MEDAERE at EAERE 2025

Transboundary water cooperation in the Mediterranean and the EU: Framing common policies for common resources

The UN Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention) is “a unique legally binding instrument promoting the sustainable management of shared water resources, the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, the prevention of conflicts, and the promotion of peace and regional integration”. With a gradual expansion of signatories, spanning almost all regions of the world, perhaps less known are its origins as a regional pan-European framework for transboundary water cooperation. Our proposal takes momentum from this precedent: the evidence that regional cooperation is not only an end in itself, but equally an opening to global cooperation and progress. European and Mediterranean cooperation have been, and can be, examples and precursors for each other and for others. 

Water resource management is of critical importance in the Mediterranean, a region acutely affected…