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Guidelines for Developing National Biodiversity Monitoring Systems
In December 2022 the resumed fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity adopted the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework including a monitoring framework. The present Guidelines for developing national strategies to use biodiversity monitoring help make biodiversity monitoring a practical tool for environmental policy for countries of Eastern Europe the Caucasus Central Asia and South-Eastern Europe. The guidelines offer advice on how to: develop plans and strategies for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity mainstream biodiversity conservation objectives across policy sectors assess progress in achieving policy targets and the effectiveness of conservation measures minimize health environmental and socioeconomic risks resulting from biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation and maximize benefits from biodiversity and ecosystems. The guidelines are addressed to government officials and experts working for governmental bodies responsible for environmental policy environmental monitoring and compliance monitoring.
Developing step-by-step approaches
This chapter describes the development of step-by-step approaches to building and expanding a monitoring and assessment system – a process that entails identifying and agreeing on priorities for monitoring and assessment and proceeding progressively from general appraisal to more precise assessments and from labour-intensive methods to higher-technology ones. It also proposes ways to prioritize monitoring efforts in transboundary contexts and opportunities to use models in monitoring and assessment programmes.
Implementing monitoring programmes
This chapter presents the different elements of the monitoring and assessment cycle – the specification of information needs the development of information strategies and the data collection methodologies and management to implement monitoring programmes. It also enumerates the different data sources. The following chapters will present elements of data management and sharing and reporting and information use.
Foreword
Finland and Senegal as Co-Chairs of the Working Group on Monitoring and Assessment are pleased to share the Updated Strategies for Monitoring and Assessment of Transboundary Rivers Lakes and Groundwaters. This publication explains the key principles of and approaches to monitoring and assessment of transboundary waters that have been identified by governments and other stakeholders collaborating via the platform of the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention) which is hosted by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).
Establishing the institutional framework
This chapter presents institutional arrangements at the national and transboundary levels that are pre-conditions to ensuring cooperation among various governmental entities the private sector and others. The chapter also describes institutional arrangements related to quality control procedures and frameworks for exchanging and accessing information.
Managing and sharing data and making assessments
Managing and sharing data is a crucial component of assessments. Data management should be developed at the national level and then disseminated to cross-boundary stakeholders. This chapter describes the different processes involved in managing storing analysing and sharing data. It also provides an overview of assessment methodologies and the potential challenges and benefits to sharing data in transboundary contexts.
Preface
Joint monitoring and assessment of transboundary waters and information exchange are key obligations under the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention). For this reason monitoring and assessment have been among the priority areas of work under the Water Convention already in the 1990s. The Working Group on Monitoring and Assessment was established in 2000 with workshops training courses and other capacity building activities organised pilot projects carried out and several guidance documents developed under its auspices. This work has led to the development of the Strategies for Monitoring and Assessment of Transboundary Rivers Lakes and Groundwaters adopted by the Meeting of the Parties to the Water Convention at its second session (Bonn 20–22 November 2006).
Basic principles and approaches
This chapter describes the basic principles and approaches of monitoring and assessment in a transboundary context and how they support decision-making. It explains that a monitoring and assessment approach should seek to identify the sources of pressure on the water system and evaluate their impacts and severity. It should also determine the overall status of the water system focusing on utilization with a view to implementing relevant measures. The monitoring system should be inclusive and gender responsive and should adopt a basin approach taking into account the different purposes for which data will be used. The chapter also presents the benefits of joint monitoring.
Acknowledgements
This publication would not have been possible without the generous contributions of many governments international organizations and individuals.
Reporting and using information
This chapter describes the crucial role of reporting in the monitoring and assessment cycle. Information about water resources contributes to environmental reporting and may inform planning relevant for water-using sectors. Reporting includes the production of reports and other modes of disseminating information such as application programme interface newsletters (API) and online applications. These are all instrumental in ensuring the dissemination of interpreted data and the use of information produced to inform management decisions between targeted stakeholders. There are several reporting obligations which vary according to the type of international convention or transboundary agreement.
Updated Strategies for Monitoring and Assessment of Transboundary Rivers, Lakes and Groundwaters
The Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention) hosted by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) requires Parties to establish and implement joint programmes for monitoring transboundary waters to carry out joint or coordinated assessments of the conditions of transboundary waters and to exchange data and information to enable sustainable management and protection of shared water resources. The Updated Strategies for Monitoring and Assessment of Transboundary Rivers Lakes and Groundwaters provide strategic guidance on monitoring assessment and data sharing in a transboundary context building on the global experience on these issues. The publication is intended to assist policy and decision makers representatives of joint bodies for transboundary water cooperation and water managers responsible for establishing and carrying out cooperation between riparian countries in operationalizing cooperation over transboundary waters. It aims to contribute to the effective implementation of the Water Convention and improved transboundary water cooperation worldwide.
Introduction
Information based on well-organized monitoring programmes is the key prerequisite for accurate assessments of the status of water resources and the magnitude of water problems. These assessments are essential for preparing policy actions at the local national and transboundary levels to achieve associated goals and targets including those established by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Moreover integrated water resources management in transboundary basins shared by two or more countries calls for comparable information. There is a need for a common basis for decision-making which requires comparable assessment methods and data management systems as well as uniform reporting procedures. Data and information sharing wide accessibility fair and just sharing of open data and information and joint monitoring and assessment also play an important role in building trust thus facilitating cooperation and conflict avoidance. In this context national governments play a crucial role in financing and developing shared databases which are essential to the success of cross-border monitoring and assessment programmes.
Legislation and commitments
Multilateral environmental agreements including various Conventions and Protocols as well as bilateral and multilateral transboundary water agreements contain obligations for countries to monitor and assess waters and to report as appropriate to a specific body such as an international commission secretariat or organization. Ideally these obligations should be introduced into national legislation to steer activities in national competent bodies.
Securing funding for monitoring and assessment
In securing funding for monitoring and assessment a distinction should be made between the initial development of a system – which may involve other funding sources such as loans – and funding for maintenance and operation of an existing system.
International programmes and information sources
Environmental data and information are available through various online databases and websites. Monitoring and assessment activities under the auspices of United Nations organizations and programmes produce valuable information which can be used for carrying out assessments of transboundary waters. This annex provides a non-comprehensive selection of such programmes and information sources.
Acknowledgements
These guidelines are an output of the Natural Capital Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services (NCAVES) project. They have been developed under the auspices of the System of Environmental Economic Accounting Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA) Technical Committee a committee that has been established by the UN Committee of Experts on Environmental-Economic Accounting (UNCEEA) to further the development and implementation of SEEA EA.
Models for ecosystem service accounts
The ecosystem services flow accounts follow the structure of a supply and use table (SUT) as described in the SNA and SEEA CF.
Modelling for ecosystem accounts
Biophysical models can be useful for compiling many of the extent condition as well as supply and use tables and maps produced in SEEA EA. For instance measuring ecosystem services directly is often difficult. Spatial and temporal coverage of ecosystem service data is sparse. Many ecosystem services represent spatiotemporally dynamic processes which are costly to measure in situ. Furthermore ecosystem services considering both supply by ecosystems and their use by beneficiaries may be heterogeneous across small spatial extents or may not be visible in satellite imagery. Modelling can be used to fill in these spatial and temporal gaps.