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Background and Objectives of WUEMoCA

(according to a predefined set of frequently asked questions FAQs)

What does WUEMoCA stand for?

WUEMoCA is the acronym for Water Use Efficiency Monitor in Central Asia.

What are the WUEMoCA features at a glance?

Who is the customer/end user of the WUEMoCA tool?

(For whom is the WUEMoCA tool intended?)

What are indicators and what is the reason for their implementation into WUEMoCA?

Indicators to be applied by water and land management organizations and professionals in dealing with routine tasks, analyzing the situation and for planning, and drafting reports

Indicators relevant in:

• Estimating performance of irrigated agriculture within the boundaries of an irrigation system, a district, a province, and riparian countries in Central Asia
• Comparing irrigation systems (by hydrology, productivity, others) in different regions of riparian countries (e.g., Fergana valley)
• Identifying problem spots (e.g., highest risk of drought, continous water scarcity, etc.)
• Identifying consistent trends of effectiveness improvement, and set reasonable development goals
• Monitoring performance of irrigation systems over time (annual, inter-annual, intra-annual, seasonally, etc.)

"In terms of water accounting, the proposed system of indiators helps to have a clearer picture of water distribution in river basins, enhance ground-based monitoring with Remote Sensing products, and to improve data accuracy. With this system we can understand where the water goes and where it is used." (Anatoly and Denis Sorokin, SIC-ICWC, 18th May, 2016)

1. Managers of water-management organizations may use this system of indicators for:
2. Identifying ways to save water and improve water productivity,
3. Assessing the effectiveness and equitability of water distribution among users,
4. Identifying additional resources (water sources), including water transfers from one zone to another,
5. Identifying trade-offs for regulation of water withdrawals from transboundary and local sources, and
6. Refining principles (rules) of distribution to minimize (or avoid) conflicts.

What are indicators and why to use it?

Simple, developed (based on validated data) measures that serve as practical and economic numerical values on tghe state of a complex system (e.g., environment, land use, water management) over time in order to reveal the "system's operating trend"

Definition from the USEPA (....)

"An environmental indicator is a numerical value that helps provide insight into the state of the environment or human health. Indicators are developed based on quantitaive measurements or statistics of environmental condition that are tracked over time. Environmental indicators can be developed and used at a wide variety of geographic scales, from local to regional to national levels."

Definition from the European Environmental Agency (EEA, 2016)

"A parameter or a value derived from parameters that describe the state of the environment and its impact on human beings, ecosystems and materials, the pressure on the environment, the driving forces and the responses steering that system. An indicator has gone through a selection and/or aggregation process to enable it to steer action."

Indicators are designed to (EEA, eoearth.org, 2008):

• assess trends
• compare places and situations
• provide simplified data
• monitor progress
• identify performance issues
• provide early warning information
• answer key policy questions
• support all phases of environmental policy/decision making and program planing   

Indicators are classified as follows and help to answer (EEA):

• Descriptive indicators: What is happening?
• Performance indicators: Does it matter? Are we reaching targest?
• Efficiency indicators: Are we improving?
• Policy effectiveness indicators: Are the measures working?
• Total welfare indicators: Are we, on the whole, better off?

Effective indicators are (eoearth.org, 2008):

• relevant; they show something about the system that you need to know
• easy to understand, even by people who are not experts
• reliable; you can trust the information that the indicator is providing
• based on accessible data; the information is available or can be gathered while there is still time to act

What indicators are implemented in WUEMoCA?

Currently, 10 indicators are implemented in WUEMoCA (as of January 2017). These are: crop diversity, crop rotation, fallow land frequency, farm gross output actual, irrigated acreage per crop, irrigated land use per crop, major land use, net irrigated area, temporary unused irrigable land, and yield.