GLOBAL INTERNATIONAL
WATERS ASSESSMENT
Global International Waters Assessment (GIWA)
Dag Daler
Scientific Director
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WATERS ASSESSMENT
Global International Waters Assessment
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Water – The most essential of the Globe´s life sustaining elements
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Prawn Catch/Number of fishing vessels,
Bagamoyo, Tanzania
Prawn Catch
Number of
fishing vessels
kg
10 000
22
5 000
11
0
0
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
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Blooms of harmful microorganisms
West central
Atlantic. No of
episodes
No of people
hospitalized
400
500 000
450 000
350
400 000
300
350 000
250
300 000
200
250 000
200 000
150
150 000
100
100 000
50
50 000
0
0
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
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Aug 1997, 30m
Feb 1998, 30m
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Climate Change:
Live Coral Cover Seychelles
%
50
40
30
20
10
0
1997
nov-99
nov-00
jan-02
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The GIWA Mission
• Provide an inventory of environmental problems in the Globes
International Waters (including fresh water as well as marine and
coastal waters)
–
What are the main environmental problems in the Globe´s International Waters
(including fresh water as well as marine and coastal waters)?
– How severe are these problems in relation to human life and welfare?
– What are the human activities that are the root causes of these problems? What
are the policy options for remediation?
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A Mechanism for prioritising
• The overall objective of the GIWA is to develop a
comprehensive strategic assessment that may be
used by GEF and its partners to identify priorities
for remedial and mitigatory actions in
international waters, designed to achieve
significant environmental benefits.
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Project Goals
• Implement environmental and socio-economic
impact assessments in 66 subregions, including
both marine and freshwater systems
• Identify the linkages between issues affecting the
transboundary aquatic environment and their
causes, so GEF will be better placed to intervene
to resolve the problems in a sustainable and costeffective manner
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GIWA 5 Concerns (22 Issues)
•
Freshwater shortage (Reduction of stream flow; Lowering of water table and; Pollution
of existing water supplies)
•
Pollution (Microbiological pollution; Eutrophication; Chemical pollution; Suspended solids;
Solid waste; Thermal pollution; Radionuclides; Spills)
•
Habitat and community modification (Loss of ecosystems or ecotones; Modification
of ecosystems or ecotones)
•
Unsustainable exploitation of fisheries and other living resources
(Inappropriate harvesting practices; Resources/habitat changes; Habitat destruction;
Decreased viability of stock through contamination and disease; Biodiversity impacts)
•
Global change (Changes in hydrological cycles; Sea level change; Increased UV-B
radiation as a result of ozone depletion; Changes in ocean carbon dioxide source/sink
function)
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Socio-economic indicators
• Economic impact (Direct and indirect)
• Health impact (Seriousness of the health problem and number of people
affected)
• Other social and community impact (Estetic values, life style values etc)
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Capacity Building by Networking
• All together more than 1.000 experts, scientist,
representatives for governments, NGO and civil
society is actively involved in the GIWA
assessment, globally.
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Introduction
Mega-region:
North Pacific
Sub-region 36:
East China Sea
East China Sea Sub-region should include:
 Changjiang River Basin including Dongtinghu Lake, Panyanghu
Lake and Chaohu Lake; and
 Zhe-Ming River Basins (river systems in Zhejiang and Fujian
Provinces).
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Transboundary problems
1.
Eutrophication
Some 12-15 extensive occurrences of red tide events per
year offshore of Zhejiang Province reported. Serious
eutrophication observed in the West Lake of Hangzhou,
Dianshan Lake of Shanghai and Poyang Lake of Jiangxi.
Often reported are the damages of cultured organisms by harmful algae.
2.
Loss of ecosystems or ecotones
Loss are particularly serious with freshwater marshlands, wetlands of saline habitats, muddy
foreshores, salt marshes, mangroves and estuaries.
3.
Overexpoitation of living resources
The dominance of four major species groups in the East China Sea, namely large yellow croaker
(Pseudosciaena crocea), small yellow croaker (Pseudosciaena polyactis), hairtail (Trichiurus
haumela) and cuttlefish (Sepia), has changed to shrimps, spanish mackeral, pomfret and hairtail.
The change is mainly caused by overfishing. Yellow croakers and others were exploited far beyond
MSY.
4.
Destructive fishing practices
Bottom trawling occurs more than 10 times per year. There are occasional occurrences of fishing
by explosives and drugs.
5.
Socio-economic factors
High concerns associated with social, economic and human health impacts are likely to be
restricted to the habitat and community modification with a weighted score of around 2.
Socioeconomic and human health impacts of the other four major concerns are unlikely to be
substantial.
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•
The Zambezi River (by far the largest river basin in
the sub region covers approximately 1,300,00km2),
Limpopo and Okavango delta plus 9 trans-national
river systems were assessed during the GIWA scoping
exercise.
•
Eight riparian countries within the South African
Development Community (SADC) share the Zambezi
River Basin. 38.4 million people live and eke for a
living in the basin area.
•
Large-scale industrial farming (sugar, maize, fruits,
livestock), and small-scale subsistence production,
fisheries and industry are important economic
activities.
Sub–Region 45c :
The Zambezi river basin
Transboundary problems
1.FRESHWATER SHORTAGE
•
Damming of major rivers (for irrigation and
hydropower generation), pollution of existing water
supplies , abstraction of groundwater resources, and
droughts are contributing to freshwater shortage. The
Zambezi River has 3 large dams resulting in >50%
reduction in stream flow.
•
Nutrient loading from agricultural inputs, suspended
sediments and solid wastes from unregulated
discharge of raw sewage and other industrial effluents
is rampant.
•
Wells have started drying up and require further
digging to reach the water table.
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2.LOSS AND MODIFICATION OF AQUATIC HABITATS.
(i) riparian belts, (ii) springs, (iii) flood plains, (iv) rice paddys,
(v) running water fast flowing and flood plains and (vi) standing water
mesothropic.
3. UNSUSTAINABLE EXPLOITATION OF FISHERIES
Though data on Catch Per Unit Effort (CPUE) trends are scanty, over exploitation
of fisheries is recognized as a serious problem in both inland and marine waters.
Poor fishing practices (use of fine wire mesh mosquito nets and traditional
basket endanger juvenile fish)
Favored fish species such as Maluti Monnow in Lesotho and Kapenta in Kariba
are endangered.
4.GLOBAL CHANGE
Extreme swings between above average rainfall resulting in flooding with
recurrent droughts can be explained by changes in hydrological cycle.
5.Social –economic and health impacts.
(i) high costs of reconstruction after incidences of flooding and droughts, (ii)
associated economic and social costs for reduction in agricultural potential,
decline in industrial production and fisheries, (iii) social implications to reduced
access to clean water by rural and urban water user, (iv) migration and
displacement of people and exposure to dangers of land mines that get
dispersed during floods (Mozambique), (v) loss of animal nutrition among the
riverine communities and (vi) costs for treatment for approximately 70% of the
population affected by water borne epidemics.
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The freshwater – marine interface
• The majority of environmental problems in the
marine environment are caused by landbased
activities.
• Solving the environmental problems in the
watersheds is a prerequisite for remedial and
mitigatory actions targeted to improve the marine
ecosystems.
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Introduction
Mega-region:
North Pacific
Sub-region 35:
Bohai Sea
Bohai Sea Sub-region include:
 Liaohe River Basin, coastal river basins in Liaodong Peninsula,
Shuangtaizihe River Basin and their associated coastal and marine
habitats in Liaodong Bay, north of the Bohai Sea;
 Haihe River and Luanhe River and their associated marine habitats
in Bohai Bay west of the Bohai Sea; and
 Yellow River Basins, coastal river basins in Shandong Peninsula
and their associated coastal and marine habitats in Laizhou Bay,
south of Bohai Sea.
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Additional GIWA activities
• Support to UNEP for the River Basin Information System
and the Water Portal of UNEP.net
• Support to GPA activites
• Support to the WSSD and the 3rd WWF
• Support to the Black Sea Environmental Recovery Project
• Support to the EU Water Initiative, NIS component,
providing background paper for Regional Seas
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GIWA and GTOS
• Globally, and in some regions more than others, GIWA´s
assessment suffers from lack of relevant and reliable data.
• To a large extent is the GIWA assessment based on local
information provided by individual experts.
• To some extent is the GIWA assessmetn based upon local
expert opinions
• For a programmable update of the GIWA assessment will
access to reliable monitoring data be a primary task. In this
respect is GTOS (coastal module) of particular interest for
the GIWA, UNEP and other UNEP enteties (GPA).
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www.giwa.net