Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Monitoring - An Essential Tool

Unless we sharpen up our monitoring and thus understanding of the issues at hand, our responses will continue to fall short of their goals.

By: Johan Kuylenstierna, Chief Technical Advisor at UN Water

“Reality is not always probable, or likely”, is a quote by the Argentinean author Jorge Luis Borges; a statement which can be interpreted in different ways. Reality is difficult to measure and there is room for ambiguity depending on who the viewer is and how the indicator that is monitored to describe the measured reality (or state) is defined. Take poverty. We measure poverty by using a simple indicator, such as having spending capacity of 1 dollar a day. But many people who may not be classified as poor, based on this indicator, still certainly feel they are. Reality is a moving target and if we want to keep track, we need to have sustainable and consistent monitoring systems in place. Monitoring and reporting is an important activity within the UN-System and UN-Water and its members are organizing a number of events at the CSD (please see end of article) to highlight this.

How, what, where…

Monitoring can, simply said, be defined as an essential tool in order to understand the state of a system. To understand the state of the complicated system we call planet Earth is no doubt more important than ever before in human history as we have never been so influential in altering the global “systems”, be it the climate system, the water cycle, biochemical systems, the land surface and ecosystems.

Considering current challenges, a strong support for comprehensive and long-term monitoring systems could be expected. Reality appears different. Take climate change as one example. Clearly, an environmental issue has never received such attention before and the pledges to act are strong. But in order to know how to act, what to do and where, we need to have substantial amounts of data and information as a basis for both short and long term adaptation and mitigation measures and policies. Despite that, the number of both weather and hydrological stations has declined in recent decades and there are severe problems in the maintenance of existing stations and the data they produce, not least in many developing countries. No doubt, it is not an easy (or cheap) task to have good systems in place; the complexity and interlinkages between natural and human systems makes the development of appropriate monitoring systems an intricate issue. But we really have no choice! 

Inequality in monitoring

There is extreme inequality related to monitoring systems. Take weather stations again. The number of stations in a relatively small geographical part of the world (Europe, North America and Australia) is far higher than in the rest of the world combined. And science tells us that the effects are often likely to be worst in just those regions where data is most scarce. Maybe a savior has appeared in recent times – the ever improving satellite based monitoring systems. But they still have their limitations compared to ground truth systems and cannot make up for the dramatic loss of long time-series, so important if we are to understand long-term changes.

The state and utilization of water resources is particularly important to monitor. Water is a fundamental resource for human development and well being as well as for environmental sustainability. We have, through the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), set specific targets for water supply and sanitation because we know that as long as people have no appropriate access to such fundamental services, there can be no development and human well being. These targets are thus fundamental to all other MDGs (poverty reduction, food security, health etc) and to monitor progress and investment flows is thus essential from a wide development perspective.

Climate change and water management

Water also forms a vital link between climate and human society. If we are to adapt to climate change, we need to manage our waters. Data from 1992 to 2001 shows that nearly 90 percent of all natural disasters were of meteorological or hydrological origin. However, our understanding of climate change impacts on water resources is still inadequate, partly because the interactions are complicated and partly because the effects are governed by a range of non-climate factors. Modified landscapes and infrastructure development, population growth and dynamics as well as changes in hydrological systems (river modification) strongly influence the effects of climate variability and change on water resources. Only through appropriate monitoring systems can we get the answers we need, but there are many aspects we need to look at combined. 

Water management as an essential ingredient for sustainable development was recognized at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 calling upon countries to have in place, by 2005, so called Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and Water Efficiency Plans. Unfortunately, this target was not met although progress has certainly been made in some regions and countries. We know that the pressure on the world’s water resources will continue to increase, but it is hard to predict exactly how much, where and why. A range of driving forces need to be carefully monitored to understand this development; population growth and dynamics, more food and changes in diets, changing consumer preferences and increased disposable income, energy, trade policies, and socio-economic development in general. Water issues are not appropriately integrated in other policy- and political processes guiding many such areas.

The role of CSD

There are currently a range of top-notch, knowledge-based reports from which good policies and management strategies can be drawn. However, a challenge is that the planet continues to be largely assessed through a sectoral- or issue-oriented approach. It is necessary for policy and decision makers to make a comprehensive analysis (from the multitude of assessments on water, climate, bio-diversity, energy, economics etc) which presents both the interdependencies and conflicting interests.

The president of the UN General Assembly in a recent session stressed the need for annual stocktaking of the MDGs. This will certainly require access to relevant and frequently updated information through efficient monitoring systems. The CSD could consider how this could be done most efficiently, how developing countries can be supported in order to have the capacity to deliver the information and how existing mechanisms within the UN system can be further strengthened and supported. CSD, with its broad mandate of “sustainable development” has a very important role to play. The new process with follow-up sessions (water and sanitation being the first) is a promising development. CSD could also focus more on how countries can be supported to develop and maintain appropriate monitoring systems and how long-term funding for such systems can be secured. Monitoring is not about measurements for the sake of measurements – is a fundamental component of sound decision making!