Initiative

Groundwater Resources Assessment: UNESCO and the Netherlands renew their partnership

The renewal agreement of the designation of the International Groundwater Resources Assessment Center (IGRAC, established at Delft, The Netherlands, since 2011) as a Category 2 centre under the auspices of UNESCO was signed for a further six years during the Closing session of the second International UNESCO Conference on Transboundary Aquifers ISARM2021. The signing of the renewal agreement is a new chapter in a long-standing and successful cooperation between the Government of the Netherlands and UNESCO. "This new agreement underlines the importance of the existence of an independent global groundwater centre. Awareness about the importance of groundwater is increasing, given the fact that groundwater is the main theme for World Water Day 2022, and IGRAC hopes to grow its capacity in the next six years to accommodate this increased quest for responsible groundwater management", said Neno Kukuric, Director of IGRAC. Actually, during 2022, IGRAC, together with UNESCO, will jointly coordinate on behalf of UN-Water, the campaign and celebrations for the World Water Day, under the theme "Groundwater: Making the invisible visible". In continuity of the ongoing close cooperation, IGRAC and UNESCO will work together throughout the coming year to prepare groundwater-related events, culminating in the UN-Water Summit on Groundwater that will take place in December 2022 at UNESCO Headquarters.

UNESCO – IGRAC