Water for people.pdf - WHO Thailand Digital Repository

3 5 8 / M A N A G E M E N T C H A L L E N G E S : S T E W A R D S H I P A N D G O V E R N A N C EEnsuring the Knowledge Base: A Collective ResponsibilityBox 14.7: Senegal River basin –information for sustainable managementReliable, comprehensive information is the foundation ofbetter management. In Senegal, for example, OMVS(Organisation pour la Mise en Valeur du Fleuve duSénégal, or Organization for the Development of theSenegal River) is preparing a development andmanagement plan for the Senegal River basin, which isshared amongst Guinea, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal. Forthis task, authorities are relying on several tools developedover recent years, namely a flow rate monitoring networkwith statistics kept since 1904, a computer programdesigned to evaluate the effects of different managementrules applying to the Manatali dam and two dammanagement manuals. The latter provide managers withguidelines on keeping the upstream storage lakes at highlevels during periods of flooding, security guidelines andflow rates required to best meet the aims of regularoutput and electricity production.Source: Based on a text by the Organization for the Development of the Senegal River(OMVS), 2002. Prepared for the World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP).Box 14.8: Joint monitoring onLake PeipsiSharing water is one of the major challenges to achievingwater security in the twenty-first century. A joint project onLake Peipsi, now divided between the Russian Federationand the Republic of Estonia, has resulted in coordinatingsampling programmes and comparing water quality norms.The Narva Watershed Research Programme originated in1998, supported by the Swedish Water ManagementResearch Programme (VASTRA), to develop catchmentbasedstrategies for sustainable water use. A separatethree-year European Union project will result in extensiveresearch papers and databases, including numerous GISlayers covering the whole basin. This project stands tobenefit environmental authorities in both countries.Source: Prepared for the World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) by the Ministryof Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, and the Ministry of the Environment ofEstonia, 2002.A more holistic approach to water management can equally begleaned from initiatives such as the UN Earthwatch system, whichutilizes the combined resources of UN partners and others inproducing major environmental assessments. A World Water andClimate Atlas was produced in 1999 by the International WaterManagement Institute (IWMI), while ‘Our Fragile World’, a forerunnerto the Encyclopaedia of Life Support Systems, supported byUNESCO (2001c), presents an integrated vision of knowledgeessential for global stability by connecting issues relating to water,energy, environment, food and agriculture.While many organizations provide valuable data and informationon trends in the arena of water management, the absence of acoordinated monitoring process is hampering appraisal of progress.The failure to measure progress against targets set out at majorinternational meetings runs the risk, over time, of undermining theeffectiveness of policies and of basing investments on poorlyidentified priorities.Efforts are being made towards improving the coverage andeffectiveness of the global statistical systems through establishmentof large datasets. In certain instances, agencies within the UN aretasked by member states with particular monitoring and evaluationroles, such as that of the UN Economic and Social Council and theCommission on Sustainable Development (CSD) in tracking progressagainst Agenda 21.The UN’s data holdings permit the publication of authoritativereports, such as the recently introduced World DevelopmentIndicators, the World Bank’s premier annual compilation ofdevelopment data, with some 800 indicators. It is one of WWAP’smajor priorities to further harmonize data within the UN family. Atpresent, there are at least three UN system-wide meta-datagatheringinitiatives taking place:■ the UN Geographic Information Working Group (UNGIWG),which is looking at the coordinated development of GIS withinthe UN system;■ the UN statistics division initiative, which concentrates on thedevelopment of a standard set of statistics that are collected tosupport the UN as a whole; and■ Earthwatch, a mechanism for coordinating UN agency initiativesin the field of environmental management. Furthermore, the UNDepartment of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) has compileda survey of water-related databases.