1. EU Project: Trans-Boundary River Management Phase II and Phase III for the Kura River basin – Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan (www.kuraarasbasin.net) Transboundary cooperation in the Kura river basin Dr Anatoly Pichugin, Team Leader Fourth EU – Central Asia High Level Conference Platform for Environment and Water Cooperation 14 February 2013 Bishkek

2. EU Project: Trans-Boundary River Management Phase II and Phase III for the Kura River basin – Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan (www.kuraarasbasin.net)  Regional Project  Technical Assistance  Client: European Commission  Implemented by: Eptisa Servicios de Ingenieria S.L.  Beneficiary Countries: Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan  Phase II: 3 Jun 2008 – 3 Dec 2011  Phase III : 30 Jan 2012 – 29 Jan 2013

3. EU Project: Trans-Boundary River Management Phase II and Phase III for the Kura River basin – Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan (www.kuraarasbasin.net) Project Purpose:  To help the Project Countries to improve river water quality in the Kura River basin through transboundary cooperation and adoption of the EU River Basin Management Approach  To help the Project Countries to develop and adopt a common approach to water quality monitoring and assessment based on the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) methodology  To help the Project Countries to improve technical capacity in water quality monitoring and assessment to enable them to change policies and practices in accordance with EU WFD

4. EU Project: Trans-Boundary River Management Phase II and Phase III for the Kura River basin – Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan (www.kuraarasbasin.net) Project Partners: Armenia:  Ministry of Nature Protection  Water Resources Management Agency  Environmental Impact Monitoring Centre  State Hydrometeorology Service Georgia:  Ministry of Environmental Protection  National Environment Agency Azerbaijan:  Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources  Environmental Monitoring Department  National Hydrometeorology Department

5. EU Project: Trans-Boundary River Management Phase II and Phase III for the Kura River basin – Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan (www.kuraarasbasin.net) Main areas of cooperation (Work streams):  Joint Transboundary River Monitoring Programme to harmonise sampling and analysis methods between the Project Countries  Pilot projects: River Basin Management Plans (RBMP) for 7 pilot river basins using EU WFD methodology  Capacity Building: Technical Guidelines and Practical Training  Development of common approach to water quality monitoring and assessment based on WFD  Joint Field Surveys to pilot WFD based common approach to water quality monitoring and assessment  Proposal for transition from the current approach to the new (WFD based) common approach to water quality monitoring and assessment

6. EU Project: Trans-Boundary River Management Phase II and Phase III for the Kura River basin – Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan (www.kuraarasbasin.net) Joint Transboundary River Monitoring Programme  Joint Sampling on agreed locations in March, June, September, December in 2009-2010  Agreed common operational procedures and data reporting formats  Introduction of QC/QA procedures: good laboratory practice guidelines  Independent laboratory tests  Joint workshops and data/knowledge sharing (every 2-3 months)

7. EU Project: Trans-Boundary River Management Phase II and Phase III for the Kura River basin – Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan (www.kuraarasbasin.net) Pilot projects: 7 pilot RBMPs using the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) methodology Purpose: To help the Project Countries to understand through “learning by doing”:  EU WFD approach and methodology  what would be needed in practice in terms of the data, technical expertise, capacity, and resources to prepare WFD compliant RBMP

8. EU Project: Trans-Boundary River Management Phase II and Phase III for the Kura River basin – Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan (www.kuraarasbasin.net) EU WFD approach: Integration of monitoring, management and protection in one coherent framework  Protection of Aquatic Ecosystems and Groundwaters  Setting Environmental Objectives (EOs): Good Ecological Status for surface waters and Good Status for groundwaters  RBMP with Program of Measures to achieve EOs

9. EU Project: Trans-Boundary River Management Phase II and Phase III for the Kura River basin – Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan (www.kuraarasbasin.net) Capacity Building: Technical Guidelines and Practical Training Key EU documents translated to Georgian, Armenian and Azeri languages, printed and distributed amongst the Beneficiaries, explained at the project workshops  EU Water Framework Directive  EU Floods Directive  EU WFD Technical Guidance: Identification of Water Bodies  EU WFD Technical Guidance: Analysis of Pressures and Impacts

10. EU Project: Trans-Boundary River Management Phase II and Phase III for the Kura River basin – Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan (www.kuraarasbasin.net) Technical Guidelines produced and translated to the national languages, discussed and approved by the Project Countries  Surface Water Quality Monitoring: Guideline Document for Decision Makers  Public Participation Guidelines for Decision Makers  Good Laboratory Practice Guidelines for Sampling and Analysis  Introduction to Biological Monitoring of Water Quality  How to prepare river basin management plan using WFD methodology  How to design WFD compliant monitoring program  Hydromorphological survey and assessment under WFD  Water Quality Assessment under WFD  Inter-calibration under WFD

11. EU Project: Trans-Boundary River Management Phase II and Phase III for the Kura River basin – Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan (www.kuraarasbasin.net) Practical Training  Practical training in biological sampling and sample assessment for national monitoring laboratories  Practical training in QA/QC and analytical methods (chemistry) in the national monitoring laboratories  Practical training in hydromorphological survey and assessment  Practical training in water quality assessment using WFD methodology

12. EU Project: Trans-Boundary River Management Phase II and Phase III for the Kura River basin – Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan (www.kuraarasbasin.net) Water Quality Assessment under WFD  To inform development of the RIVER BASIN MANAGEMENT PLAN to show where the problems are, or, in other words, which WATER BODIES ARE FAILING GOOD STATUS;  To INFORM DESIGN of the PROGRAM OF MEASURES – water bodies of different status class would require different measures to achieve GOOD status;  To inform about the EFFECT OF MEASURES.

13. EU Project: Trans-Boundary River Management Phase II and Phase III for the Kura River basin – Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan (www.kuraarasbasin.net) Water Quality Assessment under WFD Five quality status classes: HIGH, GOOD, MODERATE, POOR, and BAD, based on  Biological quality elements – MAIN ROLE in assessment  Hydromorphological quality elements – supporting role  Physico-chemical quality elements – supporting role

14. EU Project: Trans-Boundary River Management Phase II and Phase III for the Kura River basin – Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan (www.kuraarasbasin.net) Joint Field Surveys (2012) to pilot WFD based approach Two transboundary pilot river basins:  Debed/Khrami basin (Armenia/ Georgia)  Alazani/Ganikh basin (Georgia/Azerbaijan)  Practical integration of biological, physico-chemical, and hydro- morphological quality elements in one monitoring program  Project countries successfully learned and practiced the common approach to water quality monitoring and assessment based on WFD  Reinforcement of cooperation and trust between the project countries

15. EU Project: Trans-Boundary River Management Phase II and Phase III for the Kura River basin – Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan (www.kuraarasbasin.net) Proposal for transition to the WFD based approach  Draft Policy Document: translated to the national languages, approved by the Project Partners - Country’s ownership and leading role MoE should lead and coordinate the process - Plan – stepwise approach Main tasks Timing ( 2013-1016) - Technical expertise Experience and results of EU Kura Phase II and Phase III National cadre of professionals - Capacity building: international technical assistance EU Technical Assistance, TAIEX EU Water InitiativeEU Water Initiative

16. EU Project: Trans-Boundary River Management Phase II and Phase III for the Kura River basin – Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan (www.kuraarasbasin.net) Conclusions  Trans-boundary cooperation does work  WFD approach is possible in the Region  Cooperation from the Project Partners  Support from EC  Team building and team work Main areas where improvements are needed:  Informed decision making  Monitoring should serve the purpose  Data quality needs improvement  QC/QA to improve performance and credibility  Knowledge and technical capability needs improvement