GLOBAL HIGH LEVEL PANEL ON WATER AND PEACE
STATEMENT BY DR. DANILO TURK, CHAIRMAN OF THE PANEL
November 15-16, 2015
Geneva, Switzerland
A group of 15 countries from all parts of the world launched the Global High Level Panel on
Water and Peace at a ministerial gathering in Geneva on 16th November 2015. The mandate of
the panel is to propose global architecture to transform water from a source of potential crisis to
an instrument of cooperation and peace.
Dr. Danilo Turk, former President of Slovenia, is the Chairman of the panel. Mr. Mansour Faye,
Minister of Water and Sanitation of Senegal and Chairman of African Ministers’ Council on
Water, as well as Dr. Alvaro Umaña Quesada, former Minister of Energy and Environment of
Costa Rica, are the two Vice Chairmen of the High Level Panel. The 15 Co-convening Countries
are: Cambodia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Estonia, France, Ghana, Hungary, Jordan, Kazakhstan,
Morocco, Oman, Senegal, Slovenia, Spain, and Switzerland. United Nations Water, which
coordinates the work of all UN Agencies in the water sector, is the Observer. Geneva Water
Hub is the Secretariat of the Panel.
Switzerland and Strategic Foresight Group have cooperated to establish the panel in a unique
partnership between a sovereign state in the West and intellectual capital from the Global South.
Over the last two years, representatives of Switzerland and Strategic Foresight Group held
world-wide consultations to examine the need and modus operandi of a mechanism to create
positive linkages between water and peace the world over. Strategic Foresight Group will help
the High Level Panel in developing political and substantive recommendations.
Didier Burkhalter, Foreign Minister of Switzerland said at the launch event:
“Convening the high level panel that we are launching today is another milestone in
Switzerland’s engagement for water and peace. The task of this Panel will be to develop a set of
proposals aimed at strengthening the global architecture to prevent and resolve water-related
conflicts and to facilitate the use of water for building peace.
There are many facets to this issue. Among the Panel’s tasks, we propose that it:
 Identify economic and financial mechanisms to incentivise multi-sectoral and
transboundary water cooperation;
 Examine how to prevent and cope with water-related conflicts – possibly exploring
potential mechanisms to promote hydro-diplomacy;
 Promote effective implementation of the global water conventions;
 And promote tangible best practices in water cooperation at basin level.”
Sundeep Waslekar, President of Strategic Foresight Group said at the launch event:
“The work of the Panel will be relevant to 2.3 billion people living in the shared river basins of
the developing world with a gross economic output of 10 trillion dollars per year. The Water
Cooperation Quotient, released a few weeks ago by the Strategic Foresight Group, demonstrates
that any two countries engaged in active water cooperation do not go to war for any other
reason. Therefore, if the Panel proposes an architecture that can be embraced by all shared river
basins in the world advancing cooperation, it will reduce the risk of war and the need for military
expenditure in poor parts of the world. We can safely assume that a peace dividend of a few
hundred billion dollars will be generated.”
The Global High Level Panel on Water and Peace is expected to meet a few times in the Coconvening countries over the next two years and consult with stakeholders from other countries
and multilateral and regional organisations in the course of its work. It is expected to produce a
report and submit it to the UN system and the international community by December 2017.
Dr. Danilo Turk with Mr. Sundeep Waslekar and Mr. Mansour Faye
STATEMENT BY DR. DANILO TURK, CHAIRMAN OF THE PANEL
Distinguished colleagues, co-panelists,
Honorable guests,
It is with great humility and with a profound sense of the collective nature of our effort that I
accept to serve you as chairman of this important panel. I wish to thank you for your confidence.
I also thank the Government of Switzerland for the initiative and for all the assistance that made
the creation of this panel possible. I also thank the Geneva Water Hub, who is going to assist us
in our work. And I wish to thank the Strategic Foresight Group for the unique intellectual and
organisational contribution to the project.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We come from different regions of the world and represent a variety of experiences related to
the nexus between water and peace. But we share an important common vision:
First, to make a meaningful and practical contribution to international efforts for prevention of
water-related conflicts and to the resolution of disputes and conflicts when they occur;
Second, to facilitate the role of water as an important factor of building peace and
third, to enhance the relevance of water issues in national and global policy-making more
broadly.
These are ambitious tasks, but also vitally important ones.
There is no doubt that water is among the central concerns of all efforts to protect the
environment and to ensure sustainability of development. However, the nexus between water
and peace is much less explored. International institutions lack effective instruments to prevent
water-related armed conflicts and to use water-related mechanisms for the maintenance of
sustainable peace. In these areas our panel is expected to make a contribution.
Each of us brings important experience and specific lessons to the table. And we are all inspired
by the achievements of the past.
Water issues usually form an important part of peace agreements. It is fitting to recall that this
year we are commemorating the bicentennial of the Congress of Vienna, which established the
regime for the river Rhine and the Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine. Next
year will mark 150 years since the Paris Agreement establishing the European Commission on
the Danube. Both commissions exist today in their modernized forms and are among the
elements of European stability.
And there are more recent examples that should inspire our work. My own country, Slovenia
subscribes to the Danube Protection Agreement and is depository state of the Sava River
Agreement. The latter is the first multilateral issue oriented agreement in South East Europe
concluded after the Dayton Peace Agreement which stopped the war in Bosnia. There is a close
relationship between regional peace and water cooperation.
A similar pattern of relationship between water and peace was established in Central America. As
soon as the Central American Peace Plan was successfully negotiated by the Costa Rican
President Oscar Arias, it was followed by a set of regional water cooperation agreements.
The relationship between water and peace is not only a matter of post-conflict arrangements.
Water management is an important instrument of prevention of conflict. The establishment in
2010 of the Commission on the Administration of the River Uruguay, following the peaceful
resolution of a bitter dispute between Argentina and Uruguay, is an example of the political
necessity of administrating environmental matters in an effective, preventive manner.
Moreover, there exist other initiatives, far ahead those known in Europe, that lay down the
foundations for long-term regional cooperation and stability. The Mekong River Commission is
one example.
The Senegal River Basin Organization is probably the most far reaching arrangement today. The
Organization controls the water assets in Mali, Senegal, Mauritania and Guinea and manages
them as a “regional common”, transcending national interests.
Our Panel will be privileged to study the experience gained in the Senegal River Basin as the
most far reaching example of water cooperation in the world today and to think about ways in
which this experience can inspire future arrangements in all parts of the world of tomorrow.
In so doing we have to keep clear focus on the nexus between water and peace. And we should
be encouraged by the fact that heads of state and government can agree on ways to resolve transboundary water issues. Let me mention a relatively recent example. In March this year the Heads
of Government of Egypt, Ethiopia and the Sudan designed a formula to manage the Grand
Millennium Dam on the border of Ethiopia and Sudan - a decade long conflict.
The main task of the Global High Level Panel will be to mobilize political will to prevent waterrelated conflicts and to use water as an entry point for dialogue and, where peace does not exist,
for peace negotiations.
There are many technical bodies that are doing excellent technical work on water issues. There is
a strong and growing awareness in the general public about the need to protect water as precious
public and common good. All these are assets that the Panel can take advantage of. However, its
focus should be political and imaginative in the ways in which political will, this most precious
asset, can be generated.
The idea of Global Panel was conceived by Strategic Foresight Group, a think tank based in
India which crafted the well-known Blue Peace Methodology. It created the Water Cooperation
Quotient, which established a strong correlation between trans-boundary water cooperation and
regional peace or, conversely, between lack of cooperation and conflict.
While states and their political leaders will mobilize political capital, Strategic Foresight Group
will mobilize intellectual capital. Our initiative will therefore be a unique combination of political
capital and intellectual capital.
Our Panel is the meeting point where we need to generate imaginative and politically interesting
ideas, capable of becoming relevant to policy makers in their quest for peace, stability and
prosperity.
It is also a platform to reach out to the international community, help spread awareness of this
important work, and actively contribute to the global momentum for the management of water
issues in ways that strengthen security and peace.
I thank you for your confidence and I invite you to participate in the work of the panel with the
maximum of your great intellectual capabilities and political imagination. We are to work on one
of the most exciting and most interesting projects of peace in our era. Let us do the utmost to
make our Global High Level Panel on Water and Peace a resounding success.
Thank you.
MEMBERS OF THE GLOBAL HIGH LEVEL PANEL
Chair
Dr. Danilo Turk, former President of the Republic, Slovenia
Vice Chairs
Mr. Mansour Faye, Minister of Water and Hydraulics, Senegal
Dr. Alvaro Umaña Quesada, former Minister of Energy and Environment, Costa Rica
Members
His Royal Highness Prince Hassan bin Talal, Jordan
Mr. Andres Tarand, former Prime Minister, Estonia
Mr. Yerlan Nyssanbayev, Vice-Minister of Ministry of Agriculture, Kazakhstan
Mr. Mike Allen Hammah, former Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Ghana
Dr. Pascual Fernández, former State Secretary for Water and Seashore, Spain
Dr. Claudia Patricia Mora, former Vice Minister for Water and Sanitation, Colombia
Mr. Aziz Bouignane, Director of the Moulouya River Basin, Morocco
Prof. Andras Szöllösi-Nagy, former Rector of UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education,
Hungary
Mr. Ciarán Ó Cuinn, Centre Director of Middle East Desalination Research Centre, Oman
Mr. Franck Galland, Managing Director of Environmental Emergency & Security Services,
France
Prof. Laurence Boisson de Chazournes, Professor of Law at University of Geneva, Switzerland
Mr. Thor Chetha, Secretary of State of Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology, Cambodia
(acting on an interim basis, nominee to be announced)
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