European Commission unveils tool to guide global water policy

The European Commission on Monday launched a new interactive tool to better guide European and global policies concerning the world's surface water.

Named the "Global Surface Water Explorer," the tool aims to improve European and global policies, for example, on climate change and water management and highlights changes in the Earth's surface water over the past 32 years.

The new online interactive mapping tool was co-produced by the Commission's Joint Research Centre and Google Earth Engine, based on over three million satellite scenes collected between 1984 and 2015.

The maps revealed that many of these changes are linked to human activities such as the construction of dams, river diversion and unregulated water use. Other changes can be attributed to climate change impacts, including droughts and accelerated snow and glacier melt caused by higher temperatures and increased rainfall.

The information contained in the maps will help policymakers better design and monitor measures to prevent and mitigate the amount of flooding, water scarcity and droughts that has been increasing in some parts of the EU, according to a press release of the Commission.

It said that while the maps show an increase in surface water across Europe due to dam construction and changes in surface water management and storage, parts of Asia have recorded important decreases. Over 70 percent of the net loss is concentrated in just five countries: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Afghanistan and Iraq. Endit