Objectives of the convention The overall objective is: To promote regional co-operation to manage Lake Tanganyika sustainably, and this includes managing activities within the Lake basin which affect, or have the potential to affect, the Lake.

1. GEF Third Biennial International
Waters Conference
Salvador, Bahia Brazil
June 20-25, 2005
Legal Frameworks and
Opportunities
Tuesday, June 21, 2005

2. GEF Experiences in Fostering the
Development of Regional and Global
Legal Agreements
Steps Taken to Ensure Compliance;
Monitoring Mechanisms &Public
Participation
Case of The “Convention on the
Sustainable Management of Lake
Tanganyika”
By
Benoit Bihamiriza

3. I. Development
II. Challenges
III. Monitoring of Compliance
With & Enforcement
IV. Public Participation
V. Lessons

4. I. Development
 The convention was developed
under the Lake Tanganyika
Biodiversity Project (LTBP, 1995-
2000) through an in-depth stakeholder
involvement of senior legal experts
from the four riparian countries;

5. Development (Continued 1)
 The Convention was finalized under
the Lake Tanganyika Management
Planning Project (LTMPP, 2002-2004)
through a broad stakeholder
participation process of legal experts
and other policy makers within the
four countries and at regional level.

6. Development (Continued 2)
 The consultations were carried out
through the organization of national and
regional workshops.
The first regional workshop regrouping
delegates from the four riparian
countries took place in Lusaka, Zambia
in February 1998.

7. Development (Continued 3)
The workshop mandated a drafting
team to prepare a draft agreement
to be discussed by delegates at
their next meeting.
The workshop gave the following
recommendations to guide the
drafting team:

8. Development (Continued 4)
Name of the convention:
The name should indicate that the
agreement is concerned with ensuring
that the Lake is managed on a
sustainable basis and is not only
concerned with preventing pollution and
protecting the biological diversity of the
Lake.

9. Development (Continued 5)
The name should indicate that the
agreement is concerned with ensuring
that the Lake is managed on a
sustainable basis and is not only
concerned with preventing pollution and
protecting the biological diversity of the
Lake.

10. Development (Continued 6)
The name that enjoyed the most
support was “the Convention for the
sustainable management of the Lake
Tanganyika Basin”.
Some delegates expressed concern
over the inclusion of the word “basin”
owing to a number of regional issues
that were unresolved at that time.

11. Development (Continued 7)
Objectives of the convention
The overall objective is:
To promote regional co-operation to
manage Lake Tanganyika sustainably,
and this includes managing activities
within the Lake basin which affect, or
have the potential to affect, the Lake.

12. Development (Continued 8)
Definitions.
The drafting team was mandated to
draft the definitions.
Scope/application
The agreement will apply to the Lake
and to those activities within the Lake
basin which have, or may have, a
significant impact on the aquatic
environment of the Lake.

13. Development (Continued 9)
Guiding principles
The overall principle is the
conservation and sustainable use
(sustainable development) of the Lake
and its resources.
Fundamental Rules and Obligations
The draft Agreement should include
rules to give effect to all the principles
contained in the agreement.

14. Development (Continued 10)
Pollution
There should be an obligation on
States not to cause transboundary
pollution or environmental harm
(Rio Principle 2). But it was noted
that the duty not to pollute could not
be absolute as some pollution was
inevitable.

15. Development (Continued 11)
Environmental impact assessment .
Contracting states should be obliged to
ensure that activities in the Lake and
within the basin which may have an
impact on the Lake should be subject to
an environmental impact assessment
(which should consider all the
environmental impacts of the proposed
project and not only the impacts on the
Lake).

16. Development (Continued 12)
Prior notification of planned measures
This obligation should be included, as it
is necessary for the co-operative
management of the Lake.
Conservation and management
Contracting states have the obligation to
prepare a strategic action plan dealing
with the conservation and sustainable
use of the Lake to give effect to the
convention, to implement it and to revise
it as necessary.

17. Development (Continued 13)
Exchange of information
An obligation to exchange relevant
information. Notification should be to the
institution established under the
agreement which would convey the
information to all the parties.

18. Development (Continued 14)
Procedural rules
Procedural rules should include the
duty to promote public participation in
the management of the lake and to
allow public access to information as
these obligations gave effect to the
principles already agreed upon.

19. Development (Continued 15)
Institutions
The institutional structure for the
management of the Lake should be lean
and inexpensive to run.
It should be as follows:
The Conference of Ministers
The Steering committee/expert
committee (now the Management
Committee)
Permanent secretariat (the Secretariat)

20. Development (Continued 16)
The procedure for drafting the
agreement.
Each country to nominate two lawyers
and a technical expert to participate in the
drafting process;
The lead institution in each country to
take responsibility for the drafting process
in each country;
The project responsible for producing an
initial draft in English and in French.

21. Development (Continued 17)
The draft to be discussed at two separate
workshops, one for the Francophone
countries, and one for the Anglophone
countries, both attended by the
international legal consultants.
This to be followed by a joint meeting of
the delegates from all the countries to
produce harmonized texts in English and
French.

22. Development (Continued 18)
The harmonized texts would then be
discussed informally within each country
and another draft would be produced
taking into account the comments from
each country.
Meeting of all the drafting team.
Once the draft agreement is
satisfactorily, presentation to the Project
steering committee for approval.

23. Development (Continued 19)
After approval by the steering committee,
the draft convention would be submitted
to each government for further
negotiation and signature.

24. Development (Continued 20)
Finalization Under LTMPP
Consultations through the
organization of national
workshops within each riparian
state;
Participation of all involved and
interested stakeholders;
Review of the draft convention;

25. Development (Continued 21)
Finalization Under LTMPP
Formulation of comments to the
draft convention;
During these consultations, the
reference to ‘basin’ in the
convention was accepted;
Transmission of the comments to
the project’s office for consolidation
and preparation of a new draft
including the comments.

26. Development (Continued 22)
Finalization Under LTMPP
Project Regional Steering Committee
meeting to review the new draft
convention highlighting the comments
from member countries, to work out a
harmonized draft text; adopt it and
recommend it to the Ministers;
Meeting of Ministers to consider the
draft convention and eventually sign it.

27. Development (Continued 23)
Finalization Under LTMPP
The Convention was signed on June 12,
2003 by four Ministers from the four
riparian States.
All the four Ministers made declaration
expressing full commitment of their
Government to the ratification and
implementation of the Convention.

28. Development (Continued 24)
Record of workshops & Meetings
conducted:
• National consultations, special legal
studies 1997;
• Regional Legal Workshop, Lusaka,
Zambia, February 1998;
• Anglophone legal workshop, Dar es
Salaam, Tanzania, August 1999;
• Francophone legal workshop, Arusha,
Tanzania, September 1999;

29. Development (Continued 25)
• Regional workshop, Arusha,
November 1999
• Regional Steering Committee,
Lusaka, May 2000;
• National consultations for
Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, April
2003;
• National consultations for Burundi,
Bujumbura, April 2003;

30. Development (Continued 26)
• National consultations for D.R.C.,
Kinshasa, April 2003;
• National consultations for Zambia,
Lusaka, May 2003;
• Regional Steering Committee, Dar es
Salaam, June 10-11, 2003;
• Ministerial Meeting, Dar es Salaam, June
12, 2003;
• The Convention was signed by four
riparian Ministers at this meeting.

31. II. Challenges
• Negotiations of the Convention took
place under tense political
atmosphere marked by recurring
armed conflicts and insecurity
within the region;
• Extreme poverty and other
calamities such as HIV/AIDS,
droughts, etc. aggravating levels of
poverty;

32. Challenges (Continued 1)
• Remoteness of capitals;
• Combined with lack of reliable or
inexistent communication facilities;
• Unavailability of direct flight
connections between capitals,
meant two to three days of flight
from one capital to another;

33. Challenges (Continued 2)
• The Lake itself has more than 675 Km
long;
• Inaccessibility by roads in most places
around the Lake and the communities
living on its borders;
• Language and legal systems differences
posed enormous challenges;

34. Challenges (Continued 3)
• Anglophone speaking countries have
common law legal system and traditions
while French speaking countries have
Civil law legal system and traditions;
• Needed to have notions of comparative
law to be able to understand differences
between the two legal systems;
• Differences also in the administrative
structures setup and functioning;

35. Challenges (Continued 4)
• Long gaps between projects
phases threatened the momentum
and loss of human resources as
well as the results hardly gained
during previous negotiations;
• Human resources mobility is high in
the region, in search of better
salaries;

36. Challenges (Continued 5)
• As a negative consequence of long
gaps, negotiating team members left
and new delegates tended to reopen
negotiations on sensitive issues on
which agreement was already
reached;
• Scarcity of funds with regard to all
these challenges;

37. III. Monitoring of Compliance
With & Enforcement
• Articles of the Convention impose
obligation on each Contracting State
to develop, adopt, implement and
enforce appropriate legal,
administrative and technical measures
to implement the Convention and to
ensure the attainment of its objectives.

38. Monitoring (Continued 1)
• The Contracting States have prepared
a Strategic Action Program (SAP) and
a Fisheries Framework Management
Plan (FFMP) and projects to give effect
to the measures set out in the
Convention.
• The SAP include specific strategies
directed at achieving the objectives of
the Convention;

39. Monitoring (Continued 2)
• The SAP and the FFMP contain specific
measures to be taken by each
Contracting State separately or jointly as
well as details of the means to be used
to monitor progress toward the
achievement of these objectives;
• Monitoring standards must be
Harmonized through protocols to the
Convention.

40. Monitoring (Continued 3)
• The Contracting States have engaged to
integrate measures contained in the SAP
and the FFMP into relevant national
policies, strategies, programs and plans
and to monitor the effectiveness of the
SAP and the FFMP and to revise them as
necessary.

41. Monitoring (Continued 4)
• Regional monitoring organs:
–Lake Tanganyika Management
Committee (LTMC) will monitor the
implementation of the Convention, the
SAP and the FFMP;
–LTMC reports to the Conference of
Ministers, the supreme organ of the
Lake Tanganyika Management
Authority (LTA);

42. Monitoring (Continued 5)
• Lake Tanganyika Management
Secretariat (LTMS), is the executive
organ of the LTA, (cf. its work plan).
• During the implementation of LTBP and
LTMPP, a Regional Project Steering
Committee composed of high ranking
government representatives, IAs, EAs
and Donors representatives monitored
and evaluated the progress and results
of the projects;

43. Monitoring (Continued 6)
• Various evaluation and review
mechanisms of projects: Work plan,
(UNDP PPER, TPR), external
Evaluation, Final Reports, PIR, etc. are
provided in the projects;
• At national level, Interministerial
Committees will monitor the compliance
and enforcement of the Convention and
the integration of the SAP and the
FFMP into national policies, plans and
strategies;

44. Monitoring (Continued 7)
• National Technical committees
comprising: Socio-economic,
Fisheries Management, Biological
Diversity and Water
quality/Pollution control committees
will assist the LakeTanganyika
Management Committee in the
performance of its functions.

45. Monitoring (Continued 8)
• Public, and in particular those
individuals and communities living in the
Lake Basin and depending on the
Lake’s resources are the end users;
• They actively participated in the
development process of the
Convention, the SAP and the FFMP.
• They will ultimately make sure they are
achieving the expected results, which
are definitely in their immediate interest.

46. Monitoring (Continued 9)
• The Convention gives them right to:
– participate in co-management, in
decision-making processes that affect
the Lake Basin or their livelihoods;
– participate in the procedure for
assessing the environmental impacts
of projects or activities that are likely
to result in adverse impacts;
– make appeal against any decision.

47. IV. Public Participation
• The formulation and development of the
SAP, the FFMP and the Convention fully
involved from the very beginning all
groups of stakeholders including national
senior legal experts;
• Building consensus among stakeholders
as to an appropriate action plan and
regulatory framework was strategically a
central objective of ensuring ownership.

48. Public Participation (Continued 1)
• Members of Parliament and Political
authorities were also involved to back
the process at every stage of
development;
• Participative approaches (ex.:co-management)
giving responsibility in the
management of natural resources to the
local population/ associations or groups
of production, have been included in the
Convention (Article 17);

49. Public Participation (Continued 2)
• The SAP, the FFMP and the projects
prepared to implement the SAP
have also included public
participation as one of the strategies
to combat poverty, to use
sustainably, to protect the Lake
Basin natural resources and to
prevent conflicts over the
exploitation of these resources.

50. V. Lessons
• Establishment of a sustainable
institutional framework for cooperation
on shared water resources is crucial to
the integrated water resources
management;
• Convinced of this and owing to their
strong ownership of the convention,
riparian States to Lake Tanganyika have
committed to continue negotiations
despite ongoing armed conflicts between
some of the participating countries;

51. Lessons (Continued 1)
• These IW frameworks have
important incremental benefits for
regional and global security as they
contribute positively to preventing
conflict, to building and maintaining
peace by bringing people together
and by facilitating a permanent
constructive dialogue.

52. Lessons (Continued 2)
• These additional benefits have
generated greater ownership by the
riparian countries and have catalyzed an
important countries-Donor and regional
organizations partnership for the Lake
Tanganyika by attracting additional
donors;
• Such frameworks certainly contribute to
the U.N. MDGs and the Johannesburg
Declaration of the (WSSD).

53. Lessons (Continued 3)
• Ownership of the SAP,Convention and
projects is a national and regional realty,
essentially because of the participation
of all the partners in the SAP, convention
and projects development processes
from conception to implementation;
• Full public participation and introduction
of public participation strategies into IW
projects should be a central target as
this is conditional to the success and
sustainability.

54. Lessons (Continued 4)
• Negotiation of the Convention has
proved to be time, patience;
financial resources consuming;
and imaginative;
• Capacity building and Poverty
alleviation are intrinsically linked
to sustainable development and
should be given relevant
consideration.

55. Lessons (Continued 5)
• GEF assistance in developing the TDA,
SAP and Convention has catalyzed
countries to positively co-operate over the
Lake’s resources management;
• GEF assistance has in addition catalyzed
additional donors;
• Without it, not much results could have
been achieved;
• GEF assistance is crucially important and
should be further stressed in support to
such legal and institutional frameworks.

56. Lessons (Continued 6)
• Developing and implementing legal
and institutional frameworks are
equally important;
• Successful implementation can only
take place if thoroughly monitored;
• Monitoring of compliance with and
enforcement programs and
mechanisms should be given a
central role in these frameworks.

57. Lessons (Continued 7)
• It is very sensitive that participating
countries be treated the same from the
very beginning through the whole process;
• Long gaps between projects phases will
occasion the loss of political momentum,
information resources and human
capacity;
• Adaptive management approach has
helped getting out of challenging
situations endured during the
Convention’s development process;

58. Lessons (Continued 8)
• Human dimension is key element in the
process of developing and implementing
legal frameworks.
• Ability to convince and mobilize around an
objective, build confidence among
stakeholders etc., is tactically essential;
• Diplomacy and good understanding of
national and regional politics is
determinant as well as establishing good
relations between key officials and
stakeholders in general;

59. Lessons (Continued 9)
• Regulation of the Lake can not be
separated from the management of the
entire vast drainage basin;
• Given the interdependence between the
population and the natural resources on
which they depend for their subsistence,
poverty alleviation/ eradication
measures have to be integrated into
management strategies to ensure
adherence of basin wide stakeholders
and political buying in.

60. Lessons (Continued 10)
• Communication is a major limitation
around the Lake. Appropriate
communication links facilities and
subsequent budgets should be
allocated to any regional initiative.
• Given the use of two official
languages, subsequent budgets
should be allocated for translation
and interpretation;

61. Lessons (Continued 11)
• Bilingual personnel should be used to
meet the needs of all participating
countries;
• Programs should be implemented as
quickly as possible while local experts are
still in place; Long-term projects should be
flexible;
• Local populations should be empowered;
as end users, they are the ones to ensure
the long-term viability of interventions.

62. Lake Tanganyika Map