TWAP Groundwater

TRANSBOUNDARY WATERS ASSESSMENT PROGRAMME
Project Information
Duration
2012 - 2016
Region(s)

The Transboundary Waters Assessment Programme (TWAP) is a project funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), which aimed at conducting the first global baseline assessment of transboundary water systems. The assessment has been carried out in five components, namely Transboundary River Basins, Transboundary Lake Basins, Large Marine Ecosystems, Open Ocean and Transboundary Aquifers and SIDS Groundwater Systems. The latter is the component IGRAC has been involved in as project partner co-organising regional meetings and developing a TWAP Information Management System containing all collected groundwater data.

The role of IGRAC

Together with UNESCO-IHP, IGRAC has been responsible for executing the groundwater component of the project, assessing 199 transboundary aquifers and 43 Small Island Developing States. IGRAC has also taken care of the data and information management of the groundwater component. Other services provided include:

  • Design and development of software specifications for the TWAP Groundwater Information Management System (IMS).
  • Co-organising and presenting at regional workshops in South America, Africa (2), Europe and Asia
  • Participation in the cross-cutting working groups on governance and data and information management.

Project Objectives

  1. To undertake a global assessment of transboundary aquifers and SIDS groundwater systems, through a formalized consortium of partners.
  2. To support informed investments by the GEF and other international organizations.
  3. To be sustained through a periodic process in partnership with key institutions aiming at incorporating transboundary considerations into a regular assessment programme.

Main Outcomes

Final reports for other TWAP components can be found here.