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Quantity and Quality: Strengthening of the Knowledge-Based and Data-Driven Decision Making and Cooperation for Security and Peace

THE PANEL RECOMMENDS

The level of knowledge relating to water quality and quantity issues has to be improved at all levels. Knowledge
on groundwater and aquifers, representing more than 90 percent of unfrozen global freshwater reserves,
should be enhanced as a matter of priority.

Investing in and cooperating for improved water data should be used for trust building and broader
cooperation, and thus contribute to the prevention of potential conflicts.

More specifically we recommend:
• The existing mechanisms of water data collection, storage and access should be developed further and
provide for better integration of spatial and disaggregated socio-political data. This development should
include innovative, non-traditional data sources such as crowdsourcing in order to strengthen data
collection processes.
• Particular attention needs to be paid to the proper understanding of asymmetries among countries and
sectors of activity within river basins and to developing methodologies that will help the efforts of conflict
prevention with timely and credible information.
• States Parties to treaties establishing transboundary water cooperation systems should strengthen these
systems by prioritizing the issues of water quality, pollution and contamination.
• In this context, the Panel recommends systematic application of the relevant provisions of International
Water Law and existing international standards (WHO and FAO) and, as appropriate, the relevant regional
standards. These standards should guide decision making by States, including the decisions relating to the
strengthening of relevant institutional structures.
• The existing data and knowledge bases administered by different UN agencies should be brought together
into a coherent system. The Panel supports the system-wide coordination work being done by UN-Water
in this regard and recommends the UN General Assembly to stimulate and support this effort, including
through the UN World Water Assessment Program and using the experience of relevant non-governmental
global water science programs.
• As a matter of a long-term vision, the Panel advocates the establishment of a strong global data system
and monitoring mechanism on the basis of existing work. Its task should be to monitor and analyze water
quality issues globally and in transboundary basins and aquifers in particular, with a view to providing
reliable information to the interested public on short notice.

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