OECD Workshop on Improving the information base to better guide water resource management decision making

The OECD (2009) report Managing Water for All: An OECD perspective on pricing and financing, recognises that the knowledge, science and monitoring of hydrology, environmental and water resource management linkages is less well developed than have been the advances in water policies. The continuation of this disconnect runs the risk that decision makers and other water system stakeholders are poorly informed and that policies are inadequately implemented and evaluated. These gaps in knowledge, science and monitoring are compounded as water resource management enter an era of uncertainty, greater variability and higher risks as a result of climate change, population pressures, increasing demand to meet environmental needs and other drivers.

It is against this background, and within the broader context of the OECD's Horizontal Water Programme that OECD in cooperation with the Spanish hosts - the Government of Aragon's International Center for Water and Environment - is organising a Workshop on Improving the Information Base to Better Inform Water Resource Management Decision Making.

The objectives of the Workshop are to:

• identify decision makers' and other water system stakeholders priorities for developing and using policy relevant water resource management data and information;
• review the extent to which the current work in OECD and non-OECD countries (in particular, both "Accession" and "Enhanced Engagement" non-OECD countries) in developing water resource management data and other related information meets the needs of decision makers and other water system stakeholders;
• discuss possible areas of improvement in water resource management datasets and information, that can serve the future needs of decision makers and other water system stakeholders; and,
• outline key ways forward for countries and the OECD Secretariat that will be needed in order to make progress in future water resource management data collection and dissemination.