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LEGAL FRAMEWORK AT THE NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL LEVELImage: G. GoochA woman boat rower on the Day River, Viet Nam. Water management should address the activities and involvement of local communitieschange at the national level – is to strengthen the governance ofwaters crossing sovereign borders. The task is formidable. Of the263 transboundary river basins and 200 or more transboundaryaquifers, only around 40 per cent have water sharing agreementsin place. These shared resources directly provide water for almosthalf of the world’s population within 145 countries, and indirectlybenefit others through the goods and services produced therein.Effective transboundary water governance arrangements providean important basis by which to maintain peace and security,foster sustainable development and respond to the likely impactsof climate change. However, major challenges remain because, asUN-Water observes, “existing agreements are sometimes not sufficientlyeffective to promote integrated water resources managementdue to problems at the national and local levels.”In the case of transboundary water, while there are still many challengesahead, it is important to recognize that significant progress hasalso been made. At the global level, the Convention on the Law of theNon-navigational Uses of International Watercourses was adopted bythe United Nations General Assembly in 1997, and will soon enter intoforce. This global framework instrument sets out the main substantiveand procedural legal norms for ensuring that transboundarywaters are shared in an equitable and reasonable manner. A furtherframework instrument of note is the 1992 United Nations EconomicCommission for Europe Convention on the Protection and Use ofRiver Dwellings on the Red River, Viet Nam. Strengthening thegovernance of transboundary waters is a major challengeImage: G. Gooch[ 173 ]