Cooperation with International Organizations

The IAEA works with many other international organizations to implement its programme on water resources:

• The Global Network for Isotopes in Precipitation (click here for figure 13) is maintained in collaboration with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), with which the Agency also collaborates on the Global Atmosphere Watch Programme.
  
• Regional and global problems associated with fresh water resources are carried out in cooperation with the UN Environment Program (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).
  
• Close cooperation is maintained with in the International Geosphere Biosphere Programme (IGBP), the Global Environmental Monitoring System (GEMS), the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) of WMO and Earthwatch of UNEP.
  
• Training programmes are conducted and results published together with UNESCO under its International Hydrological Programme (IHP).
  
• Cooperative efforts with UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and other UN bodies allow food security, soil erosion and sedimentation concerns to be addressed.
  
• Special interagency linkages have been created to address the pressing environmental problems of the rapidly rising Caspian Sea.

The IAEA-WMO Global Network for Isotopes in Precipitation

Interpretation of the isotopic composition in terrestrial water requires knowledge about the meteoric water that feeds them: rain and snow. Their isotopic composition is quite variable in time and space, and depends on climate, geography, nuclear fallout and other factors.

The need for comprehensive global information was recognized many years ago, when the IAEA, in cooperation with the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), launched the World Survey of Isotopes in Precipitation Network in 1961. The Survey, now called the Global Network for Isotopes in Precipitation (GNIP) has grown increasingly important in studies of the environment and climate change. (Click here for figures 11 - 13).

The results of this survey, as well as statistical analyses, are published regularly in the Technical Report Series of the IAEA. The information is also available on diskettes and InterNet.