The Global High-Level Panel on Water and Peace was created in 2015 in Geneva^[1] at the initiative of 15 co-convening UN Member States to analyse water in the context of maintaining peace and security and to move this issue from a technical to a political level.^[2] Chaired by Dr. Danilo Türk, the former President of the Republic of Slovenia, the Panel presented its landmark report, A Matter of Survival,^[3] in Geneva in 2017. The Geneva Water Hub, acted as Secretariat to the Panel.^[4] The Strategic Foresight Group^[5] was the main intellectual partner of the Panel.

Work of The Panel

The High Level Panel on Water and Peace focused on the nexus between water and co-operation and how this maintains peace and security. This included preventive activities and arrangements, such as trans-border water cooperation regimes and institutions, the protection of water infrastructure during armed conflicts and water arrangements in the context of post-conflict peace-building.

Over a period of two years the Panel held consultations and public hearings with all relevant organisations and stakeholders to:

• Develop a set of proposals aimed at strengthening the global architecture to prevent and resolve water-related conflicts;
• Facilitate the role of water as an important factor of building peace and cooperation; and
• Enhance the relevance of water issues in national and global policy making.

List of Panelists

Chair

• Dr. Danilo Türk, 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 (by order of nomination by co-convening country)

• Prof. Laurence Boisson de Chazournes,^[6] Professor of Law at University of Geneva, Switzerland
• Dr. Claudia Patricia Mora, former Vice Minister for Water and Sanitation, Colombia
• Dr. Pascual Fernández, former State Secretary for Water and Seashore, Spain
• Prof. Andras Szöllösi-Nagy, former Rector of UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Hungary
• His Royal Highness Prince Hassan bin Talal, Jordan
• Mr. Yerlan Nysanbayev, Vice-Minister of Ministry of Agriculture, Kazakhstan
• Mr. Mike Allen Hammah, former Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Ghana
• Mr. Ciarán Ó Cuinn, Director of Middle East Desalination Research Centre, Oman
• Mr. Andres Tarand, former Prime Minister, Estonia
• Mr. Thor Chetha, Secretary of State of Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology, Cambodia (acting on an interim basis, nominee to be announced)
• Mr. Franck Galland, managing director of Environmental Emergency & Security Services, France
• Mr. Abdelaaziz Ameziane, General Engineer, Ministry of Water, Morocco

Group of Friends on Water and Peace

In response to the high interest generated by The High Level Panel on Water and Peace, a Group of Friends on Water and Peace was created in early 2016. It provides participating countries with the opportunity to interact with the work of the Panel and offers them a platform for regular dialogue on the issues and recommendations in A Matter of Survival.