Large Marine Ecosystems Status and Trends - Summary for Policy Makers

The water systems of the world — aquifers, lakes, rivers, large marine ecosystems, and open ocean — sustain the biosphere and underpin the health and socioeconomic well-being of the world’s population. Many of these systems are shared by two or more nations. Recognizing the value of trans-boundary water systems, and the reality that many of them continue to be over-exploited and degraded, and managed in fragmented ways, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) initiated the Trans-boundary Waters Assessment Programme (TWAP). The Programme aims to provide a baseline assessment to identify and evaluate changes in these water systems caused by human activities and natural processes, as well as the consequences these changes may have on the human populations dependent upon them.