Benin joins UN treaty on shared waters with its neighbors
The instrument of accession was submitted on September 22 in New York. The convention governs the prevention of transboundary damage, information exchange, and cooperation among riparian states.
Benin submitted its instrument of accession to the United Nations Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, in New York. The UN depositary now lists it among the 61 parties to the treaty.
The Convention will come into force for Benin on December 21, 2026, which is the ninetieth day following the deposit. This milestone concludes the process that began in November 2024, when the Council of Ministers forwarded the text to the National Assembly for ratification approval.
The treaty requires parties to prevent, control, and reduce harmful effects beyond their borders. It also provides for the monitoring of shared waters, data exchange, as well as bilateral or multilateral agreements and joint bodies where such arrangements do not yet exist.
The Beninese government links this accession to the basins of the Niger, Mono, Volta, and Ouémé rivers. These resources place the country within cooperative frameworks with several neighboring states, including Niger, Nigeria, Togo, and Burkina Faso.
The joint bodies established under the Convention can notably create programs to monitor water quality and quantity, identify pollution sources, and implement alert procedures in critical situations that may have cross-border impacts.
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