In September 2015, heads of state from all around the world gathered in New York to adopt the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, an ambitious plan of action for people, planet and prosperity, comprised of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). It includes a dedicated goal on water and sanitation (SDG 6) that sets out to "ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all".

The Integrated Monitoring initiative (GEMI) was established as an inter-agency initiative composed of FAO, UNEP, UNESCO, UN-Habitat, UNICEF, WHO and WMO, operating under the UN-Water umbrella, to monitor several targets of SDG6.

The initiative's focus is to integrate and expand existing monitoring efforts on wastewater treatment and water quality (target 6.3), water stress and water use efficiency (target 6.4), integrated water resources management and transboundary basins (target 6.5), and water-related ecosystems (target 6.6). Its specific objectives are to:

• Integrate and expand existing monitoring efforts, to ensure harmonised monitoring of the entire water cycle
• Provide member states with a monitoring guide for SDG targets 6.3-6.6
• Engage member states and enhance their capacity in water sector monitoring
• Report on global progress towards SDG targets 6.3-6.6 

As a partner of the GEMI initiative, FAO is the custodian agency for the monitoring of SDG Target 6.4: "By 2030, substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity and substantially reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity". Two indicators will be used to monitor this target:

• 6.4.1: Change in water-use efficiency over time
• 6.4.2: Level of water stress: freshwater withdrawal in percentage of available freshwater resources
• The monitoring of Target 6.4 will rely to a large extent on the data, the guidelines and the methodologies developed and provided by AQUASTAT.

Moreover, while WHO and UN-Habitat are the custodian agencies for Target 6.3, also that target will rely to a large extent on AQUASTAT data, especially with regards to wastewater production, collection, treatment, use and discharge.

Before the methodologies are rolled-out globally, they will be pilot tested in a small number of countries and revised as necessary based on lessons learned. The so-called "proof-of-concept" countries are: Senegal and Uganda in Africa, Jordan in the Middle East, Bangladesh in Southern and Eastern Asia, Peru in Latin America and the Netherlands in Europe.

One of the first tasks is to organize inception workshops in these countries, as follows: Senegal 25-26 April 2016, Jordan 22-23 May 2016, Peru 30-31 May 2016, Uganda 15-16 June 2016, Bangladesh mid-July 2016. FAO-AQUASTAT is responsible for the organization of these workshops in Senegal and Peru.

The main objectives of the national inception workshops are to:

• introduce the SDG-water work at high policy level and collect the relevant political support to its activity
• establish the national teams that will work on the preparation of each indicator and discuss with them the relevant steps to be taken
• define a common framework at national level for the harmonized and synergetic achievement of all the water-related indicators
• review available options and identify capacity gaps
• outline possibilities for a regional approach