NEWS NOTES ON SUSTAINABLE WATER RESOURCES UNESCO International Hydrological Program Within the framework of monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme (IHP) will launch its Water Information Network System (WINS) on 31 January 2017 at UNESCO HQ, Paris, France. The objective of the UNESCO-IHP WINS is to provide UNESCO Member States with an open source, open access web-based platform aiming at becoming a global reference for decision-makers and stakeholders on water related issues at all levels. In particular, WINS will support the design and implementation of operations, management, and decision making for the sound governance of water resources. UNESCO-IHP WINS consists of three main components providing: 1. Georeferenced data (GIS) on the state of water resources at global, regional, national and local level, allowing users to visualize and generate maps, 2. A platform for inter-disciplinary collaboration and knowledge sharing among water-related stakeholders (e.g. databases, reports, graphs, tables, videos, webinars etc.), and 3. A platform for water-related stakeholders to build social networks and interrelations (i.e. discussion groups). WINS was established as a follow up on the Member States request to the IHP Secretariat to “provide support to Member States to build their institutional capacities, human resources and a sound basis in science capacity for the monitoring and implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) and other water related goals”. For more information related to this initiative, please send an email to ihp-wins@unesco.org. ; Please find below the links to the Live Stream of the launching event (31 January, 10:00-12:00, Paris time) Link Language mms://stream.unesco.org/live/room_11_floor.wmvFLOOR mms://stream.unesco.org/live/room_11_en.wmvENG mms://stream.unesco.org/live/room_11_fr.wmvFRA This information will also be posted on the 2017 Actions and Activities Page of the Sustainable Water Resources Site at https://sites.google.com/site/sustainablewaterresourcesTim Smith, Sustainable Water Resources Coordinator Government Web Site, http://acwi.gov/Sustainable Water Resources Site, https://sites.google.com/site/sustainablewaterresources/