This document discusses the Transboundary Waters Assessment Programme (TWAP) which aims to conduct indicator-based assessments of transboundary aquatic systems to assist the GEF and other donors in prioritizing funding. It outlines TWAP's assessments of transboundary aquifers, lakes, rivers, large marine ecosystems, and open oceans. Core biophysical, socioeconomic, governance and data management indicators are identified for each system. Statistical analysis techniques are demonstrated to discriminate groups of transboundary bodies and identify priorities based on global comparisons.

1. Liana Talaue McManus
GEF Transboundary Waters Assessment Programme:
Contributing to Indicator-Based Management of
Transboundary Aquatic Systems

2. GEF International Waters (IW) Focal Area:
Before 2007

3. Indicator-based Assessment
of Transboundary Waters

4. Transboundary Nature: A significant level of
complexity
- Geopolitical boundaries define
tranboundary nature
- Resulting human interactions
overlay on the natural
processes that are linked
- TB properties are greater than
sum of TB basin country units
- Emergent properties
at TB scale are the major focus
of assessment

5. Linked Transboundary Water Systems
• Surface and Groundwater
Conjunctive Use
• Upstream and downstream
connectivity
• Nested scales (natural;
geopolitical)
• Attributes at cross-component
analysis
LOCAL
NATIONAL
TRANBOUNDARY

6. LMES & OPEN OCEAN CONCEPTUAL
FRAMEWORK

7. Attributes of good indicators
• A measure of the state of a TB water body,
subject to pressure
• Should have directionality: low to high values
indicate trend from good to worse states
• Has a reference state; time series data with
good spatial coverage is higher information
content than a few points
• Variability in values is the statistical basis for
discriminating bodies at risk

8. TWAP Full Sized Project (2013-15):
Global Indicator-Based Assessment
 Long-term goal: Promote financing of indicator (results)
- based management and development of
transboundary water systems
 Project objective:
(1) Conduct first global assessment to assist GEF and
other donors to improve the setting of funding priorities;
(2) (2) Formalize partnerships with key institutions
aimed at incorporating transboundary considerations
into regular assessment programs, & resulting in
periodic assessments of transboundary water systems

9. TWAP Medium-Sized Project (2009-10)

10. TWAP Medium-Sized Project (2009-10)
Aquifers
Lakes
Rivers
LMEs
Open
Ocean
Correspondence Groups (CG)
for Crosscutting Issues
SOCIO-
ECONOMICS
CG
Common input data
Objective scaling
Classification of vulnerable
human populations
Data & IM
CG
Common data portal
Data access policies
Metadata standards
Linking five WG databases
Web apps
Governance
CG
Assessing existence of
governance architecture
 Assessing functionality of
governance architecture
among linked systems

11. Brief history and project goals
Spatial coverage,
2010, 2030, 2050
166 aquifers
43 groundwater
systems in SIDS
200 lakes/
reservoirs
276 river basins 66 LMEs, of
which 55 are
transboundary
Global Open
Ocean
Biophysical
indicators
Socioeconomic
Indicators (e.g.)
Water demand by
economic sector
GDP Fisheries
GDP Tourism
Access to water
Access to
sanitation
Deaths due to
climate related
natural disasters
Vulnerability
to sea level
rise
Governance
architecture/
arrangement (e.g.)
For Water
Quantity
For Water
Distribution
For Habitat
Destruction
For Fisheries For
Biodiversity
Data &
Information
Management
(next slide)
Comparative within a water system

12. User Feedback & Learning Refine Assessment Methods & Targets
Governance
indicators
Socio-
Economic
indicators
Biophysical
indicators
LME & Open
Ocean database
Lakes
database
Rivers
database
Aquifers
database
Web app
Water system
infosheet
Water system
indicator
data download
TWAP
Website
www.geftwap.org
Global Indicator-based Transboundary
Waters Assessment Program
Indicator-Based Assessment Data & Product Delivery System

13. Indicators by Transboundary
Water System

14. TB Groundwater - Indicators
Value & Potential
Functions
1. Mean annual groundwater
recharge depth
2. Annual renewable
groundwater resources per
caput
3. Natural background
groundwater quality
4. Aquifer buffering capacity
5. Vulnerability to climate
change
6. Vulnerability to pollution
CORE INDICATORS
ADDITIONAL INDICATORS
Importance for humans &
environment
1. Human dependency on
groundwater
2. GW for domestic water
supply
3. Groundwater for
agriculture
4. Groundwater for industry
5. Ecosystem dependency on
groundwater
6. Prevalence of springs
Changes in groundwater
state
1. Groundwater depletion
2. Groundwater pollution
Drivers of change and
pressures
1. Population density
2. GW development stress
Enabling environment for
management
1. TB legal framework
2. TB Institutional framework
Implementation of
management measures
1. Control of GW abstraction
2. GW quality protection

15. TB Lake Basins & Reservoirs:
Indicators/Criteria
Primary Forcing/Stress Criteria
• Water stress
• Land use/alteration
• Nutrient loading
• Others
Configurational Criteria
• Lake area; Lenticity (lake area:basin area);
Hydrological position & linkages
Characterizational Criteria
• Population number, density & relative location; Erosion potential; Aridity
index; Biodiversity hotspots
Governance Criteria
• Policies; Institutions; Stakeholder participation; Information &
communication; Finances

16. River Basins
Water Quantity Water Quality Ecosystems Goverance
Socio-
economics
1. Environmental
Water Stress
2. Human Water
Stress
3. Agricultural
Water Stress
4. Nutrient
Pollution
5. Urban Water
Pollution
6. Biodiversity
and Habitat Loss
7. Ecosystem
Degradation
8. Fish Threat
9. Governance
Architecture
10. Institutional
Resilience
12. Economic
Dependence
11. Enabling
Environment
13. Societal Well-
being
14. Vulnerability
Projected transboundary stress
2030 / 2050
Water Systems Interlinkages
Environmental Water Stress
Human Water Stress
Nutrient Pollution
Population Density
Institutional Resilience
Delta Vulnerability Index
Lake Influence Index
TB River Basin Indicators

17. Large Marine Ecosystems
PRIMARY LME INDICATORS- arranged by LME modules
Productivity Fisheries Pollution & Ecosystem
health
Socio-economics Governance
•Chlorophyl a
•Primary
productivity
•Sea surface
temperature
•Annual landings
•Catch value
•Marine trophic
index/FIB index
•Stock status
•Catch from
bottom impacting
gear
•Fishing effort
• Catch potential
projections under
global warming
•Nutrients (N, P, Si)
• Index of Coastal
Eutrophication Potential
•POPs in plastic pellets
•Plastic debris density
•Change in MPA
coverage
•Reefs at Risk Index
•Mangrove extent
•Cumulative human
impacts
•Ocean Health Index
•Fisheries revenues
•Tourism revenues
•Population within
10 m coastal
elevation
•Human
Development Index
•Night Light
Development Index
•Deaths caused by
climate related
natural disasters
•Governance
architecture in
transboundary
LMEs

18.  Climate change, variability and impacts (e.g. impact of sea level rise
on local coastal populations)
 Ecosystems, habitats and biodiversity (e.g. impact of ocean
acidification on polar and tropical marine ecosystems)
 Fisheries, impact and sustainability (e.g. fish stock status)
 Pollution and contaminants (e.g. plastic density)
 Socio-economics: Human dependency and vulnerability
 Governance: architecture linking global with other scales, science-
policy interface
Open Ocean: Assessment themes/indicators
Open Ocean

19. From Indicators to Potential GEF Priorities
• Simultaneously analyze multiple DIRECTIONAL
indicators to determine statistically influential
indicators
• Discriminate groups of TB bodies
• Identify priorities (geographic, issue-based)
– Based on global comparative analysis
– Among GEF-eligible TB water bodies
(Work in progress among components)

20. Mockup Statistical Analyses for LMEs
7 Directional indicators
• Impacts of demersal gear
• Pelagic high bycatch
• Index of Coastal Eutrophication
• Shipping impacts
• Impacts of invasives
• Human Development Index (LME-scale)
• Night light Development Index

21. Global Comparison of LMEs

22. Similarity Groups Among GEF-Eligible LMEs

23. LME Groups Using 66 LMEs

24. HDI-Invasives using 66 LMES (Global LME set)

25. HDI- Shipping among 36 GEF-Eligible LMEs

26. HDI-Index of Coastal Eutrophication for 36 GEF-eligible LMEs

27. Use of Indicators
• For global comparison – GEF IW, other donors,
countries where TB Basin country units have
data
• Baseline for better resolved data from
subnational and national databases
• For GEF IW TDA and SAP

28. Demo TB Rivers Database
• http://twap-rivers.org/
• Click on Results Data Portal
• Password: riversoflife