Poster: Applying Environmental Flows through BioMonitoring and Rapid Ecological Assessment

Matthews Mary UNDP-GEF Kura Aras Project "Reducing Transboundary Degradation in the Kura Ara(k)s River Basin" environmental flows, biomonitoring, rapid ecological assessment, kura river basin, project-to-project learning Applying environmental flows through rapid ecological assessment and biomonitoring in the Kura River Basin The UNDP/GEF Kura-Aras project is executing a demonstration project component focusing on helping the project countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia – to develop guidelines for establishing environmental flows, in view of increasing socio-economic demands for water as well climate change. To date, a four-day Capacity Raising Training has been organized for regional governments, science and NGO representatives, increasing their understanding of the key principles of Rapid Ecological Assessment, Environmental Flows and Bio-monitoring as well as options for their application in the Kura-Aras basin. Field surveys were initiated in the three countries to collect integrated data on the state of the abiotic and biotic riverine wetland zone. The data aim to allow the evaluation of scenarios of both flow change (i.e., change in the volume and timing of water) and non-flow related impacts in terms of: effects on overall downstream river ecosystem condition, including; changes in key biophysical components of the riverine ecosystems; changes in the availability of resources used directly by the people living alongside the river; and possible impacts on the health of people. The project actively benefits from best practices experiences from the Nile river basin, based on shared project-to-project learning as well as GEF IW:LEARN resources. This paper explores the methodology, challenges and lessons learned from developing an applied environmental flows methodology in the South Caucasus. More information can be found at www.kura-aras.org, or obtained from Dr. Mary M. Matthews, CTA/Project Coordinator (mary.matthews@kura-aras.org), Mr. Harald J.L. Leummens, Demonstration Project Coordinator / Science Office (harald.leummens@kura-aras.org), and Eng Ahmed Abou Elseoud, Senior Biomonitoring and Environmental Flow Expert (ahmed.abou.elseoud@kura-aras.org )

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