FFEM Project/ Capacity building in data administration for assessing transboundary water resources in the EECCA countries
The FFEM EECCA project has been developed in the framework of activities of the Convention of the protection and use of transboundary waters and international lakes (Helsinki 1992).
The International Water Assessment Center (IWAC), hosted by the Slovak Hydrometerorological Institute (SHMI), was the main beneficiary of the project and contracted the International Office for Water (IOWater) for the technical coordination of the project activities.
The overall aim of the project was to reinforce capacities in data administration and sharing within and between the main national and regional authorities concerned in order to develop information production supporting the transboundary water resource management policies and action.
This project included 2 main components
1/ on 2 pilot transboundary basins with existing processes/projects in order to develop a methodology facilitating:
- The involvement of the main actors producing data in a data sharing process
- The production of the information answering to the expectations
2/ at regional level to:
- Disseminate the results obtained on the 2 pilot areas
- Facilitate the assessments of transboundary waters
At basin level:
1.Validation of the objectives and information of the main stakeholders
2.Analysis of the existing data, analysis of the partners' information needs and priorities (collaborative inventory based on an online catalogue of data sources and enquiries on the needs).
3.Action plan proposal
4.Support to the implementation of the action plan with exemplary actions supporting the production of the information useful for decision-making, such as:
-Drafting of Memorandum of Understanding, data sharing rules and data exchange scenarios;
- Development of a common language (models, dictionaries, common reference frames) for exchanging comparable and homogeneous data;
- Development of a technical architecture for networking the services and capacity building in exchanges while relying on the information systems already existing at the level of the various partners (data bases, GIS, servers, etc.);
- Application of exchange procedures
5.Dissemination of results
At regional level:
1/ Development of regional tools for data source identification
2/ Production and dissemination of guidances presenting the experience feedbacks in the 2 pilot areas as well as global recommendations, in order to help other transboundary river basins and other EECCA countries to develop their own information systems.