Transboundary Waters Assessment Programme (TWAP) Programme
The transboundary
groundwater systems, transboundary lakes/reservoirs systems,
transboundary river systems, Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) and open
ocean areas on which the socioeconomic development and well being of a
significant part of the world’s population depends, continue to be
degraded by anthropogenic and natural pressures, including global
climate change. Among the constraints to effective management of
transboundary waters is the lack of a systematic and
scientifically-robust methodology for assessing the changing conditions
of five different types of transboundary water systems resulting from
human and natural causes, which would allow the policy makers, Global
Environment Facility and international organisations to set
science-based priorities for financial resource allocation. Such a
methodology also would facilitate identification and assessment of
positive changes in the environmental and resources situations in the
transboundary water systems resulting from interventions by national
authorities and international/regional communities.
UNEP-DEWA in
partnership with UNESCO-IOC, UNESCO-IHP, UCC-Water, SIWI, IGRAC,
Finland, BMZ/BGR, ETH-Zurich, IUCN, ILEC, GRID-Arendal, LOICZ, GESAMP,
University of Kalmar, University of Western Cape execute the
Transboundary Waters Assessment Programme (TWAP) Programme.
The project aims
to develop: (i) a partnership among organisations; (ii) the methodology
for assessment /results tracking for each of the five categories of
transboundary water systems (transboundary groundwater; transboundary
lakes/reservoirs; transboundary river basins; Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs);
and open ocean areas) under the Transboundary Waters Assessment
Programme (TWAP); and (iii) the arrangements needed to conduct a
baseline transboundary waters assessment that may be conducted following
completion of the MSP. The periodic assessment would then be sustained
in the futures through the partnership of agencies and organizations,
and would include data series collected by GEF IW projects that would be
useful to those agencies and to UNEP’s GEO process.