Starting today, water experts from Azerbaijan and European Environment Agency will hold online capacity development training for managing EcoPortal, Press service of the EU Delegation to Azerbaijan told, EDNews.net reports citing APA.

The training will focus on sharing environmental information, including that on water — a resource that is vital for all life on our planet, ecosystems, society and the economy. This capacity building is in line with the European Union’s objectives of promoting greener development and digitalisation in the Eastern Partnership.

As Azerbaijan is one of the water scarce countries in the region, water use efficiency and protection of the freshwater ecosystems are vital. The EcoPortal of Azerbaijan will support sharing data and information among the water agencies to underpin the knowledge-based policy-making in the country.

With the support from the European Union, water quality data of Azerbaijan has been harmonized in line with the WISE water quality data dictionary. It is now compatible with the European dataset. Similarly, the indicators developed based on the water quality data and published on the EcoPortal follow an indicator template from the European Environment Agency. This will enable to compare the state of water resources of Azerbaijan with neighboring countries as well as with any of EU Member State. Having regionally comparable indicators will support knowledge-based policy dialogue on water resources at the national and regional level.

The developed indicators set enable also the public at large to get informed on water availability and the quality of water they rely on in their daily lives and the economy underpinning their wealth and prosperity. 

The EcoPortal is the platform where all indicator are available as well as  many other data and information will serve to wider interests groups such as water practitioners, research community, international organizations that are heavily depending on national data for regional or global assessments.

The system’s functionalities and design of the EcoPortal are inspired by the European Water Information System (WISE), to which all EU Member States report their water data and share information. EcoPortal presents water datasets, indicators, dynamic maps and reports. It allows for exchanging and sharing the data and information among the national water agencies in line with the Shared Environmental Information System principles and practices. Citizens, experts, practitioners and academia now can access various databases and compare Azerbaijan’s water quality data with the data of EU Member States.