Côte d’Ivoire joins UN Water Convention

Côte d’Ivoire Joined the United Nations Water Convention, a treaty that aims to improve joint water management across borders.

The West African country, which faces increasing  is the 53rd party to the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, known as the 1992 UN Water Convention. Only 10 African countries have ratified the convention so far.

Côte d’Ivoire shares eight transboundary river basins (Black Volta, Bia, Tanoé, Comoé, Niger, Sassandra, Cavally et Nuon) with its neighbors, which include Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

The country is expected to see demand on water increase by its 30 million population, which grows at a rate of 2.5%.

In Côte d’Ivoire, water resources are also threatened by urbanization, climate change impacts including drought and flooding, while water quality is deteriorating due to pollution from agricultural, industrial waste, illegal gold panning, and untreated wastewater.

Chad, Senegal, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Togo and Cameroon became the first African nations to accede to the Treaty, before being joined in 2023 by Nigeria, Namibia and the Gambia.