GENEVA: Cooperation across borders on shared water resources can help avert conflicts and build peace, the United Nations said Friday, urging all countries to join its Water Convention.
The UN stressed that with climate change and rising water scarcity worldwide, cross-border water cooperation was increasingly crucial for regional stability and conflict prevention.
"Water and peace are very closely inter-related," Sonja Koeppel, Secretary of the UN Water Convention, told AFP.
She pointed out that more than 60 percent of all freshwater resources are shared by two or more countries, including major rivers like the Rhine and the Danube in Europe, the Mekong in Asia, the Nile in Africa and the Amazon in Latin America.
"Cooperating over those waters is crucial for peace, for development for climate action," she said.
Water is such a vital resource, she said, that it has the power to bring countries in conflict to the table, opening the door to cooperation in other areas as well.
India and Pakistan for instance have a cooperation agreement on use of the Indus river.
And an agreement reached by Senegal, Mauritania, Guinea and The Gambia in the 1970s over the Senegal Basin has enabled them jointly to finance and build infrastructure that distributes water to all four countries.
Even when political tensions reign between the countries, Koeppel said, "this cooperation has continued to exist".
A total of 153 countries around the world share water resources, but only 24 of those have signed onto various cooperation agreements covering all of their shared water, UN chief Antonio Guterres pointed out in a statement marking World Water Day on Friday.
"We must accelerate efforts to work together across borders, and I urge all countries to join and implement the United Nations Water Convention," he said.
"Action for water is action for peace."
The convention was established in 1992 to help foster responsible joint management of water resources in the European region, but opened up in 2016 to countries around the world.
Currently it counts 52 state parties, mainly in Europe, Asia and Africa.
Koeppel said the convention was a vital tool to instigate more cross-border water cooperation, but also to help countries to navigate complex situations and resolve disputes.
"It is complicated for countries to cooperate especially in situations of water scarcity or floods or in case of accidental water pollution," she said.
The convention can help countries to use their shared resources "peacefully and sustainably to protect the environment and to jointly adapt to climate change", she said.
She hailed "huge momentum" in Africa for joining the convention, with nine countries now parties to the agreement, and around a dozen others in the process of joining.
But other regions need to catch up.
When Panama joined last year, it became the sole member state in the Americas, a region with "many water challenges", Koeppel said.
And Iraq last year also became the first member state in the Middle East -- one of the most water-stressed, and conflict-plagued, regions in the world.
Koeppel suggested that more cooperation on water in the Middle East could help ease tensions overall.
"Based on examples from other parts of the world," she said, "we can see how water has had a ripple effect to promote regional integration and sustainable development and climate action more broadly".
UN urges more water cooperation to build peace
https://arab.news/gcfft
UN urges more water cooperation to build peace
- A total of 153 countries around the world share water resources, but only 24 of those have signed onto various agreements
- Nuclear-armed South Asian neighbors India and Pakistan for instance have a cooperation agreement on use of the Indus river
Pakistan approves halal meat export policy, targets expansion in Muslim, global markets
- Pakistan’s total production of halal meat stands at six million metric tons annually, PM Office says
- Pakistan exported meat such as beef, mutton and poultry worth $512 million in 2024, official data states
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday approved Pakistan’s halal meat export policy, directing authorities to draw up a three-year action plan aimed at targeting Muslim and global markets, his office said.
Pakistan has attempted in recent months to increase its halal meat exports to other Muslim countries, such as Malaysia. Both countries announced they had agreed to a $200 million halal meat trade quota during Sharif’s visit to the country in October.
Sharif chaired a meeting on Thursday to review Pakistan’s halal meat export policy, in which officials informed him that Pakistan’s halal meat production stands at 6 million metric tons. Officials told the prime minister that after fulfilling local demand, a substantial quantity of the meat is available for export.
“A coordinated and comprehensive strategy, developed in collaboration with all relevant federal ministries and provincial governments, is essential to secure a significant share for Pakistan in the halal meat markets of Muslim countries and worldwide,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) quoted Sharif as saying.
A 2024 report by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said the country exported meat worth $512 million last year, which included beef, mutton and poultry.
The new export strategy outlines regulatory reforms, disease control measures and upgraded slaughterhouse standards that fulfill the global criteria.
Sharif directed authorities to present a proposal within two weeks to improve cold storage facilities and halal meat production in accordance with global standards. He also called for the establishment of centers, in cooperation with the government, to enhance meat production and its nutritional value.
The prime minister assured that his government would provide support for international certification of local slaughterhouses and for their bilateral registration with other countries.
“Special steps will be taken to ensure slaughterhouses are disease-free and meet international hygiene and sanitation standards, the prime minister directed,” the PMO statement said.
According to the PBS, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) remained Pakistan’s top meat export market in 2024 with exports to the Gulf nation reaching $201 million. Meanwhile, meat exports to Saudi Arabia recorded a growth of 65.1 percent last year at $141 million.
Other major destinations for meat exports include Kuwait, Qatar, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Kazakhstan, while China and Kyrgyzstan are among new markets where Pakistan exports meat.
Private Pakistani companies have also stepped up efforts recently to boost meat exports to Muslim countries and other nations.
In September, Karachi-based private company, The Organic Meat Company Limited (TOMCL), secured a $7.5 million order to export cooked or heat-treated frozen boneless beef to China, followed by an $8.1 million contract with Gold Crest Trading FZE for frozen boneless beef exports to the UAE for industrial and household processing.
In November, TOMCL said it was targeting the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Chinese, Canadian and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) markets to expand its global footprint.
