1. GEF Transboundary Waters Assessment Programme:
Contributing to Indicator-Based Management of
Transboundary Aquatic Systems
Liana Talaue McManus

2. GEF International Waters (IW) Focal Area:
Before 2007

3. TWAP Medium-Sized Project Proposal (2007)
A Periodic Global
Transboundary Waters
Assessment Programme:

4. TWAP Medium-Sized Project (2009-10)

5. TWAP Medium-Sized Project (2009-10)
Correspondence Groups (CG)
for Crosscutting Issues
Open
Ocean
Aquifers
SOCIOECONOMICS
CG
 Common input data
 Objective scaling
 Classification of vulnerable
human populations
Governance
CG
 Assessing existence of
governance architecture
 Assessing functionality of
governance architecture
among linked systems
Data & IM
CG
LMEs
Lakes
Rivers
 Common data portal
 Data access policies
 Metadata standards
 Linking five WG databases
 Web apps

6. TWAP Full Sized Project (2013-15):
Global Indicator-Based Assessment
 Long-term goal: Promote financing of indicator (results) based management and development of transboundary water
systems
 Global environment objective: (1) Apply agreed assessment
methods ; (2) Formalize partnerships & institutional
arrangements for periodically conducting global assessments
 Project objective: (1) Conduct first global assessment to
assist GEF and other donors to improve the setting of funding
priorities; (2) Formalize partnerships with key institutions
aimed at incorporating transboundary considerations into
regular assessment programs, & resulting in periodic
assessments of transboundary water systems

7. Brief history and project goals
Comparative within a water system
Spatial coverage,
2010, 2030, 2050
166 aquifers
43 groundwater
systems in SIDS
200 lakes/
reservoirs
276 river basins
66 LMEs, of
which 55 are
transboundary
Global Open
Ocean
Water demand by
economic sector
GDP Fisheries
GDP Tourism
Access to water
Access to
sanitation
Deaths due to
climate related
natural disasters
Vulnerability
to sea level
rise
Biophysical
indicators
Socioeconomic
Indicators (e.g.)
Governance
architecture/
arrangement (e.g.)
Data &
Information
Management
For Water
Quantity
For Water
Distribution
For Habitat
Destruction
(next slide)
For Fisheries
For
Biodiversity

8. Global Indicator-based Transboundary
Waters Assessment Program
Indicator-Based Assessment Data & Product Delivery System
Water system
indicator
data download
Aquifers
database
LME & Open
Ocean database
Governance
indicators
Web app
SocioEconomic
indicators
www.geftwap.org
Lakes
Biophysical
indicators
TWAP
Website
database
Water system
infosheet
Rivers
database
User Feedback & Learning Refine Assessment Methods & Targets

9. Expected Results from TWAP
 Five independent assessments
 Consideration of linkages between the systems and
cross-cutting elements (socioeconomic and
governance)
 Institutional partnerships to sustain regular indicator
(results)-based global assessments and monitoring of
transboundary water systems

10. Contact Information
Project Website: www.geftwap.org
TWAP Project Coordination Unit: TWAP.PCU@unep.org
Liana Talaue McManus, Kaisa Uusimaa,
Joana Akrofi, Hartwig Kremer
Cross-cutting component coordinators:
Robin Mahon (Governance), Jaap van Woerden (Data &
Information Management), Liana McManus (Socioeconomics)
Mailing address:
Division of Early Warning & Assessment (DEWA)
United Nations Environment Programme
P.O. Box 30552-00100
Nairobi, Kenya

11. UNESCO-IHP
International Hydrological
Programme of UNESCO
Holger Treidel
© Oxfam East Africa
Aquifers

12. Assessment of Transboundary Aquifers and SIDS
l
Hydrogeological Aspects
l
l
l
l
l
l
Delineation and description
Static data and time-variable
Classification, diagnostic analysis and zoning
Data harmonisation and information
management
Environmental issues
Socio-economic aspects
Geological Cross Section-6
SE
NW
(m
ASL)
Section-1
9
2376
1400
8
2641
1300
Section-2
Hoachanas
396
6646
514
Sw
J-9(
K
1288
la)
tzivil
Mar 658 105 A-2
DW
M
art
2
3227
110
B
1200
Section-3
Stampriet
r)
odde
Gochas
Auob R.
J-5(
1310
328
392
995)
(7
5-N
JO
528
R
P.E.
1100
l
l
Institutional settings
Legal framework
Aquifers
Tweeriver
Auob R.
as
ch
Goa
452
K
B
Section-4
P-29
AC
555
P-30
AC
-1
GR
A
)
er
eeriv
A
J-8(
R
1000
2931 6
1275
Tw
K
R
N
P.E.
R
M
K
A
R
A
900
Do
R
K
B
Do
R
A
M
N
P.E.
800
700
Kalahari Beds
Kalkland Basalt
Karoo Dolerite
Rietmond Member
Auob Member
Mukorob Member
Nossob Member
Pre-Ecca Group
M
A
N
P.E.
M
N
P.E.
0
50
100
150
200
250
300 (Km)

13. Indicators
1.
Time-independent parameters 
description/characterization of TBAs
2.
Time-dependant parameters
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Defining or constraining the value of aquifers
and their potential functions
Role and importance of groundwater for
humans & environment
Changes in groundwater state
Drivers of change and pressures
Enabling environment for
TBA/SIDS resource
10 indicators for TWAP
management
level 1 assessment
Implementation of
groundwater resources
20 Indicators for level 1
management measures
in-depth assessment
Aquifers

15. Data collection - Questionnaires
Aquifers

16. Data base and Information Management System
Geo-referenced
data:
•Core Indicators
•Main parameters
•Additional parameters
•Documents
•Images
•Predictions
One aggregated
value per TBA or
SIDS
Aquifers
Water GAP
•Georeferenced Images

17. Project Outputs
• Information briefs per
Transboundary Aquifer and
SIDS (available through IMS)
• Data set of parameters and
indicators of major world TBAs
and SIDS
• Interactive Information
Management System
New knowledge will be generated in
the framework of TWAP TBAs
Aquifers

18. Partners
1. Core Group
2. Regional
Coordinators
and Expert
Networks
3. Key providers
of expertise
and data
Aquifers

19. ILEC
International Lake
Environment Committee
Walter Rast
Lake & Reservoir Basins

20. Transboundary Lake & Reservoir Basins
• International Lake Environment Committee (ILEC), in cooperation with
Meadows Center for Water and Environment, Texas State Univ. (USA) and
Research Center for Sustainability and Environment , Shiga Univ. (Japan);
ILEC Scientific Committee (regional representation);
• 206 transboundary
lakes/reservoirs:
 GEF-eligible lakes = 159
 Non-GEF-eligible lakes =
47

21. Partners & Scientific Committee
• National Hydrologic Research Institute
(Malaysia)
• Corazón de la Tierra (Mexico)
• Ritsumeikan University (Japan)
• Indian Association of Aquatic Biologists
(India)
• Meadows Center for Water and the
Environment (USA)
• East Africa Great Lakes Observatory (Kenya)
• University of Guanajuato (Mexico)
• International Environmental Management
Services (USA)
• ILEC Scientific Committee
(Regional/Global)

22. Global Distribution
206 Transboundary Lakes
• Asia/Pacific region : 51
• Europe/Russia border: 71
• Africa: 33
• South/Central America: 31
• North America (USA/Canada): 20
• ‘Cluster’ Lakes:
 Himalayan Mountain lakes;
 East African Rift Valley lakes;
 Western Africa coastal lakes;
 Mediterranean coastal lakes;
 Andean Mountain lakes.

23. Transboundary Lake Basins
• Little organized information
on lake drainage basins;
• Global-scale satellite/remote
sensing data (NASA; USGS)
+ GIS-based spatial
analysis + DEM
 Transboundary
Lake Basin
Delineations

24. Linked Transboundary Water Systems

25. Indicators/Criteria
Primary Forcing/Stress Criteria
•
•
•
•
Water stress
Land use/alteration
Nutrient loading
Others
Configurational Criteria
• Lake area; Lenticity (lake area:basin area);
Hydrological position & linkages
Characterizational Criteria
• Population number, density & relative location; Erosion potential; Aridity
index; Biodiversity hotspots
Governance Criteria
•
Policies; Institutions; Stakeholder participation; Information &
communication; Finances

26. ILBM & ANALYTIC HIERARCHY
PROCESS (AHP)
AHP Preparatory Flowchart
Data Preparation Process
Assessment Criteria
Basic Data
Configurational
Features
Lake
Basin Descriptor
Basin Descriptor
Basin Descriptor
Lake/Riv
er
Combine
d
AHP Analysis Process
Primary
(Stress)
Prim. Crite.
Secondary
(Impairment
) Criteria
Combined
Ecosystem
Services
River
Group Final
Indicators
Threats Category
Curre
nt
Major
Resou
Sec. Crite.
Three Multicriteria
Assessment
River Group
Indicator
Output
GEF Decision Support Process
AHP Secenario
Scenario Driver
PrimarySecondary
Driven
Threat
Catego
ry
Driven
ScenarioDriver
By Subcontinents
By Climatic Zones
By Lake Size
By Thematic Features
By Lake Clusters
By TLB-NTLB collab.
By Linkages
etc.
GEF Program
Affiliations
Management Scope
and Challenges
Scenio Coupling
Budetary Scenarios
Others
DecisionSupport
Process
Tertiary
(Improvemen
t) Criteria
Illustrative display of
assessment matrix for

27. Expert Group Meetings
• Inception Meeting (Japan; May 2013)
• Southeast Asia (Malaysia; July 2013)
• Europe/Mediterranean (Italy;
September 2013)
• Mexico/Central America
(Mexico; December 2013)
• South America (Brazil; December 2013)
• Southcentral Asia (India; January 2014)
• Africa (Kenya/West Africa; January 2014)
Objectives
Refine assessment process; quality of lake data/info; data
gaps; other data sources; indicators/criteria (regional
context); ‘ground truth’ initial conclusions; questionnaire

28. Anticipated Outputs
• Final Assessment report of lakes, including cluster lakes, ranked within
3-5 major groupings;
• Transboundary lake atlas, identifying locations, extent & characteristics
of transboundary lakes and their basins;
• Use of AHP for more detailed multicriteria analysis of transboundary lake
basins;
• Concept of ‘prioritization’
as applied to
transboundary water
systems;
• Compiled data bases
used to develop all
outputs (accessible
electronic media

29. UNEP-DHI Centre for Water
and Environment
Peter Koefoed Bjørnsen
River Basins

30. Indicators
Water Quantity
Water Quality
Ecosystems
Goverance
Socioeconomics
1. Environmental
Water Stress
4. Nutrient
Pollution
6. Biodiversity
and Habitat Loss
9. Governance
Architecture
12. Economic
Dependence
2. Human Water
Stress
5. Urban Water
Pollution
7. Ecosystem
Degradation
10. Institutional
Resilience
13. Societal Wellbeing
8. Fish Threat
11. Enabling
Environment
14. Vulnerability
3. Agricultural
Water Stress
Projected transboundary stress
2030 / 2050
Water Systems Interlinkages
Environmental Water Stress
Delta Vulnerability Index
Human Water Stress
Lake Influence Index
Nutrient Pollution
Population Density
Institutional Resilience
River Basins

31. Partners
River Basins

32. Agricultural water stress
Human water stress
Preliminary indicator maps
River Basins

33. Basin Country Units
River Basins

34. Agricultural Water Stress
River Basins

35. Water Governance
River Basins

36. Products
Assessment Report
Global Maps
Factsheets
Data Portal
River Basins

37. Intergovernmental
Oceanographic
Commission
of UNESCO
J. Barbiere
Large Marine Ecosystems

38. Large Marine Ecosystems
Large Marine Ecosystems

39. LMES ASSESSMENT – MAIN FEATURES
 Conceptual framework (next slide) showing link between human
and natural systems; focus on vulnerability of human populations
to changes in ecosystem services
 Themes (productivity, fisheries, pollution, ecosystem health,
socio-economics, governance)
 Comparative assessment across all 66 LMEs and Pacific Warm
Pool – clustering of LMEs according to their environmental state
 Level 2 assessment in Bay of Bengal LME through BoB LME
project
 Global datasets (and where available, regional) are being used.
Gridded data (30’ x 30’) - can be aggregated at any scale.
Large Marine Ecosystems

40. LMES & OPEN OCEAN CONCEPTUAL
FRAMEWORK

41. LME INDICATORS
Productivity
Fisheries
Pollution & Ecosystem
health
Socio-economics
Governance
•Chlorophyl a
•Annual landings
•Nutrients (N, P, Si)
•% GDP fisheries
•Primary
productivity
•Catch value
•Coastal Eutrophication
Potential
•% GDP international
tourism
•Governance
architecture in
transboundary
LMEs
•Marine trophic
index/FIB index
•POPs in plastic pellets
•Stock status
•Plastic debris density
•Population within
10 m coastal
elevation
•Catch from
bottom impacting
gear
•Change in MPA
coverage
•Human
Development Index
•Reefs at Risk Index
•Deaths caused by
climate related
natural disasters
•Sea surface
temperature
•Fishing effort
•Mangrove extent
• Catch potential
projections under
global warming
•Cumulative human
impacts

42. LMEs PARTNERSHIP
Potential users/data
providers
THEMATIC
Univ. Rhode
Is
Univ. Dal
CERMES/UWI
CORE
IOC/
UNESCO
Executing
Agency
Coordination
NOAA
CMAP
UNEP
GESAMP
UNEPWCMC
IGBP
UBC
TUAT
Large Marine Ecosystems
Ind. Experts

43. FRAMING QUESTIONS
Key questions that the LMEs assessment will examine include:
 What are the current trends in LME status in each thematic area?
 Which LMEs are most heavily degraded and which ecosystem
services are at most risk?
 What is the projected status to years 2030/2050 (selected indicators)?
 Where is human dependency greatest on LME ecosystem services?
 Where are humans most vulnerable to changes in LME condition?
 What is the status of the governance architecture in LMEs and
implications for management?
What are the main emerging issues?
Large Marine Ecosystems

44. ASSESSMENT PRODUCTS
Large Marine Ecosystems

45. Examples: Fish stock status
Sea Around Us Project
Large Marine Ecosystems

46. Cumulative human impacts on marine
ecosystems
Halpern et al 2008
Large Marine Ecosystems

47. Night light development index
(L. McManus)
Large Marine Ecosystems

48. See TWAP LMEs brochure
for further details
Large Marine Ecosystems

49. Intergovernmental
Oceanographic Commission
of UNESCO
S. Heileman
© ESA
Open Ocean

50. The Open Ocean: a transboundary space
 Earth is the ocean
planet: 70 % surface
covered by oceans,
and about 50 %
covered by ocean
areas beyond national
jurisdiction.
 International waters –
73% of open ocean is
‘high seas’ beyond the
EEZs – 52% of total
surface of the Earth
Open Ocean

51. Assessment approach
Global ocean – local vulnerability
 Focus on themes where a global commons / global
environmental issues related to the oceans exist
 Through indicators/mapping, identify local impact to ecosystem
vulnerability or human vulnerability, with future projections
where possible
 Assess the relevant thematic governance arrangements:
pointing to where action is needed
 Scientific assessment of peer-reviewed literature
Necessary for long-timescale, high-uncertainty, potentially
high-impact environmental problems
Open Ocean

52. Assessment themes/indicators
 Climate change, variability and impacts (e.g. impact of sea level rise
on local coastal populations)
 Ecosystems, habitats and biodiversity (e.g. impact of ocean
acidification on polar and tropical marine ecosystems)
 Fisheries, impact and sustainability (e.g. fish stock status)
 Pollution and contaminants (e.g. plastic density)
 Socio-economics: Human dependency and vulnerability
 Governance: architecture linking global with other scales, sciencepolicy interface
Open Ocean

53. An Example: Climate and ocean ecosystems corals
•
•
Corals at risk from both local stressors (over-/destructive
fishing, coastal development, watershed and marine-based
pollution) and climate change and variability (temperature
stress, ocean acidification, fast sea level rise)
Local stressors: blue-low, yellow-medium, reds-high

54. Bleaching Threat to Corals in Future
(2030, 2040, 2050)
Open Ocean
Heat stress: frequency of level-2 stress for coral
 Degree Heating Month projections (CMIP5)

55. Partnership
Open Ocean

56. ASSESSMENT PRODUCTS
Large Marine Ecosystems

57. Thank you