The GEMS/Water Global Programme Coordination Unit (GPCU) is responsible for the overall programme coordination and maintaining the GEMS/Water network of National and Collaborating Focal Points (NFPs and CFPs), consisting of those entities in Member States responsible for water quality monitoring. GEMS/Water's global network of National Focal Points (NFP's) are government institutions and agencies with the official mandate to monitor freshwater quality data in their country.
Countries and organizations are invited to voluntarily provide water quality data from their own monitoring networks to the GEMS/Water Data Centre, at the International Centre for Water Resources and Global Change. As of December 2019, the total number of NFP’s stands at 117.
There are plenty of benefits to be gained from sharing water quality data with GEMS/Water in the mid- to long-term. It is universally understood that water quality datasets require a substantial amount of time, work and funding to collect and archive. Hence, the hesitation in making these data publicly available at no cost is understandable. But once the data is collected and the assessments that they were intended for are done, data lies mostly dormant and is rather a liability than an asset. What it takes is a small shift in perspective to see that using the data for the database can add additional value for the benefit of the whole country, such as more support by United Nations Agencies, attracting more investments, as well as increased scientific knowledge and solutions which researchers from all over the world can produce based on your data. All these benefits help increase the living standards of the population and the adaptability of the whole country to new environmental trends: Trends, whose magnitude and scale, or even the sheer presence would not be known without your contribution.
If you are interested in working with GEMS/Water as an NFP or would like to get in touch with other NFP's please do not hesitate to contact us via email: kaisa.uusimaa@un.org
