Strengthening national and international governance to achieve integrated water resources management is a challenging task.
At the national level, National Policy Dialogues –which have been held since 2010 in Georgia with EU support - act as a multi-stakeholder forum to discuss priority water policy issues across all sectors (agriculture, health, energy, industry, land management, transport, etc.) and with civil society. NPDs in Georgia focus on three major topics: preparation of the national water law based on the IWRM principles; setting targets for implementing the ECE/WHO Protocol on Water and Health of the ECE Water Convention; and transboundary water cooperation with neighbouring Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The EU4Environment - Water and Data programme supports this process.
Policies and legislation constitute the “rules of the game” for all stakeholders. Water resources management in Georgia is mainly regulated through policy documents (Third National Environmental Action Programme of Georgia (2017-2021)) legislation (the Water Law) that provide the foundations for the management of water resources. For several years, a Draft New Water Law, which provisions tries to approximate with some of the EU acquis, including Water Framework Directive, is being developed. Its adoption is still pending.
The EU4Environment – Water and Data programme aims to strengthen Georgian national legal frameworks for Integrated Water Resources Management.
At the international level, stronger coordination is needed with neighboring countries over shared water resources. The EU4Environment Water and Data programme facilitates reporting regarding the Sustainable Development Goal indicator 6.5.2 on transboundary water cooperation and the UN Water Convention to track the progress made so far and identify future needs. Georgia is the main upstream country on the Kura River flowing into Azerbaijan. Despite protracted discussions and studies, there is yet no undersigned transboundary agreement under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Water Convention.
