Revised Protocol on Shared Watercourses Systems in the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

The text consists of a Preamble and 16 articles which carry, inter alia, the following titles: Definitions (1); Objective (2); General Principles (3); Institutional Framework for Implementation (5); Shared Watercourse Agreements (6); Settlement of Disputes (7).
The overall objective of this Protocol is to foster closer cooperation for judicious, sustainable and co-ordinated management, protection and utilisation of shared watercourses and advance the SADC agenda of regional integration and poverty alleviation. In order to achieve this objective, this Protocol seeks to: a) promote and facilitate the establishment of shared watercourse agreements and Shared Watercourse Institutions for the management of shared watercourses; b) advance the sustainable, equitable and reasonable utilisation of the shared watercourses; c) promote a co-ordinated and integrated environmentally sound development and management of shared watercourses; d) promote the harmonisation and monitoring of legislation and policies for planning, development, conservation, protection of shared watercourses, and allocation of the resources thereof; and e) promote research and technology development, information exchange, capacity building, and the application of appropriate technologies in shared watercourses management (art. 2).
State Parties shall exchange information and consult each other and, if necessary, negotiate the possible effects of planned measures on the condition of a shared watercourse. Moreover, State Parties shall, individually and, where appropriate, jointly, protect and preserve the ecosystems of a shared watercourse. Watercourse States shall, at the request of any of them, enter into consultations concerning the management of a shared watercourse, which may include the establishment of a joint management mechanism and take all appropriate measures to prevent or mitigate conditions related to a shared watercourse that may be harmful to other Watercourse States. Article 5 makes provision for the establishment of an institutional mechanism composed of Organs, Institutions and Committees responsible for the implementation of the Protocol.