The Global Environment Monitoring System for Freshwater (GEMS/Water) of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) was established in 1978 to collect world-wide water quality data for assessments of status and trends in global inland water quality. The twin goals of the GEMS/Water Programme are to improve water quality monitoring as well as assessment capacity in participating countries.
To learn about GEMS/Water's mandate, visit our webpages on water quality.
GEMS/Water was established in 1978 to collect world-wide water quality data for assessments of status and trends in global inland water quality. In 2014, after more than 30 years of being successfully operated by the Department of the Environment of Canada, the GEMS/Water mandate was renewed and strengthened by the first universal United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA). With new donors the Programme was restructured into its current form.
To support the GEMS/mandate, the UNEP GEMS/Water Data Centre was established within the International Centre for Water Resources and Global Change, a UNESCO Category 2 Centre hosted by the German Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG, by its acronym in German) in Koblenz. Its objectives include collecting, controlling and providing water quality monitoring data and products for regional and global water quality assessments. The Data Centre maintains the global water quality database and information system GEMStat. Data for GEMStat is received from GEMS/Water's global network of National Focal Points. These are government institutions and agencies with the official mandate to monitor freshwater quality data in their countries.
GEMS/Water also conveys the World Water Quality Alliance, a voluntary, flexible and global, multi-stakeholder network that advocates the central role of freshwater quality in achieving prosperity and sustainability. It explores, monitors, analyses and communicates water-quality risks at global, regional, national and local levels with the aim of identifying solutions for the maintenance and restoration of the health and well-being of both ecosystems and humans. The WWQA provides a participatory platform for water-quality assessment and the co-design of tailored and demand-driven services at all levels with a special emphasis on the involvement of local communities and the younger generations whose future is at risk.
To learn more about the network and the activities of the WWQA, visit our webpages related to multi-stakeholder engagement.
