Side-event workshop on Global MAR Inventory organised at ISMAR9 in Mexico City

A workshop on the global MAR inventory was organized on 20 June 2016 in Mexico City by the INOWAS team and IGRAC, during the first day of the ISMAR9 conference. The compiled data collected from about 1200 MAR case studies from 60 countries are published on a web-based GIS portal developed by IGRAC (https://marportal.un-igrac.org). The workshop introduced the global MAR inventory, the methodology used for data collection, key information collected, and identified general MAR trends from the statistical data analysis. Discussion sessions were organized to address various aspects related to: quality of the data (identify missing sites), improvements to the inventory (add more MAR types or information, identify key topics for further research), dissemination of results (identification of main objectives and target groups, agreement on deadlines), encouragement of national MAR networks (volunteers for database updating, coordinators of national surveys and data harvesting) etc. The attendees pointed out that:

• The portal can be a useful tool for MAR promotion, and to inspire and motivate people;
• The dissemination of results from successful projects could help stakeholders to understand the benefits of MAR and adopt the methodology on a larger scale;
• Hydrogeologists can use it as a reference to find MAR projects in the region, or related projects in comparable hydrogeological settings or climate zones.

If you have information on MAR sites or MAR suitability maps that should be included in the MAR portal, or if have information to improve the currently available data in the portal, please get in touch and help us to improve availability of information on MAR sites. Contact: .