The guide explains how the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes helps countries to curb water pollution, restore and conserve water-related ecosystems, prevent conflicts over scarce resources, and ensure that international rivers are well managed so that future generations, too, will be able to extract clean water from them.

The Convention was recently amended to enable UN Member States not members of the UNECE to sign up to it and benefit from the experience acquired in UNECE. To raise awareness about the Convention around the globe, this guide has been translated into all the official languages of the United Nations with the help of the Environment Ministries of Italy, Spain and Switzerland.
Copies in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish can be ordered free of charge from Rainer Enderlein (rainer.enderlein@unece.org) or Francesca Bernardini (francesca.bernardini@unece.org)
Source: UNECE Weekly, 8.02.2005