2 Policy context of water resources management in Eastern Partnership countries

The history of socio-economic development in the Eastern Partnership countries has had various impacts and consequences on water resources. Although the focus has shifted from intensive extraction of natural resources during the Soviet period in 20th century into a transition towards more sustainable development, there is a legacy of long-lasting heavy pollution of water resources and water scarcity due to the ageing infrastructure of water supplies and the disintegration of previous systems in line with the new political boundaries (UNECE, 2000b, 2011b, 2007b, 2016b, 2016c, 2014a). After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, some large river basins became international river basins (Yildiz, 2017) with respect to the Eastern Partnership countries. Today, Dnieper basin is shared between Belarus and Ukraine; Dniester between Ukraine and Republic of Moldova; Aras between Armenia and Azerbaijan; and Kura is shared among Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan (Figure 1).

Figure 2: River Basin Management Units, based on major river basins in the Eastern European countries and the Caucasus.

Data source: ECRINS database (EEA, 2012a)

The problems arising on quality and quantity of water resources have already become more acute in almost all transboundary basins, which calls for joint actions of the countries. However, political conflicts between countries, e.g. Armenia and Azerbaijan, the reluctance among national water agencies to facilitate data and information exchange, and in some cases, the loss of ‘institutional memory’ due to frequent reorganisation of the water agencies, pose limitations for underpinning knowledge-based policy making in the area of water.

2.1       European Neighbourhood Policy

By signing agreements with the EU and its Member States in 2014, the Republic of Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine have started the gradual adjustment of their national legislation to European environmental standards and principles.

Many of the existing national water laws are adopting principles similar to European water legislation, particularly the Water Framework Directive and its daughter directives. For example, Water Law no. 272/2011 in Moldova has partly harmonised its water legislation with European (Republic of Moldova, 2011) on the protection of water against nitrate pollution from agricultural sources, bathing waters, environmental quality standards in the field of water policy and on urban wastewater treatment. In Ukraine, the process of implementation of European water policy started with the new legislation, namely, the Water Code of Ukraine (amended on 4 October 2016). The Code sets the basis for the implementation of extended water quality monitoring programmes, for example to support the assessment of ecological status of surface water bodies. Georgia adopted new water legislation in 1997, and at present is reforming its national environmental legislation and water protection sector to adapt to EU water legislation (Vystavna et al., 2018).

Azerbaijan and Armenia also participate in the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). Political cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan started in 1999 with the signature of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. Political cooperation between the EU and Armenia is based on the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which was signed on 24 November 2017. With this agreement the EU started to support Armenia in adoption of the EU environmental standards.

The EU provide financial and technical support to a number of international projects in the region aimed at strengthening the capacities of the governmental and public administration bodies in monitoring, water information systems, water supply, sanitation, river basin management, protection of freshwater ecosystems and public participation.  For instance, the "EU Water Initiative Plus (EUWI+)” and the “Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS)” are those EU funded projects active in all six countries. The EUWI+ project focuses on the consolidation of monitoring systems and supports further reforms of water policies and the development of the river basin management plans in all six countries. The SEIS (now in its second phase) supports the capacity building for integrated assessment of the state of environment and data reporting to international bodies.

2.2       United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

All countries have taken actions to affirm their commitment to attaining the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and are therefore actively involved in international policies for environmental protection and sustainable development. The main UN platform for joint and harmonised international actions for SDGs at the global level is the United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (UNHLPF, 2020). Since 2015, all six countries have actively worked with HLPF and are creating the necessary national infrastructure for the implementation of the SDGs, also in the area of water. Two most frequently referred political goals in the region are on drinking water supply and sustainable water use.

 All six countries are members of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) – the regional commissions of the United Nations (UN). The UNECE offers full political support to the SDG implementation process (UNECE, 2020c). Specifically, the support focuses on safe drinking water, adequate sanitation, water pollution reduction, public engagement in decision-making and access to environmental information. For this purpose, guidelines for the environmental indicators are available online (UNECE, 2020b). Indicators are designed to answer key policy questions and to serve as a basis for knowledge-based policymaking.

2.3       Bilateral and multilateral cooperation

In addition to international support such the European Neighbourhood Instrument, bilateral and multiparty agreements also give provisions for water cooperation in the Region (UN, 2007; FAO, 2009; Taslakyan, 2014; Yildiz, 2017). Some of the countries already develop joint monitoring systems, exchange information, and implement activities on water pollution prevention and control, water flow regulation in transboundary river basins. For instance, Ukraine and Republic of Moldova signed a bilateral treaty for the Dniester basin in 2012 to provide a framework for cooperation in various areas of water resources management (UNECE, 2012b).

There are also bilateral agreements for managing water resources in the transboundary basins of the Aras and Kura rivers among Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan (Winston et al., 2015; Taslakyan, 2014; Yildiz, 2017).

Georgia and Azerbaijan are cooperating on the sustainable use of the Kura river. Since a long time, Georgia and Azerbaijan have been working on developing bilateral agreement on the transboundary water cooperation (Zedginidze et al. 2013) with special focus on  flood prevention and waste water management. In addition, both countries meet several times to identify priorities for further trans-boundary cooperation, such as capacity building, data bases updates and development of information sharing systems (Strosser et al., 2017). However, the efficiency of those bilateral agreements, not only between Georgia and Azerbaijan but also between Georgia and Armenia,  and between Armenia and Azerbaijan, remains uncertain as hydropolitics in the region are very much tied with other economic, political and security dynamics (Yildiz, 2017).

2.4       Institutional organisation for water resources management

All six countries have governmental authorities responsible for water management and environmental protection. Overall, Ministries of Environment are the main governmental bodies responsible for developing water management policy and legislation. Within these ministries are dedicated institutions for monitoring, analysing and disseminating data and information on water quality and quantity. In most countries these are hydrometeorological and geological services. Some countries have also established special information centres engaged in environmental protection or/and natural resources management that can be sponsored by international programmes. Their overall function is to disseminate information to the public at large. They are typically involved in projects as the operators of information systems or web portals suitable for indicator publishing.

In all six countries there are also water agencies that manage water supply and use. Some of them are oriented towards implementing monitoring programmes of hydrometeorological and geological services. In some countries they are organised as joint-stock companies. The ministries of environment are supported by other ministries, for example: Ministry of Emergency Situation;, Ministry of Health; Ministry of Regional Development; and Ministry of Agriculture.