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The pre-study for a World Water Quality Assessment in a nutshell

 

Download media           Activities           Interviews

 

The aim of WWQA pre-study was to develop and demonstrate a data and model driven methodology to identify current “hotspots” of deteriorating freshwater quality including

•    types, intensity and sources of water pollution,

•    potential impacts relating to human health and food security (freshwater fishery),

•    main water quality data and information gaps, and

•    strategies for future monitoring.

As a main outcome, the report ‘A Snapshot of the World’s Water Quality – Towards a global assessment’ with accompanying Policy Brief summarizes the key findings of the pre-study. The methodology developed offers a baseline to measure progress, a framework for global assessment and a pathway towards sustainable solutions. This report will help bridge the gap between water quality, the inclusive green economy and the interlinked issues of sustainable development.

The second outcome is the UN-Water Analytical Brief ‘Towards a Worldwide Assessment of Freshwater Quality’. It describes how current limitations of data availability and accessibility could be overcome in order to enable policy makers to i) grasp the extent of the water quality problems, and ii) set quality targets both for water and related ecosystems. This report lays out a possible roadmap for a full World Water Quality Assessment. Herein it is argued that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be a main driving force for environmental protection and sustainable development over the coming two decades and therefore should provide the framework for this assessment.

The WWQA pre-study, conducted in 2013-2015, was initiated by the UN-Water Thematic Priority Area on Water Quality and led by the United Nations Environment Programme | UNEP. It was coordinated by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ and conducted in cooperation with Center for Environmental Systems Research | CESR, University of Kassel, GEMS | Water and several regional partners.

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Download media

 

​The report ‘A Snapshot of the World’s Water Quality – Towards a global assessment’ with accompanying Policy Brief summarizes the key findings of the WWQA pre-study.Reference: UNEP 2016. A Snapshot of the World’s Water Quality: Towards a global assessment. United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, Kenya. 162pp ​Policy Brief PDF 1.3 MBPlease see below for versions in different languages of the 'The pre-study report ‘A Snapshot of the World’s Water Quality – Towards a global assessment’.

 

​Full reporthigh resolutionExecutive summaryReportChapters &LiteratureAppendixFull reportlow resolutionPDF 1.1 MBPDF 6.2 MBPDF 10.5 MBPDF 41.5 MBArabic PDF 2.2 MBChinese PDF 1.4 MBEnglish PDF 0.7 MBFrench PDF 0.7 MBRussian PDF 0.7 MBSpanish PDF 0.7 MBReference:UNEP 2016. A Snapshot of the World’s Water Quality: Towards a global assessment. United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, Kenya. 162pp.

 

​The report ‘Towards a Worldwide Assessment of Freshwater Quality’ lays out a possible roadmap for a full World Water Quality Assessment.Reference: UN-Water 2016. Towards a Worldwide Assessment of Freshwater Quality. A UN-Water Analytical Brief. UN-Water, Genève, Switzerland. 36pp.The purpose of the Analytical Brief is to serve as a basis for discussions related to UN-Water's areas of focus.  

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Activities

 

​Presentations during the Stockholm Water Week 2015  Presentations by Dietrich Borchardt and Joseph Alcamo in the Session "Water Quality Data and Assessments: Co Benefits for Sustainable Development Goals, Country Reporting and Decision Support" during the Stockholm Water Week August 25th, 2015 convened by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB, Germany), Irish Government (DFA), UN-Water Management Team, UNEP (DEWA / DEPI) – GEMS/Water and the WWQA team. Prof. Dietrich BorchardtLessons learned from the pre-study for a full water quality assessmentPDF 0.6 MBProf. Joseph AlcamoPoster presentation during the  European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly 2016  A poster entitled "Evaluation of global water quality – the potential of a data- and model-driven analysis" was presented by Ilona Bärlund and a poster entitled "Implications of salinity pollution hotspots on agricultural production" was presented by Martina Flörke in the session "Assessment and interpretation of state and trends in water quality" during the EGU General Assembly on April 19th, 2016 convened by University of Kassel (CESR) and Teagasc, Johnstown Castle Env. Res. Centre. Download poster MF as PDF (1.7 MB)Download poster IB as PDF (3.5 MB)Presentations at UNEA-2 in Nairobi by Dietrich Borchardt in the session 'Food-Energy-Water Nexus + Natural Capital' on May 18th and by Joseph Alcamo in the session 'Global water challenges: pathways towards achieving the Agenda 2030' on May 24th.Download presentation Dietrich BorchardtDownload presentation Joseph Alcamo    Presentations during the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-2) 2016Launching the report, from left to right Kilian Christ (UNEP), Dietrich Borchardt (UFZ), Stewart Warner (UCC) and Patrick Mmayi (UNEP)Photo: Josephat Kariuki (UNEP)Dietrich Borchardt, Session "Food-Energy-Water Nexus + Natural Capital"Joseph Alcamo, Session “Global water challenges: pathways towards achieving the Agenda 2030”Launch of the UN-Water Analytical Brief during Budapest Water Summit 2016The UN-Water Analytical Brief ‘Towards a Worldwide Assessment of Freshwater Quality’ was launched during the Budapest Water Summit 30 November 2016, in a side event “Towards a World Water Quality Assessment – providing evidence and understanding to tackle the global water quality crisis and help meet water related SDGs” co-convened by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB), UN-Water and UN Environment.Key points for ‘Making the Case for a World Water Quality Assessment’ were summarized by the co-conveners before the launch and distributed on-site. Joseph Alcamo (CESR, University of Kassel) presented the roadmap for a full global water quality assessment as described in the Analytical Brief. This was complemented by a series of short interventions on necessary requirements, including resources, and options for partnerships.Presentation during Stockholm Water Week 2016The UN-Water Analytical Brief ‘Towards a Worldwide Assessment of Freshwater Quality’ was introduced in the session ‘Why waste water? Gearing up for World Water Day 2017’ convened by UN-Water on 30 August 2016.Joseph Alcamo (CESR, University of Kassel) presenting the Analytical Brief.Interventions concerning the full assessment of water quality, Manuela Fader (BfG / ICWRGC UNESCO) and chairman Federico Properzi (UN-Water).Ilona Bärlund (UFZ) giving information on the UN-Water Analytical Brief on Water Quality Assessment (on the right chairman Stefan Uhlenbrook WWAP/UNESCO)Source Presentation of the WWQA pre-study,set-up and resultsPDF 1.3 MB

 

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Interviews

 

​Interviews with Dietrich Borchardt | UFZ and Joseph Alcamo | Kassel University, April 2016Script: Ilona Bärlund, UFZ   |   Video production: Peter Barczewski & Ogarit Uhlmann, Leipzig The coordinator of the pre-study for a World Water Quality Assessment (WWQA) and the chief editor of the report 'A Snapshot of the World’s Water Quality: Towards a global assessment' describe on the video the WWQA pre-study and the motivation behind it as well as the team that performed the study. The main emphasis is on the description of the methodology applied and the main points of the study and its outcomes. Format: H264_480p_25fpsSmall: 160 MBFormat: H264_1080p_25fpsLarge: 570 MB

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