Seminar at the World Water Week 2014 // Water Diplomacy: Harnessing Foreign Policy for Conflict Prevention and Regional Integration

The audience is invited to discuss with the panelists how closer collaboration between the various policy communities could contribute to increasing the basket of benefits of transboundary water governance and to attenuating conflict.

Time & Room

Wednesday 12:45-13:45 Room K21 Given water's importance for human life and prosperity, transboundary freshwater basins are both a source of conflict risks and a chance for institutionalizing cooperative behavior. International donors often justify their support for transboundary water cooperation as a contribution to peace-building and regional integration, yet positive political spillovers from technical cooperation on water have frequently proven elusive. Against this backdrop, our side event reflects on the prospects and challenges for global water diplomacy in an interactive session with high-ranking practitioners from the foreign and water policy communities. What legal, institutional and diplomatic methods are available for water-related conflict prevention and resolution? How have they been applied, and in what ways can they be improved? Many actors at different levels work on transboundary water management, variously focusing on legal instruments, political processes, social change, environmental issues, and the development of infrastructure.

Programme

12:45 Welcome and Opening Remarks Mr. Kerry Schneider, SIWI 12:48 Setting the Stage with an introduction to "Strengthening Foreign Policy for Transboundary Waters" Dr. Benjamin Pohl, adelphi 12:55 Panel Discussion Moderated by Dr. Therese Sjömander-Magnusson, SIWI -Dr. Aaron Salzberg, United States Department of State -Dr. Hinrich Thölken, AA -Dr. Benjamin Pohl, adelphi -Mr. Fedor Klimtchouk, UNRCCA 13:25 Questions & Answers 13:45 Close of Side Event

Convenors

-Federal Foreign Office, Germany -German WASH Network

Co-convenors

-Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Switzerland -Sanitation and Water for All -Sustainable Sanitation Alliance -United Nations Children's Fund