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THE ALBUFEIRA CONVENTION

THE ALBUFEIRA CONVENTION. CONTENT. RIVER BASINS SHARED WITH PORTUGAL ALBUFEIRA CONVENTION: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND INSPIRING PRINCIPLES AND CONTENT OF THE CONVENTION MANAGEMENT AND NEGOTIATION BODIES ISSUES CURRENTLY BEING DISCUSSED. FUTURE CHALLENGES FLOW REGIME UNDER THE CONVENTION.

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THE ALBUFEIRA CONVENTION

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  1. THE ALBUFEIRA CONVENTION

  2. CONTENT • RIVER BASINS SHARED WITH PORTUGAL • ALBUFEIRA CONVENTION: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND • INSPIRING PRINCIPLES AND CONTENT OF THE CONVENTION • MANAGEMENT AND NEGOTIATION BODIES • ISSUES CURRENTLY BEING DISCUSSED. FUTURE CHALLENGES • FLOW REGIME UNDER THE CONVENTION

  3. 1. RIVER BASINS SHARED WITH PORTUGAL

  4. SPANISH-PORTUGUESE RIVER BASINS Geographical singularity of the Iberian Peninsula: hydrographic isolation from the rest of the European system. Most of the peninsular territory tilts towards the Atlantic facade; most of the rivers flow into Portugal. The surface of the shared basins occupies more than 45% of the peninsular territory. Shared basins represent 65% of surface in Portugal and 42% of that in Spain. 61% of the boundary is materialized by water lines. The average yield in the Portuguese part is 31.5% of the total. Their distribution of rainfall is much more uniform in time and space. The possibilities of storing water in reservoirs with a significant regulatory capacity are notably lower in the Portuguese territory

  5. 2. ALBUFEIRA CONVENTION. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

  6. EVOLUTION OF WATER CONVENTIONS SIGNED BETWEEN PORTUGAL AND SPAIN • Since1864: • 1864. Treatyonboundaries: until Caya-Guadiana. • 1866. Annex I added to Treaty of 1864 • 1912. Exchange of notes. Industrial use. • 1926. Conventiononboundaries: fromCuncos-Guadiana. • 1927. Hydroelectric use onDouroriver. • 1964. ConventiononDouroriver. • 1968. Conventionon uses in theremainingsharedbasins. • 1998. AlbufeiraConvention. • 2008. Protocolamendingthewaterflowregime. • Formality and objectivity to solve problems. • Successful. • Settlement of border disputes. • Hydroelectric use in internationalriversections • Consumptive uses of water • Prevention of floods and droughts • Goodqualitystate of water

  7. CONVENIO DE 1964. REGIMEN DE CAUDALES DEL DUERO Both countries guarantee reciprocally that the flow that must reach the origin of each exploitation area will not decrease as a consequence of derivations destined to obtain hydroelectric energy, unless those derivations are made in the area assigned to each State and correspond to available flows dedicated to feeding lateral reservoirs that drain into the same area where the derivation is carried out or when they correspond to surplus flows that can not be absorbed by the plants of the other State. “Availableflows”, forthepurpose of storage, meansthose flows that exceed the average weekly flow of 300 m3 / s, which may be derived to regulating lateral reservoirs with a maximum limit of the average weekly flow of 80 m3 / s. These figures are considered valid for a term of 50 years counted from the signing of the Agreement, except in case of amendment by mutual agreement of both Governments.

  8. TRANSBOUNDARY RESERVOIRS ALONG THE DOURO RIVER

  9. ALLOCATION OF SECTIONS ACCORDING TO THE 1964 AND 1968 CONVENTIONS For the development of the agreement, a Mixed Commission was established to regulate the use of international sections

  10. 3. ALBUFEIRA CONVENTION: INSPIRING PRINCIPLES. CONTENT OF THE CONVENTION

  11. PRINCIPIOS INSPIRADORES DEL CONVENIO (I) • Extension of the reference framework.- Compliance with the integrity of shared river basins (includes surface and groundwater) and related ecosystems. • Material expansion.- It deals with all the activities involved in the water resources uses, including the protection of the quality of waters. • Cooperation between the parties.- It is articulated around four fundamental elements: • Exchange of information based on a regular and systematic basis • Consultations developed through specific bodies. • Adoption of measures that facilitate both administrative and regulatory standardisation in both countries. • Flow regime • Coordination of management plans and programs of measures.- Compliance with the WFD. Achieve common environmental objectives in shared water bodies. Coordination of work and program of measures. • Reconcile the commitments of the previous Agreements (1964 and 1968) with the provisions of the Albufeira Convention.

  12. CONTENT OF THE CONVENTION: OUTLINE Its scope of application includes the hydrographic basins of the rivers Minho, Limia, Duero, Tajo and Guadiana • It consists of a Preamble, which summarizes the political intent of the document, six operative Parts with a total of 35 articles, two Annexes and an Additional Protocol with its Annex It is worth highlighting two phrases that condense its spirit and synthesize the baseline of the agreement: - Search for a balance between protecting the environment and the use of water resources, as necessary for the sustainable development of both countries - Need to coordinate the respective efforts for the better knowledge and management of waters in the shared river basins.

  13. BASIC CONTENT OF THE CONVENTION • EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION • TRANSBOUNDARY IMPACTS • QUALITY AND POLLUTION • WATER USES • EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMTANCES • FLOW REGIME • INSTITUTIONAL ORGANISATION • GUARANTEES SYSTEM

  14. AlbufeiraConvention(1) Maininnovations • Modern vision: environmental protection perspective from the Water Framework Directive: • Water quality and goodwaterstateamongitsobjectives. • List of mainwaterpollutants (Annex I) as in the WFD (Annex VIII) • Riverbasin as a unit: • Surface and groundwaters • Sustainable use • Droughts and floods • Flowregimes: • Annual, quaterly, weekly and instantlybasis • Compliancewiththeregime of the 1964 and 1968 Agrrements. • Solidarity, co-responsibility y commitment

  15. AlbufeiraConvention(2) Mechanisms • Information, participation and consultaion, and legal framework: • Exchange of informationon a regular and systematicbasis • Consultations and activitiesdevelopedundertheConventionbodies (CADC and CdP). • Management of theavailablewaters and water uses: • Assessment and consultation of activitieswithtransboundaryeffects. Flowregimes • Communication, alert and emergencysystemsforfloods and droughts. • Good status objectives: • Coordination of Management Plans and theirPrograms of Measures. • Prevent, eliminate, mitigate or control the effects of events of accidental pollution. • Establish systems of control and evaluation of the state of water bodies.

  16. 4. ALBUFEIRA CONVENTION. MANAGEMENT AND NEGOTIATION BODIES.

  17. MANAGEMENT BODIES • The operability of an International Agreement is determined by the existence of institutions in charge of monitoring compliance, content management or a combination of both. • In the Albufeira Convention two bodies of equal composition were established and, therefore, they are strictly bilateral: • TheConference of theParties, with a highpoliticallevel. • TheCommissionfortheImplementation and Development of theAgreement (CADC),with a eminentlytechnicalcontent. • The Working Groups are a fundamental element on which the action of the CADC is based. • The participation of civil society in the work of the CADC must be extensive. This line of work is being strengthened. • There are no financing mechanisms. Each country is responsible for the financing within its territory. Principle of subsidiarity.

  18. THE CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES It was created as a body of high political level charged with the development of the Agreement. It is composed of representatives appointed by the respective governments and is chaired by a Minister of each State or a representative appointed by the Minister for such a purpose. It constitutes a superior instance to resolve those issues in which it was impossible to reach an agreement at the CADC.

  19. CADC It is composed of delegations appointed by each Party upon prior agreement on the number of delegates. Maximum 9 delegates for each country. It lacks legal personality. This is a problem when executing the agreements derived from the negotiation. It can only deliver opinions in a corporate manner on the issues agreed within the commission itself. That is, it does not implement any adopted agreement; this function corresponds to the competent national administration. It can createanySub-commissions and WorkingGroupsdeemednecessary. Ititwerethereal negotiationtakes place. It is the privileged organ for resolving issues related to the interpretation and approval of the Convention. Decisions are adopted by consensus and subject to the right of review by the respective governments. Its proceedings are governed by a statute drawn up by itself and approved by the Parties.

  20. WORKING GROUPS (I) • They are of a technical nature generally, and the real platform for negotiating the issues of the Convention. • Thegroupsmay be of twotypes: • WorkingGroups of a thematicnature • WorkingGroups of a territorial nature • The second ones must be composed of representatives of the relevant institutions. Their territorial scope of action will include one or more river basins. • They raise their conclusions, recommendations or communications to the Heads of delegations, to be approved by agreement of the CADC. • Currentlythere are twoWorkingGroups: • WorkingGrouponHydrologicalinformation • WorkingGroupon Water Planning • Ad hoc Groupforflowregimeiof Guadiana river in Pomarão • Grouponquality of water of theriverTagus.

  21. WORKING GROUP (II): ISSUES TO BE NEGOTIATED • ISSUES TO BE NEGOTIATED AT THE WORKING GROUP ON INFORMATION EXCHANGE • Exchange of hydro-meteorological data. Preparation of jointannualreports. • Settlement of discrepanciesoverflow records. • Floodsprotocol. • Protocolforemergencyepisodes. • Droughtindicators. • Assessment of flowestimationmethodologies. • CompliancewithEuropeancommitments. • ISSUES TO BE NEGOTIATED AT THE WORKING GROUP ON WATER PLANNING • Harmonization and coordination in thedelimination of surface and groundwaters. • Charaterization of waterbodies and itsstate. • Identification of environmentalobjectivesforborder and transboundarywaterbodies. • Coordination of thePrograms of Measures. • Identification of theflowregime in the control station of Pomarão ( Portuguese Guadiana) • Harmonization of criteriaforassessingthestate of thewaterbodies.

  22. 5. ALBUFEIRA CONVENTION. ISSUES CURRENTLY BEING DISCUSSED. FUTURE CHALLENGES.

  23. Issuescurrentlybeingdiscussed(1) 21 CADC and 3 CoP • Organisationissues (6,9 %): • Statutes, Technical Secretariat, WorkingGroups,… • Exchange of information and publicparticipation (15,9 %): • Organisation, seminarsonparticipation, publicinformation, web site, logo, … • Activitiesimplyinganytransboundaryeffect (21,4 %): • Water Works, waterabstraction and uses in internationalriversections, navigation in cross-bordersections,… • Riverflows (15,9 %): • Annualfulfilment, discrepancies, regimemodulation, updates of historic series, flowregimes in Pomarão y water uses in thelowsection of Guadiana river.

  24. Issuescurrentlybeingdiscussed(2) • Management of extreme situations (11 %): • Floods, droughts, infrastructuresecurity. • Water quality (9 %): • Episodes of accidental waterpollution, quality control of waters. • Management of WFD relatedissues (12,4 %): • Legal and organisationalmatters, AlbufeiraConvention as a coordinationorganismfor: delimitation of waterbodies, ETIs, jointpublicparticipation, hydrologicalplans, state of thesharedwaterbodies. • Otherenvironmentalaspects (7,5 %): • EEI, Europeanprojects, international fluvial reserves, transboundaryenvironmentalassessment.

  25. Issuescurrentlybeingdiscussed(and 3) Summary • 48,3 % → Sustainablemanagement of waterdemands and droughtmanagement. • 28,9 % → Goodstate of waterbodies • 22,8 % → Organization, exchange of information and publicparticipation. • Mainachievements: • Quaterly and weeklymodulation of theflowregime. • Exchange of information in extreme situations. • Management of episodes of accidental waterpollution. • Jointfightagainstinvasivealienspecies. • Protection and goodstate of thewaterbodies: jointdocumentforthesecondplanningcycle of the WFD. planificación de la DMA. • Issuesrelated to decreasingdemandscompared to waterprotectionsince 2008.

  26. Futuro Activities to be strengthened • Protection of waters to achievethegood status of waterbodies, both in bordersections and transboundary. • Climatechangeand relatedissues: • Flowregimes • Environmentaleffects • Fightagainstinvasivealienspecies.

  27. AlbufeiraConvention and the WFD (1) • Balance theattention of theAlbufeiraConvention to qualitythesame as quantity. • Aspectsto protectwaterqualityand achievethegood status of thewaterbodies in thesharedriverbasins: • Art. 13.2 Convention: “coordination of themanagementplans of measures and programs”, forthefulfillment of theobjectives of the WFD. • Successfulcoordinationworkcarriedout: • Definition of international water districts. • Definition and characterization of border and transboundary water bodies. • Exchange of pressures and their effects. • Monitoring networks and status of water bodies. • Protected areas. • Definition of OMAS. • Program of measures. • Joint document for planning coordination.

  28. AlbufeiraConvention and the WFD (2) • Work to be developed,basicallyaimed at achievingthegoodstate of waterbodies: • Difficulty to match typology of water bodies and the criteria to identify the water states → discrepancies in objectives. • Coordination of monitoring networks. • Improvement of pressures and impacts information. • Coordination of protected areas and measures to achieve the OCI. • Agreement of the CADC in May 2005: el Convention of Albufeiraisthecoordinationstructureforthepurposes of teh WFD.

  29. AlbufeiraConvention and climatechange • There are mechanismsalready in place in theConvention to maketheflowregime more flexible and adaptit to CC: • Periodicupdate of registeredrainfallperiods. • Potentialupdate of theflowregime. • Cancellation of mínimum flows in circumstances of drought. • Thefightagainst CC willrequiregreatercoordination and agreementefforts: • Improvedknowledge of CC effects. • Implementation of effectivemeasures to mitigate CC effects, mainly in: • Droughtmanagement. • Floodsmanagement. • Environmentalconditionin waterbodies. • LIFE-SHARA Project (“Sharing Awareness and Governance of Adaptation to Climate Change in Spain” )

  30. AlbufeiraConvention and IAS • La introduction of invasivealienspacies in ouraquaticecosystemsconstitutes a majorthreat: • Miño-Sil riverbasin: zebramussel, waterfern, Asianclam • Douroriverbasin: zebramussel • Tagusriverbasin: zebramussel, Asianclam, waterferm, raccoon, American mink • Guadiana riverbasin: camalote, zebramussel, Asianclam, Mexicanwater Lily, Chinesefish • Thefightagainst IAS is a greatchallengeforthe managers of oursharedbasins in thefuture.

  31. GOOD EXAMPLE OF TRANSBOUNDARY COOPERATION: FLOOD MANAGEMENT March 2013 • Anadequatemanagement of thefilling and emptyingprocesses of reservoirs in the médium section of theTagusbasinalowedretainingpeakwaterflowsthatwouldhavecausedfloods in thePortugueseparts. • ThePortugueseEnvironmental Agency recognized and thankedthemanagementcarriedout in Spain. Information exchange in real time used: •Automatic Hydraulic Information System: http://saihtajo.chtajo.es/ •Cartography System of Flood-Prone Areas: http://sig.magrama.es/snczi/visor.html?herramienta=DPHZI •Hydraulic Information System for the border section of the Tagus basin: (SICOINFRONJO): http://sicoinfronjo.chtajo.es/sicoinfronjo/list.html

  32. GOOD EXAMPLE OF TRANSBOUNDARY COOPERATION : FIGHT AGAINST CAMALOTE IN THE GUADIANA BASIN • Protocol of actionbetweenSpain and Portugal forthe control of thewaterhyacinth in the Guadiana river • Project financedwith EU funds POCTEP (2014-2020) • Serious problema derivedfromthepresence of waterhyacinth (Camalote), aninvasivealienspeciestahtaffects 150 km. Of river in theSpanishterritory. • Transboundary problema as thereis a real possibility of itspreadingdownstreamfrom Badajoz and reaching a PortugueseAlquevareservoir. • Majoreconomic, social, environmental and managementproblems in the Guadiana basin. • Publicadministrationsinvolved in Spain and Portugal: CHG, ARH-Alentejo (APA), EDIA y la Junta de Extremadura. • Protocol of actionthat describes theproblem and proposes a jointstrategy to control thisinvasivespecies. Currently

  33. OTHER WORK DERIVED FROM THE INTERNATIONAL COORDINATION • Joint international coordination document on the Hydrological Plans of the International Hydrographic Districts 2015-2021 (approved). • Joint document of flow estimation methodologies in the control points of the Convention (approved). • Joint protocol for hydrological warnings for flooding (approval by CADC). • Joint document to implement the Programs of measures of the Water Plans 2016-2021 (approval in December 2018). • Cross-border consultations in the Strategic Environmental Assessment procedure for the Water Plans and Flood Risk Management Plans.

  34. 6. ALBUFEIRA CONVENTION. FLOW REGIME.

  35. KEY ISSUE AT THE NEGOTIATIONS: FLOW REGIMES (I) It is laid down in Article 16 of the Additional Protocal and the Annex to the Convention • Guaranteedflows are established at certainsectionsthatallowmaintainingthehydrological and environmentalfunctions of therivers. • Ensureswater uses, bothcurrent and future, in a sustainablemanner in eachbasin. • The general criteriafortheflowregime are related to: natural characteristics, to guaranteethegoodecologicalstate of water and water uses, thetype of infrastructures and compliancewiththeflowregimeestablished in 1964 and 1968 agreements. • Theflowregimeisdifferentforeachriverdependingonitsdydrologicalcharacteristics. • Reference historical data of precipitation: 1945/46-1995/96. These data are updatedeach 5 years. • Thehydrologicalregime of theSpanish-Portugueseriversishighly irregular, therefore, there are years in whichtheguaranteedflowscannot be guaranteed. DEROGATION CONDITIONS TO THE FLOW FULFILMENT basedontherainfallregistered in eachbasin.

  36. KEY ISSUE AT THE NEGOTIATIONS: FLOW REGIME. ANNUAL VALUES AND RAINFALL (II)

  37. However, the 1998 agreement was not enough and had to be renegotiated after the experience of a very severe drought suffered by both countries in 2004 and 2005 and the difficulties of applying the 1964 and 1968 agreements. PROTOCOL AMENDING THE FLOW REGIME (2008)

  38. NEW FLOW REGIME(I) ThePortuguesedam of Bempostaisincluded as a new control point. Someadditionalpluviometricstations to registerrainfallwereincroporated to bettercharacterizethederogationperiods. Theflowregimereferred to theannualwateryieldremainsunchanged, both in terms of volumen values and identification of derogationcriteria. In allstations, a quaterlyregimeisestablished, withthecorrespondingderogationmechanisms, basedontheaccumulatedregisteredrainfall in a period of sixmonthsuntilthefirstday of thethirdmonth of thequarter. A weekly mínimum regimeisestablished in the control stations of Miranda, Bemposta, Saucelle+Ágeda, Crestuma, Cedillo y Ponte Muge, Thedailyminimumsremainunchanged at the Azud de Badajoz and Pomarâo. Thederogationmechanisms and theadaptation to particular situationsderivedfromtheexecution of Works are improved. Therestrictions of the 1964 Convention are removed.

  39. COMMITMENT FOR EXCEPTIONS (DEROGATIONS) MINIMUM VALUES Total anual yield of - P from the beginning of the year until a particular month is less than a % of the average P the hydrological year - For the Guadiana river, the volumen of stored water in reservoirs is also considered Quaterly water yield - P of 6 months until the 1 of the last month of the quarter, is less than a % of the average P for the same period - For the Guadiana river, the volumen of the water stored in reservoirs is also considered. (1) Weeky water yield - The same derogatory conditions than for the quaterly water yield. (2) - No derogatory conditions Average daily flow (1) Onfly for Douro and Tagus basins (2) Only for the Guadiana basin. NEW FLOW REGIME It implies an extension of the current flow regimes (on a yearly basis and, only for the Guadiana, on a daily basis) to flow regimes on a quarterly basis, and, for Douro Tagus basins, flow regimes on a weekly basis. NEW FLOW REGIME (II)

  40. NEW FLOW REGIME (III)

  41. MUCHAS GRACIAS POR VUESTRA ATENCIÓN www.cadc-albufeira.eu ForanyenquiriesabouttheAlbufeiraConvention and themanagement of transboundaryrivers: Water PlanningUnit. stcadc@mapama.es

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