Supporting the European Commission in the Implementation of International Water Cooperation

Water insecurity ranks among the major risks facing humanity. Population growth, mismanagement, and climate change all cause and exacerbate this. The policies and laws of the EU to manage its freshwaters are among the most progressive ones globally: The Water Framework Directive and the Urban Wastewater Directive establish a framework for the EU member states to maintain and improve rivers, wetlands, lakes, and coastal waters. For many years, the EU has also been committed to supporting sustainable water management in countries and transboundary river basins outside Europe. Consequently, it has engaged in various cooperation activities at international, regional and national levels and supported various international initiatives.

The aim of this project was to support the European Commission in improving its water cooperation with third countries and other international partners. To this end, the project partners, under the leadership of Fresh Thoughts Consulting, helped the European Commission in sharing knowledge, best practices and lessons learnt with partner countries and other international initiatives. Analysing past and current EU water cooperation efforts and considering challenges and priorities of partner countries formed the basis for developing effective recommendations for future activities. The focus was set on partnerships with China, India, Brazil, South Africa, Iran, the Union for the Mediterranean, and selected international processes.

adelphi’s team focused on South Africa with which the European Commission plans to expand its collaboration on water issues. adelphi identified challenges as well as regulatory and governance factors constraining investments in innovative and sustainable solutions in the South African water sector. In addition, the team mapped existing collaborations between the European Union and South Africa and lessons that can be learnt from those engagements. Based on this, it recommended topics and modalities for future cooperation.