UK ratifies UN WC at Rio!

At the Rio+20 meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and the UK government announced that the UK will accede to the UN Watercourses Convention to help ensure that the world’s 263 international boundary crossing rivers are protected and peacefully shared. The announcement, made by Clegg at Rio+20, means the UK will join the growing number of countries agreeing to accede to the convention. The UK’s accession will bring the number of Parties to the Convention closer to the 35 required for the Convention to enter into legal force.  When ratified the UN Watercourses Convention will help to protect rivers such as the Mekong which, with its tributaries, flows through six countries including China, Burma, Lao PDR, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam, supplying a large proportion of the world’s freshwater fish catch.