Introduction

Despite global calls to accelerate governance on water resources, the Middle East water situation continues to deteriorate following from the pressures of growing populations, increasing demands, and exacerbating factors such as the impact climate change which all contribute to make water management more difficult. In 2015, UN Member States adopted the 2030 Agenda, setting seventeen transformative Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with respective targets for each, and committing to work towards their full implementation. In this context, one of the initiatives of the international community has been the creation of a water specific goal. Th official title “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all” or SDG 6 – Water and Sanitation is a political commitment of all UN member states to achieve mutually agreed goal of water, but in the most recent 2018 synthesis report the United Nations stated that “the world is not on track”.The report identified that to be successful SDG 6 needs to (i) Adapt to country contexts; (ii) Create multi-stakeholder partnerships and strengthen regional integration; and (iii) Implement integrated water resources management (IWRM). 

​Objectives

To equip water professionals, including from academia, research and civil society with (i) the technical knowledge and tools required to be able to better respond to future transboundary water challenges induced by increasing demand for water (overwhelmingly from intensive agriculture) and reduced water availability (due to climate change); (ii) the legal knowledge required to appreciate global instruments and international legal principles relevant to transboundary waters; and (iii) the negotiations skills required to effectively assess discussions with colleagues from neighbouring countries, regional counterparts and development in water governance at the international level.