TWAP Report - Transboundary Aquifers and Groundwater Systems of Small Island Developing States

TWAP Report - Transboundary Aquifers and Groundwater Systems of Small Island Developing States

This document – Volume 1 – presents the first comprehensive indicator-based global assessment of status and trends in 199 transboundary aquifers and 42 groundwater systems of Small Island Developing States. It was prepared by UNESCO-IHP and IGRAC in partnership with the Simon Fraser University (Canada) and Frankfurt Goethe University (Germany).

Recognizing the value of transboundary water systems, and the reality that many of them continue to be overexploited and degraded, and managed in fragmented ways, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) initiated the Transboundary Waters Assessment Programme (TWAP) Full Size Project in 2012. The Programme aims to provide a baseline assessment to identify and evaluate changes in these water systems caused by human activities and natural processes, as well as the possible consequences of these changes for the human populations that depend on them. The institutional partnerships forged in this assessment are expected to seed future transboundary assessments.