G-WADI Secretariat

ICIWaRM is the Global Technical Secretariat for G-WADI, UNESCO’s Global Network on Water and Development Information for Arid Lands. G-WADI was established in 2004 by the 15th session of the Intergovernmental Council of the International Hydrological Programme (IHP).

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Globally, arid and semi-arid areas face the greatest pressures to deliver and manage freshwater resources. It has been estimated that by the 1990s 40% of the world’s population were suffering from serious water shortages and this is set to increase, with two-thirds of the population living under water stress by 2025. Challenges facing water managers in these areas include population growth, food security, salinity increases and pollution from various sources. Superimposed on these pressures, climate change is expected to increase water scarcity and the frequency of floods and droughts in many arid and semi-arid areas. Accurately assessing and managing the available and renewable water resources is more difficult in semi-arid regions, compared with water-rich countries; the science base is limited, data are scarce and humid zone experience is inappropriate.

Thus, the aim of G-WADI is to strengthen the global capacity to manage water resources in arid and semi-arid areas, through a global community of networks, centres, organizations, and individuals.

G-WADI, like all IHP Flagship Initiatives, aligns its strategies and programs with the ninth phase (2022-2029) of IHP (IHP-IX).  It also aligns with the overall UNESCO-IHP mission, which concerns mobilizing scientific and policy-relevant expertise, knowledge and tools for informed decisions in addressing water challenges, and strengthening transdisciplinary water research by supporting research on methods for stakeholder involvement and knowledge integration. The new G-WADI strategy document is part of our effort to achieve that alignment.

The overall strategic objective of G-WADI is to enable Member States with dryland regions to adopt and implement innovative, bottom-up tools and methodologies that engage citizens and consider local and indigenous knowledge, to address water-related challenges including climate change impacts.

To reach the overall objective of the Programme, G-WADI has four specific objectives:

1) To support Member States to use G-WADI tools and methodologies to address water management in drylands, particularly focusing on water-related hazards, such as floods and drought, through capacity building;
2) To support Member States to implement bottom-up methodologies and tools for climate-informed decision making under uncertainty through capacity building and development of case studies;
3) To mainstream citizen science methodologies and tools in dryland hydrology, as well as implement case studies that include indigenous and local knowledge; and
4) To enhance and implement alternative techniques for water management through research and capacity development on water harvesting, Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR), and the application of isotope hydrology.

Areas of emphasis in the current G-WADI program include:

  • Satellite-based precipitation estimates for regions with limited ground-based information,
  • Hydrologic monitoring and forecasting for floods and drought,
  • Regional frequency analysis on precipitation to assist drought managers,
  • Chemical and Isotopic tracers, and
  • Rainwater Harvesting.

For further information on G-WADI, please visit its web page, or read its 2024 strategic document.