The water agenda at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28)

CCB • December 20, 2023

The UN defines the climate crisis primarily as a water crisis. We are feeling its effects in the form of increasing floods, rising sea levels, shrinking glaciers, forest fires, and droughts. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Report on the State of World Water Resources for 2022, which contains an extensive assessment of global water resources, the hydrological cycle is out of balance as a result of climate change and human activities. Droughts, extreme rainfall, and other effects of climate change have a serious impact on life and the economy, threatening the long-term security of water resources for many millions of people. Despite the obvious link between water and climate policy, the water agenda has yet to be mentioned in the 2016 Paris Climate Agreement, and it is only in the last few years that the presence of water issues in the debates at annual climate conferences has gradually increased. 


Learn more about climate change in the Baltic Sea region here and here.


COP28 was very promising for the global water community. Even though official documents do not contain significant formulations of the role of water in fighting climate change, nevertheless, we can identify a general trend toward increasing the importance of the role of water resources in the climate agenda. So at last year's COP 27 conference in Egypt, the topic of water was finally included in the main outcome document. During COP 28, water issues began to rise even more sharply. Can we expect progress in integrating water and climate policies? There are grounds for hope for this, the main results of COP 28 in the context of water issues are presented below. The topic of water was also discussed at high-level discussions, as well as side events in various pavilions. The two main points of attraction were "Water for Climate" and "Ocean" pavilions.


During high-level discussions held at COP28 on the thematic days on Peace, Security, and Health and on Agriculture, Food, and Water, UNECE and its partners stressed the critical need for joint water management across borders at the center of climate change mitigation and adaptation. Key measures discussed include strengthened cooperation under the UN Water Convention. The Transboundary Water Cooperation Coalition, comprising over 40 governments and organizations published a new policy brief about transboundary risk management. Learn more here. 


UNECE Executive Secretary Tatiana Molcean stated: “Climate change is already having huge impacts on water resources, which for 153 countries worldwide are shared with their neighbors. I encourage all UN Member States to join the UN Water Convention and to catalyze climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts through transboundary water cooperation. This can benefit peace and stability, clean energy production, flood and drought resilience, sanitation, financing for adaptation in shared basins, and much more.”


This call was further reinforced by a new analytical note published by the Coalition for Transboundary Water Cooperation, which includes more than 40 Governments and organizations. The summary shows how, through the exchange of hydrological and other data, countries can better understand and address transboundary risks, improve forecasting of extreme events, and coordinate their response to natural disasters. Find out more and read a brief overview of the policy here.


As a result of the negotiations, the ocean became part of the COP 28 agreement for the first time. This is a significant achievement since the Paris Agreement and recognition of the important role of our ocean in the climate system. The world's oceans act as a carbon sink, absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and we will not achieve our climate goals without protecting it.

The final text agreed at COP 28 notes “the importance of ensuring the integrity of all ecosystems, including [...]the ocean.” The text also invites parties to “conserve and restore oceans and coastal ecosystems and expand, if necessary, actions based on ocean mitigation capabilities.”


18 countries have signed the Joint Declaration on Ocean and Climate Action, which recognizes the urgent need for the sustainable management of 100% of the world's oceans under national jurisdiction, and they call on countries around the world to join commitments to preserve the long-term health and resilience of the ocean.


One of the most attended sessions in the program of the pavilion "Water for Climate" was the statement of Kazakhstan and France on the joint holding of the United Water Summit together with the UN General Assembly in September 2024. As Karin Gardes noted afterward, this event will serve as a natural bridge between events on next year's water agenda, such as World Water Week 2024 and COP29.


On Food, Agriculture, and Water Day at COP28 - December 10, 38 countries joined the Freshwater Challenge, the world's largest initiative to restore degraded rivers, lakes, and wetlands to protect and restore 30 percent of the planet's degraded freshwater ecosystems by 2030. The target announced at the UN Water Conference 2023 aims to restore more than 300,000 km of rivers and 350 million hectares of wetlands by 2030, or about 30% of the degraded freshwater ecosystems of the Earth.


The main results of COP28 are the approval of the Global Stocktake (GST), as well as the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA). Both of these documents include water issues.


The GST is an overall assessment of progress in the fight against climate change over the past seven years. The main conclusion is that despite the progress we have made, we are far from the goal of keeping the temperature rise within 1.5 °C. It is important for water and climate here that the preamble of the GST recognizes the crucial role of water systems and water-related ecosystems. In doing so, the GST followed the precedent set by the COP27 decision, which for the first time recognized the role of freshwater in fighting climate change.


The highlight of the conference was the adoption of the GGA structure. Global adaptation goals have been defined to increase resilience and reduce vulnerability to climate change worldwide. According to the results of COP28, water is listed as the first thematic goal in the GGA. This opens up additional opportunities to reduce vulnerability to the climate crisis, provided that the financing of adaptation projects is increased and the goals set are achieved.


Water resources, especially freshwater, are considered more likely to be a source of problems related to the effects of climate change, but water can and should be part of both mitigation and adaptation to climate change. The results of COP28 in this regard can hardly be called unambiguously successful, but it is safe to say that significant progress has been made in this over the past 2 years. We would like to believe that there will be an understanding and recognition that actions to fight climate change may ultimately be in vain if we do not give priority to water security issues.


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Article written by Anna Ushakova, CCB Maritime Working Area Leader

Don't reopen the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). Implement it.

By CCB • June 15, 2026
The European Commission's evaluation confirms what environmental NGOs across Europe have long argued: the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP)'s challenge is not its design, but its implementation.

Joint NGO recommendations on Baltic Sea fishing opportunities for 2027

By CCB • June 10, 2026
The poor status and decline of many Baltic Sea fish populations have been thoroughly documented over several decades, indicating that the entire ecosystem is in great distress. So far, policy interventions have not reversed, or even halted, the negative trend concerning many of these populations. The European Commission itself recently recognised in its Common Fishery Policy (CFP) evaluation report that progress on stock rebuilding is lacking and the number of stocks “ threatened by collapse due to impaired recruitment has increased during the reporting period ”. Fish populations that once formed the cornerstone of the Baltic Sea fishery, such as the eastern and western Baltic cod and the western Baltic herring, are now doing so poorly that the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) is advising zero catch for these stocks. Yet, even with the targeted fishery being closed for some years now, none of these three stocks are showing sufficient signs of recovery. The condition (such as size and weight-at-age) of many flatfish populations, such as plaice, also raises alarm bells. The salmon spawning migration has fallen short of the target level in the past three years5. As a result, even the healthiest salmon stocks are now unlikely to produce enough smolts corresponding to sustainable levels in the coming years. To address the crisis facing Baltic populations and the broader ecosystem, political will and ambition to improve fisheries management, alongside full implementation of the CFP provisions, are needed. The recent INI report on the Baltic Sea Multi-Annual Plan shows that the European Parliament recognises the importance of ecosystem-based fisheries management as well as the need for consideration of environmental legislation when making decisions on fishing opportunities.6 Fisheries managers must now act swiftly and decisively on the commitment the Commission and Baltic Sea Member States made at last year’s October Agrifish Council to rebuild Baltic Sea stocks. This document presents the joint NGO recommendations regarding Baltic Sea fishing opportunities for 2027, prioritising long-term ecosystem health and sustainable fisheries management over short-term economic interests. The recommendations are based on the ICES advice, the objectives and requirements of the CFP8 and the Baltic Multiannual Plan (MAP), specifically to apply the precautionary approach and implement an ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management, and the objective of achieving Good Environmental Status (GES) under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). Last year’s overarching joint Briefing Series on TAC-setting, co-signed by almost 30 organisations across the EU and the UK, including environmental NGOs, recreational fishers, and fishing rights owners, remains valid and provides further context, background and detailed explanations on the cross-cutting issues raised in this document. Read the Joint NGO recommendations on Baltic Sea fishing opportunities for 2027 here .