The Use Cases provide an initial testbed that puts the quality of surface water and groundwater into the context of the local 2030 Agenda and its multiple linkages across the Sustainable Development Goals.
The UN Environment Programme is cooperating with relevant organisations including the UN-Water Expert Group on Water Quality and Wastewater in the World Water Quality Alliance to develop a World Water Quality Assessment for consideration by UNEA-5.
Africa Use Cases Aim:
Build the “use case” for a World Water Quality Assessment by means of the piloting and demonstration of current capabilities, future information and services of the World Water Quality Alliance (the “Alliance”) through these three case studies. Central in these initial test cases will be the integration of in-situ, remote sensing-based earth observation and modelling data to derive the best possible current state of water quality (baseline). The objective is to provide an evidence base that links water quality hotspots to solutions and investment priorities. Crucial is a multi-stakeholder in-country driven process defining demand for water quality services (using experience in global problems to support local solutions). Stakeholders include government, academia, civil society and (inter)national organisations (quadruple helix).
Project Phases
Initiation Phase:
The network of contributing Alliance partners and local Use Case stakeholders is identified, and a rapid assessment of existing monitoring and assessment capacities and availability of data from multiple sources is conducted to determine the current state of knowledge and to set the objectives for the information services to be developed.
Identification Phase:
Existing data and information used to identify, categorise and undertake a preliminary (baseline) assessment of the quality status of the freshwater ecosystems by testing an innovative data/model fusion approach and further data analysis to develop pilot products and services for local/national application.
