At its sixth session (Rome, 28–30 November 2012), the Meeting of the Parties to the Convention mandated the IWRM Working Group, in consultation with the Implementation Committee, to analyse the reporting needs under the Convention, taking into account the capacity of countries and other relevant reporting mechanisms. The analysis served as a basis for the possible elaboration of the scope and modalities of a reporting mechanism to be submitted to the Meeting of the Parties at its seventh session for consideration and possible adoption.
The Working Group on IWRM established a Core Group on Reporting to prepare a proposal for such a possible mechanism. The first meeting took place on 15-16 2014 December in Geneva. For the first meeting of the Core Group, Fresh Thoughts supported the UNECE by preparing a background document. The document included an overview of existing reporting requirements related to the obligations of the Water Convention and the topics covered by it. In particular, the topics arising from the various relevant EU water-related directives (including EEA reporting) and other related multilateral environmental agreements (other UNECE MEAs, Ramsar Convention, etc.), EUROSTAT, as well as for river basin commissions, e.g. ICPDR. Based on the responses to a questionnaire and the comments made at the ninth meeting of the Working Group on IWRM, the report proposed possible reporting mechanisms under the Water Convention.