Ireland Becomes a Hub for Water Quality Monitoring Excellence with the Opening of New UNEP GEMS/Water Centre

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The first-ever UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) held in June 2014 highlighted the importance of GEMS/Water in advancing the water-related targets of the SDGs. In light of that, UNEP’s Global Monitoring System, UNEP GEMS/Water, inaugurated its new Capacity for Development Centre last week Friday. The new Centre will be hosted by the University College Cork (Ireland) and will help developing countries to boost the capacity for meeting their water challenges.

Freshwater scarcity and quality deterioration rank among the most urgent environmental challenges of this century. According to UN Water, Earth is facing a 40 per cent shortfall in water supply by 2030, unless we dramatically improve its management.

Dr. Deborah V. Chapman, Director of the new UNEP GEMS/Water Capacity Development Centre at UCC said, "When Ireland was approached as a potential new donor for the programme in 2013, I could see the potential for the Centre and its partners to make an important contribution to sustainable management of water resources at the global scale. After two years of negotiations, Ireland, UCC and its partners are now key to the new phase of the UNEP GEMS/Water Programme."

The recently adopted universal Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) on water and sanitation aims to ensure availability and sustainable management of water for all by 2030. UNEP GEMS/Water will play a key role in delivering on that objective. Its primary aim is to ensure compatibility and comparability of water quality data for use in national, regional and global assessments and management.

The GEMS/Water data and capacity building network will continue expanding, to inform the global water resources management, with specific focus on developing countries, particularly in Africa. GEMS will work with regional hubs to generate momentum locally and attract new members. The first regional hub  for the Latin America and Caribbean region is already operational and is hosted by the national water agency, ANA, in Brazil.

NOTES TO EDITORS

About UNEP GEMS/ Water

GEMS/Water is a global programme of the United Nations under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). In its new phase, the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) among others are contributing to the Steering Committee.

GEMS/Water was established in 1978 to create a unique global water quality monitoring network providing water quality data to a central database known as GEMStat, which, together with a set of capacity building modules, was developed with support from and hosted by the Canadian Government.

In addition to collecting water quality data, GEMS/Water provides support and encouragement to developing countries that wish to establish monitoring programmes and conduct assessments of water quality through training, advice and provision of assessment tools.

Currently undergoing revision, UNEP GEMS/Water has received a consolidated global and refined mandate by the first universal UN Environment Assembly UNEA (Resolution 1/9) in 2014.

Source: http://bit.ly/1Sd4TTE