International activities

International activities, liaisons and partners

ISARM-Americas, UNESCO/OAS

The ISARM Program (Internationally Shared Aquifer Resources Management) is an initiative launched in 2000 as part of UNESCO's International Hydrological Programme, adopted Resolution N° XIV-12. By this Resolution, the Intergovernmental Council decided to launch an initiative to promote studies with regard to transboundary aquifers worldwide.

Close cooperation for this initiative was established with UNECE, OAS, UNESCWA, FAO, IAH and other international institutions. The first phase of the project focused on inventories of the main transboundary aquifers in different regions of the world.

More recently, the UN general assembly adopted the Resolution A/RES/63/124 on the “Law of transboundary aquifers” (December 2008). With this Resolution, the UN General Assembly ‘Encourages aquifers States to make appropriate bilateral or regional arrangements for the proper management of their transboundary aquifers, taking into account the provisions of these draft articles'.

The NRCan Groundwater program was first invited to participate in the ISARM-Americas group in 2005 and it has been a member of that group since then. As a result of this participation, the program has so far identified ten transboundary aquifers systems (TAS) across the Canada-US border, three of which have been or are currently being assessed by the program.

The participation of the program has been extremely valuable in learning of the works on TAS going on in the other countries in the American hemisphere and comparing with the Canadian experience. This participation benefits the NRCan's Groundwater Geoscience Program's main goal and outcome, namely the inventory of the groundwater resources of Canada, which in this case, include the international aquifers crossing the boundaries with our southern neighbor.

Contacts/liaisons: A Rivera, C. Rivard, H. Russell, D. Sharpe, S. Pullan

U.S. Geological Survey

Environment Canada - U. S. Geological Survey - Geological Survey of Canada technical exchanges.

USGS-GSC work on transboundary aquifers along the Canada-American border.

Other initiatives for potential cooperation are currently in planning process, e.g., groundwater within the Great Lake Basin.

Contacts/liaisons: A Rivera, C. Rivard, B. Brodaric, R. Fernandes

IHP Canadian Committee (International Hydrological Programme, UNESCO)

The International Hydrological Programme (IHP) is the flagship intergovernmental program of UNESCO in the field of water sciences and water resources management. The program is aimed to serve Member States by expanding their knowledge of the various processes (physical, ecological, cultural, economical and/or social) that govern or regulate water quality, distribution in space and time, and interactions with natural and anthropogenic systems. In this context, the IHP is a scientific cooperative program with the ultimate goal of supporting Member States to implement sound water management.

The Groundwater Geoscience Program participates as member of the IHP Canadian Committee (CNC-IHP) led by Environment Canada. Among other activities, the program has helped the CNC-IHP in defining a Canadian perspective in consultations with Member States and other key partners to be undertaken as part of the process of defining the Eighth Phase of the International Hydrological Programme (IHP-VIII, 2014-2019) of UNESCO.

Over the past few years, the program has also helped the CNC-IAH in preparing the Report of the Canadian Delegation to the IHP-Council.

Contacts/liaisons: A Rivera

GEF IW:Science, Groundwater Task Group

Enhancing the Use of Science in International Waters Projects to Improve Project Results

The IW:Science Project aims to enhance - through knowledge integration and information sharing - the use of science in the International Waters projects of the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

The Project GEF IW: Science started in 2009 and covers the five main areas in the GEF International Waters portfolio: Surface Water; Lakes; Groundwater; Coastal waters; and Deep Oceans. For each of these areas, a Working Group has been formed.

The project's objective is to enhance - through knowledge integration and information-sharing tools - the use of science in the GEF IW focal area to strengthen priority setting, knowledge sharing, and results-based, adaptive management in current and future projects. The project has three components, namely:

1. Understanding and documenting, for future analysis and reference, the scientific experience and scientific best practices from the IW project portfolio.
2. Undertaking and reporting a comparative, cross-sectoral assessment of IW science, identifying intended users and impacts, contemporary scientific challenges, research and science-policy gaps, emerging issues, and global-scale impacts.
3. Creating an IW scientific learning network for information sharing and mutual learning among IW projects and with the wider water science community.

The Groundwater Geocience Program was invited to participate in one of the GEF groups, the Groundwater Task Group, since 2009.

The activities of the working group consist mainly of two components:

1. Identifying and documenting science as used in GEF IW projects; and
2. Analyzing the use of science in the selected set of GEF IW projects.

The work includes the analysis of a set of core questions and thematic issues. The results of the analysis by the experts in the group are then summarized and presented in an analysis report to GEF.

This invitation follows the program's involvement representing Canada over the last five years at the UNESCO-ISARM workshop of the Americas. This workshop is designed to hold substantive and detailed discussions needed to convert written contributions and summaries into a consistent and meaningful output that does justice to both the scientific practices in groundwater-related GEF projects and the state of affairs in today's international groundwater-related science. This representation contributes to the NRCan/ESS's Department Strategic Outcome 2.0 (Environmental responsibility) as well as to the program's long-term outcome (…when resolving transboundary water issues). It is also an opportunity to influence the international communities.

Contacts/liaisons: A. Rivera

Group on Earth Observations (GEO)

Canada-GEO-US-GEO Bilateral Coordination Meetings.

Strategic planning for future projects, e.g., water/drought related.

Contacts/liaison: R. Fernandes

GIN

Cross-border Groundwater Data Interoperability (with the US Geological Survey)

A goal of the GIN project of the Groundwater Geoscience Program is to improve access to groundwater data that can be used to manage Canada's groundwater resources. This activity involves collaboration with the USGS and GEOSS to advance cross-border interoperability of groundwater data, through the development of common methods, technologies and data standards. The USGS has embarked on a pilot information system that is analogous to the GSC-led Groundwater Information Network, and GEOSS is demonstrating cross-border water data sharing. This work will foster compatibility between systems, as well as explore the leveraging of resources to achieve common goals.

International Water Data Standards (Open Geospatial Consortium & World Meteorological Organization)

The GIN project of the Groundwater Geoscience Program relies heavily on national and international data standards to achieve its mandate of improving access to groundwater data. This activity involves participation in teams that are developing international standards used by GIN specifically for groundwater observation data.

International Water Data Systems (AU Water Information Research and Development Alliance [WIRADA] and the International Association of Mathematical Geology [IAMG])

This activity involves interaction with international web-based data systems for geology, hydrogeology, and water data systems, to increase expertise that can be transferred to the GIN project of the Groundwater Geoscience Program. Activities involve evaluation of systems and approaches as well as conference attendance.

Contacts/liaison: B. Brodaric, E. Boisvert

GRACE Science Team

The GRACE group in NRCan has been an active member of the international GRACE Science Team since 2002. At its early stage, the group was recognized by the GRACE Science Team for its contribution to the validation of GRACE models using Canadian geodetic observations (gravity, GPS and levelling). In return, the group was provided access to the GRACE models which were available only to its members. This access benefits NRCan substantially through contribution to two programs and one service of the Earth Science Sector. One of the GRACE applications is studying groundwater variation over the Great Lakes Basin under Phase 2 of the GGP. For the last three years, the group has developed a state-of-the-art method and software for the processing of the time-varying GRACE gravity models. It has demonstrated that GRACE is able to monitor groundwater storage change in the Great Lakes Basin. Monitoring of trans-boundary water reservoirs such as the Great Lakes Basin provides us comprehensive and direct information for sustainable development of these shared water resources by Canada and USA.

Continuous participation into GRACE Science Team through its annual meeting is a key activity of this group to interact with the international GRACE team as this annual meeting provides a unique opportunity to track the status of GRACE mission, new processing standards, new products and other technical updates.

Contacts/liaison: J.Huang