Burkina Faso : Joining the Helsinki Convention, an initiative for better water management
Officially, Burkina Faso has confirmed its accession to the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, commonly known as the Water Convention, last week. This accession will enable the West African country to enhance the management of its shared water resources, in the context of increased climate change.
Burkina Faso is experiencing a rapid increase in water demand, driven by a population of approximately 22.1 million people, with an annual demographic growth rate of 3%. In addition to this, factors such as current security threats in the Sahel, the effects of climate change, urbanization, increasing industrialization, and the intensification of irrigated agriculture pose increasingly significant challenges to the sustainable management of the country’s shared water resources.
To address these challenges through improved management of shared water resources, Burkina Faso aims to integrate the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention). Adopted in Helsinki on March 17, 1992, this is the only international framework agreement in force on transboundary freshwater. It aims to protect water resources and ensure their quantity, quality, and sustainable use by facilitating and promoting cooperation.
Burkina Faso expressed its willingness to join this international organization through Roger Baro, the Burkinabe Minister of Environment, Water, and Sanitation. This announcement was made on January 19, 2024, in Ouagadougou, the capital, during a national workshop organized with the financial support of the European Union (EU) through the « Promoting Accession to the Water Convention » project, which aims to strengthen transboundary cooperation on water and the sustainable and peaceful management of shared water resources. Roger Baro assured that he and his counterpart, the Burkinabe Minister of Foreign Affairs, would take the necessary steps for Burkina Faso’s accession instruments.
Accession to the Water Convention will allow Burkina Faso to consolidate cooperation frameworks in which the country is already engaged with its neighbors. These include the Volta Basin Authority (VBA) Convention, the Niger Basin Authority (NBA) Convention, and the Comoé-Bia-Tanoe Basin Authority Convention.
