13 April 2015: A consortium of international organizations launched a framework for action to better manage and conserve global groundwater resources, calling for collective action at local, national and, where appropriate, trans-boundary levels to protect aquifers from depletion, pollution and saltwater intrusion.

The World Bank Group, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s International Hydrological Programme (UNESCO-IHP) released a ‘Shared Global Vision for 2030′ and a ‘Global Diagnostic on Groundwater Governance’ document, in addition to the ‘Global Framework for Action,’ on the sidelines of the Seventh World Water Forum in Daegu City, Republic of Korea. The documents are outputs of the agencies’ joint project on ‘Groundwater Governance – A Global Framework for Action (2011-2015),’ which is designed to raise awareness of the importance of groundwater resources and promote best practices in sustainable management.

In a press release, the FAO warned that the groundwater governance has been neglected and that current withdrawl rates are not sustainable. The organization identified areas that are under greatest pressure, including parts of China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran, the US, Mexico and Europe, highlighting the importance of groundwater storage for water security.

The Global Framework for Action calls for integrating groundwater management within policies for the urban water sector, land-use and land management, mining and energy to better manage pollution problems. It also calls for ending subsidies that encourage over-abstraction and inefficient water use, such as subsidies that support growing high water-demand crops in areas where groundwater is under stress. Some of the management approaches suggested include: user engagement through participatory monitoring of groundwater; landscape improvement and wetland restoration and protection; and instituting water trading and water quota systems. An annex to the document provides a list of qualitative indicators for groundwater governance.

The ‘Shared Vision’ document outlines the scale and intensity of the problem and proposes a set of working principles for the sound management of groundwater. The ‘Global Diagnostic’ provides a baseline review of the science, policies and experience of managing groundwater resources, drawing from regional consultations and studies undertaken through the project. [Groundwater Governance Website] [FAO Press Release] [World Bank Press Release] [Global Framework for Action] [Shared Global Vision for 2030] [Publication: Global Diagnostic on Groundwater Governance] [IISD RS Story on World Water Forum]