• Achievements
• History
• Background
• Objectives
• Looking Ahead

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Achievements
The principal achievements to date may be summarized as:

Products and training activities

• Web site – this has been developed with help from University of Arizona’s NSF funded SAHRA initiative. This is the main platform for dissemination and includes a Global Water News Watch in many languages, information resources, and the home for G-WADI network projects listed below. The site also provides access to software and software libraries. The two primary activities supported by UNESCO have been related to the development of two websites:
  
  http://www.gwadi.org: Developed at the University of Arizona by SAHRA The Primary purpose of this site is to serve as the main conduit of information for all G-WADI activities and information.
  
  http://hydis.eng.uci.edu/gwadi: Developed by CHRS at the University of California-Irvine The primary purpose of this site is to provide real-time high resolution satellite Precipitation data for the user community

• Global rainfall data – limitations of data are a major constraint for arid areas. G-WADI is promoting access to global users remotely sensed global data products. These include near real-time rainfall distributions from the UCI Geo-Server and latest additions are Satellite precipitation estimation from cloud classification (2 yrs ago) giving real time (1 hr.) 4km resolution. This is made possible on our small budget through “added value” on a major NASA funded research initiative.

• Hydrological modeling. Floods and droughts are a major hazard in semi-arid regions. A workshop was held in Roorkee, India in 2005 where the world’s leading experts addressed the need for appropriate models to support water management in arid and semi arid areas and provided training to professionals from the major arid regions of the world. Training material was developed, provided through the web site, a CUP book is in press, software is available and software tutorials developed.

• Chemical and isotopic tracers. Environmental tracers can be used as “fingerprints” to better understand water origins and movement, groundwater residence times, groundwater recharge, salinity and pollution. This activity is central to assessment of the renewability of water in arid areas as well as identifying where irreversible groundwater mining is taking place. A workshop was held in Oxford in 2005 to provide guidance on best practice and an information resource with case studies is available through the web-site. Both chemical and isotopic (environmental) tracers are given equal weight across this activity.

• Water Harvesting. Traditional water harvesting practices have existed for thousands of years especially in the Asia and the Middle East. These can be augmented by new developments and can increase the available water resource. A workshop was held in Aleppo, Syria in 2006 bringing together experts from several countries (including India, Pakistan, Iran, Yemen, Syria) with long histories of traditional techniques of rainwater conservation, as well as International agencies.  NGOs from India who are pioneering bottom up water harvesting schemes were also represented. This was probably the first time that experience had been shared across this region. Web material is available and an international conference held in Coimbatore, India .

• Groundwater modeling. A workshop was organized in Lanzhou, China in June 2007 to review state of the art techniques for modeling groundwater, often the dominant water resource in arid areas. The management of salinity, coastal saline intrusion, and tools to support recharge estimation was also addressed. This was attended by global experts, who provided training to participants from 22 countries, and training materials developed for the web-site. The workshop aimed to further stimulate the G-WADI Asian network and has produced a follow up book.

• Representative Basins. A series of pilot basins is being established as focal points in the main G-WADI regions to better understand the special characteristics of hydrological systems in arid and semi-arid regions and share globally this information. These will be managed in-country and reflect the local priority issues. Activities will relate to the G-WADI objectives as presented on the web-site. In addition, user participation (eg by local NGOs) is being encouraged and the end-user communities will become involved in the activities and provide feedback. The pilot basins will also attract further research.

• Regional Networks. One of the prime achievements has been to stimulate networking across a number of regional (UNESCO) Centres. Asian G-WADI was established in March 2005 based on consensus and collective understanding of representatives from Afghanistan, China, India, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan to confront the urgent need for increased regional co-operation for sustainable development of arid and semi-arid zones. See:  http://asian-gwadi.westgis.ac.cn.

The Network is now also established in Latin America where a new Centre CAZALAC has been established in Chile (with support from the Chilean and Flemish Governments as well as academic support from Israel and Germany). To further strengthen this we plan a G-WADI meeting on Water Harvesting – where the outcomes of the Aleppo workshop can be compared with practices in the New World. In Africa, we have been able to support the UNESCO Arab Regional network based in Cairo with training material and joint meetings, We are currently exploring new capacity building initiatives in she Saharan Africa and Sahel

• Workshops: A number of workshops were organized and held by G-WADI:
  
  – International G-WADI Modeling workshop - Roorkee India, March 2005
  – Water Harvesting Workshop – Aleppo, Syria, November  2006
  – The International Training Workshop on Groundwater Modeling for Arid and Semi-arid Areas under the G-WADI program, Lanzhou, China, on June 11-15, 2007
  – "Water Resources Management: Practices and Strategies in Arid and Semi-Arid Zones of Asia" March 12 to 14, 2008, Turkmenistan, Ashgabat.
  – “International Conference on Groundwater Dynamics and Climate Change” in March 19-22,  2008 in Jaipur, India.
  – Asian G-WADI steering committee meeting, Lanzhou, China June 15, 2008
  – “International Symposium on Rainwater Harvesting: Bringing Green Revolution to the Dryland”,  June 23-25, 2008 in Coimbatore, India.
  – Special Training for experts from Afghanistan on Remote Sensing and GIS for Water Resources Management at Lanzhou, China 21 Oct 5 Nov, 2008
  – UNESCO Joint Training Course: Geospatial Methods, Technologies, and Applications in Monitoring Land Cover, Land Use, Fire and Water in semi-arid regions Central Asia,  September 19-21, 2009, National Center of Space Research and Technologies, National Space Agency, Almaty, Kazakhstan

• Scientific sessions at conferences and meetings
  
  – The Future of Drylands - International Scientific Conference on Desertification and Drylands Research, Tunis, Tunisia, 19-21 June 2006
  – International conference on Water Scarcity, Global Changes and Groundwater Management Responses, 1- 5, December 2008, Irvine California
  – Session at the 6th GEWEX international conference in Melbourne Australia , August 2009

• Publications
  
  – Wheater, Sorooshian and Sharma; “ Hydrological Modeling in Arid and Semi-Arid Areas”; Cambridge University Press 2008
  – Wheater, Mathias and Li; “Groundwater modelling in arid and semi-arid areas., Cambridge University Press (in press)
  – Singh, P.K; “Rainwater Harvesting: Low Cost Indigenous and Innovative Technologies”,MacMillan pp:179 (2008), (The book is published as part of the Water for Life International Decade for Action 2005-2015 and GWADI).

History of the organization (back to top)
Following a decision at the 15th session of the The International Hydrological Programme (IHP) and a subsequent meeting of international experts in December 2002, UNESCO supported the establishment of a Global Network on Water Resources Management in Arid and Semi-arid Zones by bringing together an international group of experts to develop the concept, objectives, and an outline of the Network. The first meeting in Paris, in April 2003, was attended by 24 participants from 17 countries and representing water authorities and institutions related to arid zones, UNESCO, FAO, WMO, SAHRA, IAEA, Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS), International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH), the European Space Agency (ESA), Programme SudMed and L'Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD).

In work groups and plenary sessions, the participants discussed concerns and problems and arrived at a draft implementation plan that: outlines the organizational structure, membership, links with other organizations and stakeholders; identifies objectives; and sets a timetable for work.

In the Paris Declaration that resulted from this intensive and interactive discussion, the participants agreed to the following (click here to see the declaration):

• Underline the urgent need for increased regional and international cooperation contributing to sustainable development of arid and semi-arid zones, by establishing G-WADI
• Declare their firm intention to contribute to the establishment of G-WADI including its secretariat and nodes and to take active part in realizing its objectives and activities annexed to this declaration
• Commit themselves to generate initiatives to achieve national and international support for the development and sustainability of G-WADI, whenever appropriate
• Call upon the IHP secretariat, UNESCO, related centers, and relevant regional and international centers to further develop this initiative, in close cooperation with partner institutions in the world
• Request the IHP Bureau to recommend to the IHP Council to accept and endorse this initiative as one of the capacity building activities under the IHP-V1 and beyond
• Request the UNESCO Secretariat to call upon national, international governmental organizations, concerned NGOs (FAO, IAWEA and WMO and relevant international conventions) and donors (GEF, World Bank, EU) to support this initiative.

Background (back to top)
Globally, arid and semi-arid areas face the greatest pressures to deliver and manage freshwater resources. It has been estimated that by the 1990s 40% of the world’s population were suffering from serious water shortages and this is set to increase, with two-thirds of the population living under water stress by 2025. Challenges facing water managers in these areas include population growth, food security, salinity increases and pollution from various sources. Superimposed on these pressures, climate change is expected to increase water scarcity and the frequency of floods and droughts in many arid and semi-arid areas. Accurately assessing and managing the available and renewable water resources is more difficult in semi-arid regions, compared with water-rich countries; the science base is limited, data are scarce and humid zone experience is inappropriate.

UNESCO’s programme for Water and Development Information for Arid Lands – a Global Network (G-WADI) was established in 2004 by the 15th session of the Intergovernmental Council of the International Hydrological Programme (IHP).

Strengthening the capacity to manage the water resources of arid and semi-arid areas through the established G-WADI network is one of the priorities of IHP- VII (2008-2013) 'Water Dependencies: Systems under Stress and Societal Responses’.

The strategic objective of the G-WADI Network is to strengthen the global capacity to manage the water resources of arid and semi-arid areas. Its primary aim is to build an effective global community through integration of selected existing material from networks, centres, organizations and individuals. Moreover it seeks to empower local initiatives, for example by links with NGOs. The Network promotes international and regional cooperation in these areas.

Objectives (back to top)

Objective 1:  Knowledge of hydrological systems
Significant data and information gaps exist in arid areas due to extreme difficulties of data collection; new and existing knowledge will be shared through the network. Priorities are to:

• Develop linkages with existing international water-related programmes
• Promote targeted studies related to spatial and temporal variability of rainfall, flash floods, drought, water harvesting and groundwater recharge, and ecohydrology, salinisation and other geochemical processes
• Facilitate data exchange and development and testing of new and existing models using common data sets
• Promote a series of G-WADI basin studies to compare semi-arid zone hydrology and hydrogeology at different scales, linking as appropriate to ecology and socio-economic aspects. Use these as a basis for integrated studies and capacity building.

Objective 2:  Capacity building
The G-WADI network acts as a focal point for information exchange and training initiatives in three specific areas:  

• Information exchange between UNESCO and other expert centres. Sharing of teaching material, with some translation to other languages
• Integration of capacity building activities of individuals and institutions; facilitation of partnerships
• Organisation of network workshops in priority areas

Objective 3:  Dissemination to end-users
G-WADI acts as a demand-driven filter of scientific and management information, aiming to improve understanding of water in arid regions for non-specialists in four areas:

• Provision of a range of relevant web-based information, including CDs and newsletters
• Linkage with existing centres such as SAHRA, CHRS,  relevant UNESCO centres, UNESCO Water Portal and similar relevant international initiatives, centres, and IHP national committees
• Development of news items and educational opportunities on water  such as extreme/unusual hydrologic events
• Provision of popular publications linked to the network activities and web-site

Objective 4:  Exchange of experience
Many problems may be resolved through the experience of others. 

• Facilitation of exchange of information on both the application of advanced technologies and adaptation of traditional knowledge (eg rain-water harvesting, groundwater management coping with extreme events and with water scarcity
• Development and exchange of case studies of successes and failures in arid zone water protection
• Identification and analysis of emerging global trends in water management issues (e.g., through news watch), including issues of rapid, often unplanned, growth in urban areas, and associated questions of demand management
• Provision of easy Web access to near-real-time data and data projects (e.g., global datasets such as the PERSIANN), with emphasis on areas where gauges and other ground-based instruments are sparse
• Promotion of web-based discussion to identify the potential and limitations of modelling systems and advanced technology such as remote sensing, GIS and isotopes.

Objective 5: Integrated basin management
Based on the improved understanding of the hydrological system, G-WADI  promotes initiatives for holistic water management - for human consumption, food production, socio-economic development, and ecosystem services through two specific activities:

• Development of IWRM and linkages with international programmes (such as HELP and FRIEND, ICIWaRM) and the promotion of pilot projects (eg G-WADI basins) for integrated studies.
• Promotion of dialogue between the scientific community, the user community and policy makers in studies related to arid zones and the management of water.

LOOKING AHEAD (back to top)

So far we have supported a range of activities which have helped improve understanding of scarce water resources in semi-arid regions, both through sharing of information from sophisticated state-of-the-art projects with developing countries and in exchange of experience between developing countries. We have created a global information resource, developed regional structures and collaboration, and contributed to capacity building and training through workshop activities. At the same time we have been able to incorporate bottom-up approaches from NGOs and others.

Looking ahead, we propose to continue to develop G-WADI activities and training resources. We will develop further the web-site and access to global data products, tailored to the needs of arid areas. We will use a series of global representative study basins to stimulate and integrate regional activities, attract new research and integrate science outcomes with the needs of society.

Major News Categories:
(click on a category below to search the Water News database)

» climate change
» conservation
» desertification
» drought
» flood
» groundwater
» policies, treaties...
» quality issues
» recharge
» riparian areas
» salinity/brackish water
» technology
» water supply