UNDP's global environment facility international waters portfolio: Possible linkages to isotope hydrology tools and applications

Full text follows: The Global Environment Facility (GEF), in addition to serving as the financial mechanism for the Biodiversity, Climate Change, POPs and Desertification Conventions, is also a major source of funding for programs that assist groups of countries to manage their shared water resources - river basins, groundwater, enclosed seas and Large Marine Ecosystems - more sustainably and equitably. The GEF assists countries with improving their understanding of the functioning of transboundary waters to inform governance reforms targeting priority environmental issues. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is one of the Implementing Agencies of the GEF and has a GEF International Waters portfolio totaling over $500 million, including co-financing. This presentation will provide an overview of UNDP-GEF's International Waters portfolio, highlighting key waterbodies, issues and strategies being developed and implemented to address transboundary environmental problems. The focus will be on waterbodies where isotope hydrology applications are already being applied or could prove useful to improve scientific understanding of critical waterbody processes. (author)