KOREAN NET

In collaboration with UNESCO, the Ministry of Environment this week will publish guidelines for national water assessment for the global organization's World Water Assessment Program. Shown are officials from Korea Water Resources Corp., aka K-water, in May last year inspecting the dam on the Seomjingang River in Imsil-gun County, Jeollabuk-do Province. (K-water)

By Margareth Theresia

The Ministry of Environment on April 2 announced that it will publish this week evaluation guidelines for UNESCO's World Water Assessment Programme.

The suggestions mark the first step toward the UNESCO-led Water Sciences Report, which will contain methods and procedures for a country to conduct comprehensive water assessment.

Slated to come out in 2032, the report will provide comprehensive evaluations of water quality, hydrology and ecological systems worldwide based on scientific measurements, and serve as basic reference for international policy discussions. The goal is to present scientific evidence and policy directions to help countries and international organizations make water policy decisions.

The guidelines have a nine-step process: vision and goal setting, problem recognition, data collection, modeling, risk metrics, analysis, report writing, validation and reanalysis, and information sharing and communication.

They will be published on the website of the Korean committee of UNESCO's Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (ihpkorea.or.kr).

margareth@korea.kr