What is Watersheds of the World?
Watersheds of the World provides maps of land cover, population density and biodiversity for 154 basins and sub-basins around the world. It lists indicators and variables for each of these basins and, where appropriate, provides links and references to relevant information. It further contains 20 global maps portraying relevant water resources issues. As such, it is a crucial reference for anyone working on water management worldwide.

This collection is designed to provide easy access to essential data and information at the basin level to support and promote the integrated management of water resources, and to increase the participation of stakeholders in the decision-making processes. It ultimate goal is to promote resource management that allows for socially equitable economic development, and the sustainability of healthy ecosystems and their dependent species.

Where does this data come from?
The information in this special collection is provided by the Water Resources eAtlas, a collaborative product of WRI, IUCN, IWMI, and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. The Water Resources eAtlas embodies an ongoing effort to link, integrate and communicate information on water resources management. EarthTrends has based this collection on the Watersheds of the World Online, the first contribution to the eAtlas.

Why do we need data and information at the basin level?
Functioning freshwater ecosystems form the basis for the generation of multiple goods and services that humans depend on, from clean water to fisheries and flood protection. Historical and current approaches to water management have been and still are, for the most part, fragmented and sectoral. An appropriate freshwater management regime needs to integrate the complex biophysical interactions between ecosystems, and species with the political, economic and development objectives of each country or region. This, “ecosystem approach” requires that ecological units be managed in their entirety. Freshwater management thus imposes a river basin delineation to water management, including the management and consideration of the different habitat types and ecosystems in a particular basin.

Reliable data and information at the basin level are essential to manage water for people while sustaining functioning ecosystems, especially when dealing with international transboundary basins. Unfortunately most data, information, and synthesized knowledge on water resources and freshwater biodiversity are currently inaccessible to a broad group of users. Although some sector-oriented data are available, they are often not available at the basin level, are of variable quality, or of inconsistent resolutions. Their limited access currently restricts their use in an integrated way by a large group of stakeholders. This contrasts sharply with the great demand for information from policy makers, water managers, and NGOs to support their efforts and engage in dialogues within basins in a gradual move toward more integrated and sustainable water resources management.

Please Refer to the Water Resources eAtlas site for more information.