ENI SEIS II East project published water quantity – indicators as a first set on the project web site.  This is the culmination of the two-year effort between the national water experts from the six partnership countries, the EEA and the European Topic Centre on Inland, Coastal and Marine Waters. 

Primary principle to the integrated water management is to obtain robust and harmonized data and information on water resources. This is also fundamentally important to policy makers relying on trustable information when they need to make the policy decision. Developing the water indicators is one of the efficient tool to address water related issues as well as inform the policy makers on the matter.

Developing the water indicators for ENI East countries started with the country visits back in 2017 with two workshops in each country with water experts in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine.  In-depth training on water data management and a regional workshop on developing the indicators followed in 2018.  In 2019 the focus was on filling out the templates in line with the latest EU expertise and based on the EEA methodology.

The set of indicators have been developed all ENI East countries in consistent and coherent way by following the same methodology of indicator development of the European Environment Agency for all European countries. The indicators are not only providing the information on certain aspects of water resources state and pressures at the national level but also provide the facility to make country comparisons at the regional level.  

 Read more on water from the European Environment Agency

Context:

The European Neighbourhood Instrument of the European Union funds ENI SEIS II East project.  The four-year project implements the principles and practices of the Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS). The project builds on previous cooperation between the European Environment Agency and the six Eastern   Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine).  It aims to deepen the EU’s relations with the six Eastern Partnership countries, and support the promotion of environmental protection by strengthening environmental governance. The project builds capacity in the fields of biodiversity, water, land, waste, air, communication and environmental assessments.