UN agency publishes first world map of shared aquifers

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Forty-three countries in Europe and the Mediterranean rim will meet in the Jordanian Dead Sea resort town of Sweimeh next week for a conference on water, the French ecology ministry said on Wednesday. The talks aim at setting down "the first concrete projects" following a Mediterranean summit, staged in Paris in July under the chairmanship of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is also current head of the European Union (EU). The meeting will also seek to set down guidelines for a long-term strategy for tackling maritime pollution, access to sanitation and management of freshwater resources. Water scarcity is a worsening problem around the coast of the Mediterrean, driven by population growth, pollution, waste and climate change.

by Staff Writers
Paris (AFP) Oct 22, 2008
The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) on Wednesday published the first global map of cross-border aquifers with the aim of helping management of a precious and often-threatened resource.

The inventory comprises 273 aquifers that straddle internal or international boundaries.

Aquifers are sponge-like underground rock that hold water.

They exist on all continents but some, such as those in in North Africa, the Arabian peninsula and the western United States, were formed more than 10,000 years ago when the climate was more humid and are no longer being replenished.

Burgeoning populations and extensive irrigation are fuelling concerns for these aquifers and some experts fear the risk of future "water wars" between rival states.

The map can be accessed on (http://www.whymap.org/nn_354300/whymap/EN/Downloads/Global__maps/globalmaps__node__en.html?__nnn=true).

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