and stability through co-operation".

The 2015 Concluding Meeting builds upon the results stemmed from the two Preparatory Meetings held in Vienna on 26-27 January and in Belgrade on 11-13 May, will examine and discuss the level of implementation of OSCE commitments and will also aim at deepening OSCE’s engagement in the field of water governance.

The two-way relationship between water and security - water as a source of conflict and water co-operation as a tool for conflict prevention - makes “water” an important topic for the OSCE. Today, water issues remain at the center of attention, as global population increases, thus pressuring the use of water resources. Water governance has and will continue to play a major factor in local, regional and global security.

The Plenary Sessions will focus on:

• Review of the implementation of the OSCE commitments in the field of water governance;
• The benefits of good water governance across different levels;
• Water governance within the water-food-energy-ecosystems-nexus and in the context of sustainable development;
• Water governance at national level – best practices and new approaches in the OSCE region - , as well as at transboundary level: lessons learnt for water diplomacy;
• Facilitating effective water governance in the context of new environmental challenges;
• Governing waters for effective disaster risk reduction;
• Strengthening participation of civil society and the private sector and awareness raising for effective water governance.