The project consists mostly of updating the watershed basin maps produced in 2007 by GRID-Geneva for the UNECE's First Assessment of Transboundary Rivers, Lakes and Groundwaters by adding information related to land cover, population and water.  Although some of this information will appear on the maps, it will mainly be shown on a series of graphs.  Maps for additional transboundary rivers and lakes will be created and added to the existing set.   

 

The project has four distinct components mentioned below:

- GIS component to extract, manipulate and analyze the data.  

- Programming component to automate some tasks.  

- Cartographic component to update existing maps and create new ones.  

- Graphic design component to produce the graphs.

In May 2010, DEWA/GRID-Geneva is planning to initiate a new country reporting process “Mainstreaming Environmental Governance: Linking Local and National Action in Bosnia and Herzegovina” (BiH). Working in cooperation with UNEP, FAO, UNDP, UNESCO and UNV, it will address and overcome barriers to delivering environmental services and management at the local level in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The project will be carried out in a “bottom-up”, collaborative and consultative style, much like its parent products, UNEP’s series of Global Environment Outlook (GEO) assessment reports at the global level.

A combination of country visits, training workshops and processes to develop integrated environment assessments (IEAs) and early warning products/reports on emerging issues and environmental changes (e.g., atlases based on remote sensing studies), and the capabilities for conducting/producing the same at sub-regional and national levels, are carried out in the 2010-11 biennium under the Environmental Governance sub-programme and Expected Accomplishment (EA) -d- projects 3 and 4, respectively on “Environmental Networking” and “Capacity Development” by DEWA/GRID~Geneva and close partners.

During the second half of 2002, a new Initiative under the theme of “Environment and Security” was begun by UNEP’s Regional Office for Europe (ROE), supported by DEWA/GRID~Geneva and other UNEP units.  The general purpose of this project, which continues to be carried out in collaboration with several partners (OSCE, UNDP, NATO’s “Partnership for Peace” programme, the REC-Szentendre and UNECE), is to identify linkages between major environmental concerns and issues within European sub-regions and countries, and existing or potential security problems which impact on peoples and states.  DEWA/GRID~Geneva has long supported this Initiative at both the conceptual/management and technical levels, by taking part in Advisory and Management Board meetings and sub-regional et al. workshops, as well as through on-line research, preparation of digital cartographic products which demonstrate existing environmental concerns, issues and related policy measures, and maintenance of the ENVSEC website (http://www.envsec.org).

UNEP first began undertaking “GEO-Cities” style-assessments, generally following the IEA/Global Environment Outlook approach, in numerous Latin American and Caribbean cities since the early 2000s.  By midway through the decade, efforts had been made to expand the “GEO-Cities” approach to other developing and transitional regions in Africa, Asia & Pacific, Europe and West Asia.  A number of European cities have already been covered by this project since 2005, including Baku (Azerbaijan; not completed), Donetsk (Ukraine) and Yerevan (and two smaller cities in Armenia).  For 2010-11, two additional cities have been selected:  Tbilisi (Georgia) under ENVSEC project funding from OSCE, and Tirana (Albania) using funds previously provided by the Belgian counterpart project.

In early 2004, DEWA/GRID-geneva along with the Regional Office for Europe (ROE) initiated a new sub-regional reporting process, the Carpathian Environment Outlook (KEO), following a request of the Czech Minister of Environment for such an activity. The KEO report will be an integrated environment assessment (IEA) and sub-regional examination and synthesis of the environmental situation in the greater Carpathian region, that includes parts of seven countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia & Montenegro, the Slovak Republic and Ukraine).  

KEO is being carried out in a “bottom-up”, collaborative and consultative style, much like its parent products, UNEP’s series of Global Environment Outlook (GEO) assessment reports at the global level.

In early 2009, DEWA/GRID-Geneva along with the Regional Office for Europe (ROE) initiated a new sub-regional reporting process, the Dinaric Arc and Balkans Environment Outlook (DABEO). The DABEO report will be an integrated environment assessment (IEA) and sub-regional examination and synthesis of the environmental situation in the Balkan mountainous region that includes parts of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Greece, (Kosovo), Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia.  

DABEO is being carried out in a “bottom-up”, collaborative and consultative style, much like its parent products, UNEP’s series of Global Environment Outlook (GEO) assessment reports at the global level.