October 2017: The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has established the HydroHub, a capacity building programme and platform for promoting water monitoring capabilities and data exchange. The platform comprises an observation system, known as WHYCOS, and a Global Innovation Hub, which facilitates the exchange of hydrological information to support decision making.

WMO reports that water scarcity affects over 40% of the world’s population, and that floods occurring between 1995 and 2015 cost the world economy approximately US$662 billion. The HydroHub addresses these issues by helping countries manage water scarcity and flood-related issues. The platform was developed to promote affordable monitoring technologies and approaches such as crowdsourcing and citizen observations.

WMO reports that water scarcity affects over 40% of the world’s population.

In addition to commitments made in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), the Hub responds to targets under the Sustainable Development Goal on clean water and sanitation (SDG 6). It focuses particularly on increasing the efficiency of water use (target 6.4), implementing integrated water resource management (target 6.5), and transboundary cooperation, and expanding international cooperation and support for capacity building in developing countries (target 6.A).

In an article published in the Environment Management Group (EMG) newsletter, WMO reports that the HydroHub will strengthen engagement with sectoral groups that need hydrological data to manage their operations, including the energy, agriculture and transportation sectors. The HydroHub is supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. [WMO HydroHub Web Page] [HydroHub Fact Sheet] [WHYCOS] [WMO Website] [The Environment Management Group Newsletter Oct-Dec 2017]