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| FAO AQUASTAT | |
|---|---|
| Name | AQUASTAT |
| Formation | 1992 |
| Type | Programme |
| Headquarters | Rome |
| Parent organization | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations |
FAO AQUASTAT
FAO AQUASTAT is the global water information system of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations providing data, analyses and maps on water resources, irrigation and water use for agriculture. It supports international actors such as United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme and regional bodies like European Union, African Union, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Economic Community of West African States in planning, reporting and policy formulation. AQUASTAT's outputs inform frameworks including the Sustainable Development Goals, the Ramsar Convention, the Paris Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity.
AQUASTAT compiles country-level and basin-level information on freshwater availability, water withdrawals, irrigation, drainage, reservoirs and transboundary water cooperation for nations such as Brazil, India, China, United States, Egypt and Australia. The system integrates statistics and indicators used by organizations like United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, World Health Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, International Fund for Agricultural Development, Global Water Partnership and International Water Management Institute. Its datasets are used alongside geospatial products from European Space Agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, United States Geological Survey, Copernicus Programme and Group on Earth Observations.
AQUASTAT was launched by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in the early 1990s following initiatives and meetings involving entities such as the World Commission on Environment and Development, the International Joint Commission (US–Canada), the Global Environment Facility and national agencies including United States Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Water Resources (India), Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística and Bureau of Statistics (Egypt). Key milestones include integration with projects by International Water Management Institute, linkage to the Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database and method standardization influenced by reports from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme and World Meteorological Organization. Technological evolution incorporated contributions from International Space Science Institute, Joint Research Centre (European Commission), Esri, OpenStreetMap Foundation and national hydrographic services.
AQUASTAT gathers data via country questionnaires, official statistics and remote sensing, collaborating with agencies such as National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, China Meteorological Administration, Indian Space Research Organisation, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Canadian Space Agency. Methodologies reference hydrological models and standards from Global Water System Project, HydroSHEDS, WaterGAP, PCR-GLOBWB, FAO's WaPOR and scientific literature by authors affiliated with CIMMYT, ICARDA, IRRI and CGIAR. Quality control involves peer review from institutions like The World Academy of Sciences, Academia Sinica, Royal Society, National Academy of Sciences (US), Académie des sciences (France) and regional centers such as Asian Development Bank and Inter-American Development Bank.
Major outputs include the global irrigation maps, country profiles, basin fact sheets, water withdrawal time series and statistical tables used by United Nations Statistics Division, UN Water, Global Runoff Data Centre, AQUASTAT Indicators, FAOSTAT and the FAO publications on irrigation and drainage. Geospatial layers are interoperable with platforms like Google Earth Engine, ArcGIS Online, QGIS, GeoServer and portals run by European Environment Agency and UNEP-WCMC. The database supports reporting to mechanisms such as Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, HydroSOS initiatives, World Water Development Report and indicator monitoring for SDG 6.
Policymakers in ministries (e.g., Ministry of Agriculture (Brazil), Department of Water Resources (California)) and multilateral donors like Asian Development Bank, African Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development rely on AQUASTAT for project design, investment appraisal, and drought planning alongside research institutions including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, University of California, Berkeley and Chinese Academy of Sciences. Non-governmental actors such as World Wildlife Fund, The Nature Conservancy, Oxfam International, CARE International, International Committee of the Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières utilize the data for humanitarian response, resilience-building and ecosystem restoration projects like those promoted by Global Environment Facility and Green Climate Fund.
Governance involves FAO headquarters in Rome, technical advisory input from organizations including International Water Association, International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage, World Wildlife Fund, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations regional offices and national statistical offices such as Office for National Statistics (UK), Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques (France), Statistisches Bundesamt (Germany). Partnerships span donors and collaborators like Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, United States Agency for International Development, Department for International Development (UK), Norad, KfW and research consortia such as Future Earth, PLuS Alliance and Global Water Futures.
Critiques of AQUASTAT note issues echoed by experts at Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development and think tanks like Chatham House, Bruegel, Brookings Institution and International Institute for Environment and Development: reliance on self-reported national data from agencies such as National Statistics Office (Philippines), Central Bureau of Statistics (Indonesia), Kenya National Bureau of Statistics can lead to inconsistencies, gaps and time lags; spatial resolution limits challenge integration with high-resolution data from Sentinel programme and Landsat. Methodological debates reference publications from Nature, Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and critiques by analysts at Stockholm International Water Institute and World Resources Institute concerning indicator definitions, uncertainty quantification and comparability across basins like Nile River, Mekong River, Amazon River and Indus River.
Category:Water resources management