【正文】 concluded that if the target of decreasing UFW to 35% by 2010 can be achieved, no other substantial water resources have to be harnessed. The main identified causes of the high level of UFW are the poor performance of contractors, an inadequate monitoring of their work by the water panies, the abundant use of substandard materials, a general shortage of materials, equipment, and skilled labor, and limited job specifications. The last example is an audit of the SAI of the United States (2000), which is focused on policy information. The SAI determined whether the information in the National Water Quality Inventory of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was reliable and representative of waterquality conditions nationwide. Moreover, it reviewed available data to determine whether they were sufficient to allow state officials to make key management decisions regarding water quality. It is not possible to formulate a general conclusion on “water policy” based on these reports. The variation in subjects and audit questions is too wide. Of course, this had never been the purpose of these audits. Nevertheless, there is one element that does seem to be a central problem of policy implementation and organization: the lack of sufficient and reliable information. Basic information on money spent, activities carried out, outputs delivered, and impacts achieved, to be used for key management and policy decisionmaking, often seems not to be adequate. These types of problems were identified in nearly all audit reports on water.International Agreements and Cooperation Between SAIsEnvironmental problems are often transboundary in nature. Examples of global environmental problems are global warming, depletion of the ozone layer, ocean pollution, and the exploitation of natural resources such as oil and gas or wood from tropical forests. Also, regional problems such as the water quality in major rivers, sustainable use of fish stocks, or the investigationof environmental crimes often cross the borders of national states. Therefore, many countries seek international cooperation to solve environmental problems. This has resulted in a growing number of international agreements on environmental issues. Examples of international environmental agreements are the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Ships, the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes, the Ramsar Convention on the Protection of Wetlands, and the Convention on Biological Diversity. After ratification of the agreements by the member countries, national governments are responsible for implementing the international obligations in their national policy programs and legislation. SAIs can contribute to international environmental cooperation by auditing the pliance of their national government with international obligations and mitments. The INTOSAI Working Group on environmental auditing wants to stimulate this type of audit and has provided guidelines for the audit process and the selection of international agreements. The Working Group has done this not only because the audit itself might be useful, but also because these audits provide excellent possibilities for cooperation and the exchange of information between SAIs, to examine mon issues, and to share ideas on specific audit topics.The first INTOSAI Guidance deals with the subject “How SAIs may cooperate on the audit of international environmental accords” (INTOSAI, 1998). Methodological questions were answered in the INTOSAI Guidance “Standards and guidelines on environmental auditing” (INTOSAI, 2001). The Working Group Paper “The audit of international environmental accords” (INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing, 2001b) deals with the riskanalysis, preceding the selection of an environmental agreement to audit.The majority of SAIs that responded to the last questionnaire indicated that they were interested in cooperation with another SAI to audit an international environmental agreement in the near future (76%, N=102). A growing number of SAIs already have experience with cooperation in the field of environmental auditing and/or with auditing an environmental agreement. Several joint or coordinated audits were performed on marine pollution. Cooperation mainly occurred on a regional level, with a shared water object as the starting point. Some examples of joint audits are given. Eight SAIs audited the Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea (SAIs of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Po