Participatory approaches to reaching the Sustainable Development Goals: Montenegro: working towards SDG 6 and ratification of the Protocol on Water and Health

ABSTRACT

In 2018, Montenegro took an important step towards ratification of the “Protocol on Water and Health to the 1992 Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes” (hereafter, “the Protocol”). A multisectoral national consultation was held with the overall aim of facilitating the process towards Montenegro’s accession to the Protocol. This provided a forum where national stakeholders could assist in related decision-making. The consultation was triggered by the “Iceland Statement. Ensuring safe and climate-resilient water and sanitation” (2018), according to which the small countries committed to acceding to the Protocol by 2022. The Protocol is the first and only multilateral legal agreement linking sustainable water management and the prevention, control and reduction of water-related diseases in the pan-European region. It was adopted in 1999 at the Third Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health in London and entered into force in 2005, becoming legally binding for the ratifying countries. To date, 26 countries have ratified it, covering about 60% of the population of the pan-European region. The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and the WHO Regional Office for Europe provide the joint secretariat of the Protocol. Montenegro is on the way to becoming the next country to ratify it. The Protocol is recognized as an instrument for use in strengthening national action towards progressively reaching regional and global WASH-related commitments, specifically in relation to SDG 3 (good health and well-being) and SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation) and the “Ostrava Declaration on Environment and Health” (2017). It stipulates the importance of formulating national priority targets and implementation plans, while promoting a whole-of-government approach to and coordinated intersectoral action in doing so.