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Decision Support Systems

Decision Support Systems (DSS) aim at structuring and simplifying data and outputs processed with other ICT's in order to generate insightful information, which can then be used to guide the decision-making process at strategic level. Advanced decision-support functionalities are synthesized using business analytics and optimization processes in order to convey high-level information. Decision support systems constitute an important operational interface between science, management and policy.

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Effective Communication of Flood Risk Information for Improved Decision Making in Rakhine State, Myanmar

Problem Description / Relevance to Water Security: 

Rakhine State receives stormy weather from the Bay of Bengal in the monsoon seasons, resulting in heavy precipitation between May and October each year. Flooding is a common threat for Rakhine. Mountains on the western part of the state often contribute to occurrences of flash floods while extreme flows from several rivers in the state caused riverine flooding almost annually. One of the worst floods in the State’s recorded history took place in July and August 2015 during the aftermath of Cyclone Komen, which also triggered devastating landslides throughout the country.

ICT Application / Outcome: 

In Rakhine State, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with technical partnership of the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) and the Myanmar Engineering Society (MES), initiated an activity in 2011 to assess and map the risk from possible disasters in Rakhine State including flood, earthquake, tsunami, cyclone, storm surge, landslide and forest fire. While the other types of hazards are impactful for the state, this study focuses on floods.

Environmental Management Plan for the Lake Uromiyeh Ecosystem, Iran

Problem Description / Relevance to Water Security: 

Lake Uromiyeh is shallow (6-8 m deep) and has no outflow, so all the precipitation falling in the basin evaporates either from the land or from the lake itself. The evaporating water leaves the dissolved salts behind. The actual salinity depends on the amount of water in the lake, i.e. the lake level. These circumstances led to the development of a relatively simple ecology, populated by salt-loving organisms at each level of the food chain.

ICT Application / Outcome: 

The principles of integrated water management were applied. The key tool in it was a decision support system (DSS) that combined data from all related fields.

The advantage of using a DSS in integrated water resources management is that it provides the possibility of testing outcomes of different water allocation schemes, i.e. of different scenarios.

The DSS for Lake Uromiyeh incorporated several software tools, comprising four major logical units (Figure 2).

GIS Based Communication Platform for the Sustainable Management of Transboundary Water Resources in Lithuania, Poland, Belarus and Kaliningrad Region (Russia)

Problem Description / Relevance to Water Security: 

Pregolya and the Neman rivers are heavily affected by anthropogenic pressures in all four countries. The lack of basin wide information on pressures and current ecological and chemical status of water bodies is an important issue for the sustainable management in the region. Due to the political situation in the region the sustainable transboundary management of river basins was limited. So far the planning of water resources was usually based only on national data.

ICT Application / Outcome: 

A GIS database consisting of 12 transboundary GIS layers (Table 1) and more than 100 attribute fields was created. The database content is based on national information. The information for different countries was obtained from various sources: official GIS maps, official statistical data, digitized paper maps, reports, literature, etc. The long list of sources meant that the detail level of the map was diverse. The data harmonization was necessary to provide the unified basin wide information layers.

Remote Sensing Based Agricultural Drought Monitoring and Yield Loss Prediction Method

Problem Description / Relevance to Water Security: 

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and Global Water Partnership (GWP) have launched a joint Integrated Drought Management Programme (IDMP) in March 2013, to improve monitoring and prevention of one of the world’s greatest natural hazards. GWP is responding to the climate change challenge through a portfolio of programmes and projects aimed at building climate resilience through better water management (Kindler and Thalmeinerova 2012).

ICT Application / Outcome: 

The case study has three important steps, which correspond and relate to each other in hierarchical way.

Using ICTs to Link Spatial Planning and Management Approaches for Coastal, River Basin, and Marine Areas

Problem Description / Relevance to Water Security: 

Coastal zone pressures cannot be effectively assessed within a geographic coverage limited to coastal zones: both upstream activities at river basin level and marine activities impact environmental conditions in the coastal area. The latter are also naturally shaped by the material and energy transfers between coastal and surrounding ecosystems (e.g. sediment transport, water quality, storm surges, river discharge, floods).

ICT Application / Outcome: 

Integrated approaches to managing resources, pressures and impacts, have received considerable attention at river basin (Integrated River Basin Management / IRBM) and coastal area (Integrated Coastal Zone Management / ICZM) levels, within the overall framework of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).

Water in Central Asia Knowledge Base

Problem Description / Relevance to Water Security: 

Given the utmost importance of water resources for economies, people and ecosystems, a lot of water-related scientific and practical activities are taking place in Central Asia. A wealth of smart and locally adapted solutions, methods, and techniques are accumulated in scientific and research institutions. However, the use of these research outputs in practice is inadequate. This is mainly due to limited access to available knowledge and absence of effective knowledge transfer mechanisms.

ICT Application / Outcome: 

To deliver transboundary water security and sustainable water management in Central Asia, SIC ICWC builds on its strengths in the four areas: 1) Research and expert advice, 2) Data and Information, 3) Capacity building, and 4) Communication and Networking. All these areas of activities feed into and make use of a water-related knowledge base, which was developed to make better use of knowledge accumulated from field works, scientific research and water-related projects in Central Asia.