What is the Water Monitoring Alliance?
The objectives of the Water Monitoring Alliance are to promote a greater exchange and sharing of information amongst organisations and programmes involved in water monitoring and to provide better access to water information for decision-makers, the media and the general public.
The Alliance is a cooperative partnership amongst organisations working at the international, regional, national and local levels. It is made up of organisations involved in the collection, analysis, reporting and dissemination of information on water in all its uses. Partners feed the WMA with information on their monitoring programmes and provide direct access to their databases and/or published documents. In return, they can exchange information about tools and methods with others and distribute their data and analyses.
The WMA promotes better decision-making through protocol development, definition of clear targets, cultivation of multi-disciplinary collaboration and dissemination of reliable and accessible information on water.
Why was the Water Monitoring Alliance created?
Many organisations conduct monitoring activities at various levels and for many different purposes: United Nations organisations, ministries and departments of different countries, non-governmental organisations, universities and research centres, etc. These actors invest great effort and time in monitoring water in its various aspects and at various levels. Due to different priorities and monitoring protocols, comparison and aggregation is very difficult. Unfortunately, basic information concerning the water sector remains confidential, and experts question the reliability of current statistics. Moreover, it is difficult to have a general picture of the situation because many of these organisations don’t even know what others are doing.
Session on Monitoring Access to Water Supply and Sanitation at the 3rd World Water Forum, Kyoto, March 2003
During the 3rd World Water Forum organised in Japan in 2003, the importance of monitoring was acknowledged. The participants identified the need for identifying the missing links of the global monitoring chain and for making relevant proposals to establish and integrate solutions.
Read the session report (PDF, 278 KB)
