The Global Environment Monitoring System in Relation to Lagoon Management

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1 The Global Environment Monitoring System in Relation to Lagoon Management Greg Beechinor UNEP GEMS/Water Capacity Development Centre, University College Cork

2 The GEMS/Water programme: The Global Environment Monitoring System for Water Established in s early 1990s (Run by WHO on behalf of UNEP with the support of Environment Canada) 1990s-2014 (run and supported by Environment Canada on behalf of UNEP) 2014 UNEP revitalised the programme with the support of the Governments of Ireland and Germany

3 The GEMS/Water programme: New structure Ireland - GEMS/Water Capacity Development Centre Germany - GEMS/Water Data Centre Nairobi, Kenya UN Environment, Global Programme Co-ordination Unit ANA Brasilia, Brazil - Regional Hubs

4 The GEMS/Water programme: Capacity Development Centre Determining current monitoring activities and requirements for capacity development for water quality monitoring globally Scoping workshops Training workshops Country visits and discussions with relevant agencies

5 The GEMS/Water programme: Current status GEMS/Water works globally through government nominated National Focal Points The GPCU in Nairobi is currently reestablishing old focal points and encouraging new focal points where none existed before

6 The GEMS/Water programme: Capacity Development Centre Training in water quality monitoring On-line and regional training courses Training the trainers programme

7 The GEMS/Water programme: Capacity Development Centre

8 The GEMS/Water programme: Capacity Development Centre

9 The GEMS/Water programme: Freshwater monitoring programme

10 The GEMS/Water programme: From data to information Data visualization Interactive maps Water quality reports Water quality indices

11 The GEMS/Water programme: Exploring new sources of water quality data SPONGE Spaceborne Observations to Nourish Gemstat Lakes from five different countries (Guatemala, Ghana, Finland, Japan and Tanzania) GEMS/Water data is being used for the calibration and validation of earth observations Feeding data into GEMStat C2RCC backscattering index (right) for the Anabaena Sp. bloom in Lake Atitlan, August

12 The GEMS/Water programme: SPONGE Japanese lake Kasumigaura

13 The GEMS/Water programme: Data sharing Promoting free and unrestricted exchange of water quality data Revision of GEMS/Water Data policy Open: Data is publicly available Limited: Data is shared on written request for non-commercial research Restricted: Data is not shared but used for UN assessments and data products Supporting the development and promoting the use of open international data and metadata exchange standards

14 The GEMS/Water programme: Monitoring Lagoon systems Rational Parameter selection In situ measurement Earth observations Data analysis & presentation Turning monitoring data into useful information

15 The GEMS/Water programme: Monitoring Lagoon systems For different objectives a different sampling regime may need to be considered. Consideration needs to be given to different sampling depths - vertical profiles

16 The GEMS/Water programme: Defining a lagoon Nixon (1982) considered any attempt to define a coastal lagoons as ultimately unsatisfying Barnes (1989) defined coastal lagoons as shallow bodies of open, brackish or sea water partially separated from the adjacent coastal sea by a barrier of sand or shingle Barnes (1999) described lagoons simply as a no-mans land between land and sea. European Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) defines lagoons as expanses of shallow coastal salt water of varying salinity and/or water volume, wholly or partially separated from the sea by sand banks or shingle or less frequently by rocks. Salinity may vary from brackish to hyper saline depending on hydrological balance e.g. rainfall, evaporation, through the addition of fresh sea water from storms temporary flooding by the sea in winter or tidal exchange

17 The GEMS/Water programme: Defining a lagoon Bamber et al., (2001) used a similar definition to the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) but specified that at low tide a portion of water in the lagoon must be retained Lagoons are notoriously difficult to define as the extent of their marine, freshwater and terrestrial influences vary temporally and spatially and is unique to each individual lagoon.

18 The GEMS/Water programme: Monitoring Lagoon systems The degree of sensitivity of a lagoon to changes in water quality will be determined by : (1) The type of lagoon (i.e level of exchange with the sea) and its size (2) Communities and species present

19 The GEMS/Water programme: Lagoons need to be protected The characteristics of many lagoons (high retention times, fine sediment, stratification) suggest that once impacted they may be slow to recover. Changes in water quality can have impacts for some time and become self-perpetuating In terms of a management response, studies have shown that if the main source of input was removed (considered impractical anyway) the system could continue to be eutrophic for 15 years (Hodgkin and Birch, 1986)

20 The GEMS/Water programme: Lagoons need to be protected Lagoons are vulnerable Water quality impacts within lagoons need to be identified as early as possible Precautionary approach is required to interpreting and acting on information that may indicate an impact on a lagoon system

21 The GEMS/Water programme: Monitoring Lagoon systems Rational Parameter selection In situ measurement Earth observations Data analysis & presentation

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