With the ‘SADC groundwater grey literature archive’ project and the ‘Expansion of SADC-GIP’ project having been successfully completed, 2020 had a particular focus on Southern Africa. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, most of the trainings, meetings and even the 3rd SADC-GMI Groundwater Conference were held online. Below are shown the most important milestones of this year.
After already having intensified its interest in groundwater quality in 2019, IGRAC has started to materialize it into concrete products in 2020. Most of these products will be made available early 2021. Together with 19 other member organisations of the ‘Friends of Groundwater’, IGRAC wrote a perspective paper and started the development of a, soon to be launched, groundwater quality website. The year 2020 was also the year in which the groundwater quality commission of IAH was launched and started a consultation, where IGRAC contributed as well.
In 2020, IGRAC was also active in Western Africa. IGRAC has been involved in the groundwater for refugees project in Burkina Faso, has joined a regional working group to develop transboundary cooperation in the Senegal-Mauritanian Aquifer Basin, and has led the production of a map of groundwater challenges in fast growing cities as part of the WHYMAP programme.
IGRAC has published 'National groundwater monitoring programmes: A global overview of quantitative groundwater monitoring networks'. This report provides an overview of quantitative groundwater monitoring networks at national scale.
On 6-8 December 2021, UNESCO will organise the conference ISARM 2021 in Paris, France. This Second International UNESCO Conference on transboundary aquifers ISARM II “Challenges and the way forward”; aims to be an opportunity for showcasing diverse efforts made by UNESCO, the international and donor community to streamline groundwater as an enabler for achieving the water-related SDGs. UNESOC has published a call for abstracts and these can be submitted till 30 December 2020.
