Council and Bureau

IHP Intergovernmental Council

The planning, definition of priorities, and supervision of the execution of IHP are ensured by the Intergovernmental Council. The Council is composed of 36 UNESCO Member States elected by the General Conference of UNESCO at its ordinary sessions held every two years. Equitable geographical distribution and appropriate rotation of the representatives of the Member States are ensured in the composition of the Council. Each of UNESCO’s six electoral regions elects Member States for membership in the Council.

The term of office of members of the Council is four years, and members are immediately eligible for re-election. To retain continuity, only half of the Council members are elected each second year for the four-year period, so that in each biennium half are newcomers and the other half have already acquired experience. The Council normally meets in plenary session once every two years. Extraordinary sessions may be convened under the conditions specified in the Rules of Procedure.

IHP Bureau

At the beginning of its first session following a session of the General Conference at which elections to the IHP Council have been held, the Council elects a chairperson and four vice-chairpersons. These, with the chairperson of the previous Bureau as ex-officio member, constitute the Council’s Bureau. The composition of the Bureau so formed reflects an equitable geographical distribution, each representing UNESCO’s six electoral regions. The members of the Bureau remain in office until a new Bureau has been elected.

The IHP Bureau discharges, inter alia, the following duties:

  • fix, in consultation with the Secretariat, the dates of the sessions of the Council and of its committees and working groups, in accordance with the general guidelines of the Council;
  • prepare the sessions of the Council, in consultation with the Secretariat;
  • supervise the implementation of the resolutions of the Council, and report at each session of the Council, on the status of implementation of the prescribed phases of project execution and, in particular, follow the activities of the Council’s committees and working groups;
  • prepare for the Council all reports requested by the General Conference of UNESCO;
  • discharge all other duties which it may be assigned by the Council.

Composition of the IHP Bureau (2010-2012)

Chairperson

Mr Soontak Lee (Group IV - Asia and the Pacific)
Distinguished Professor
Yeungnam University
487-1 Daemyung-9-dong
Namgu, Daegu 705-804, Republic of Korea
Tel: + 82 53 656 2525
Fax: + 82 53 656 2580
Email: leest(at)yu.ac.kr
Email: soontaklee(at)hanafos.com

Vice-Chairpersons

Mr Matthew Carl Larsen (Group I - Northern America and Western Europe)
Associate Director for Water
United States Geological Survey
Department of the Interior
12201 Sunrise Valley Dr.
MS-409, Reston, VA 20192, USA
Tel: + 1 703 648 5215 (office)
Cell: + 1 571 332 4452
Fax: + 1 703 648 7031
Email: mclarsen(at)usgs.gov

Mr Jovan Despotovic (Group II - Eastern and Central Europe)
President of the IHP UNESCO Committee for Serbia
Faculty of Civil Engineering - Belgrade
Boul. King Alexander 73/I - 164
11000 Belgrade, Serbia
Tel: + 381 11 337 00 99
Fax: + 381 11 337 02 06
Email: jdespotovic(at)grf.rs
Email: ihp.unesco.rs(at)grf.bg.ac.rs

Mr Polioptro F. Martinez Austria (Group III – Latin America and the Caribbean)
Director-General
Instituto Mexicano de Tecnología del Agua (IMTA)
Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (SEMARNAT)
Paseo Cuauhnahuac 8532
Progreso, Jiutepec, Morelos
62550 Mexico, Mexico
Tel: + 777 319 4241 / 319 3742
Fax: + 777 319 3422
Email: director_general(at)tlaloc.imta.mx

Mr Juma Chrispine Omondi (Group Va - Africa)
Chief Principal Water Research Officer
Ministry of Water and Irrigation
P.O. Box 49720 – 00100
Ngong Road, Nairobi, Kenya
Private P.O. Box 17010 – 00510
Tel: + 254 722 79 12 30 (mobile)
Email: cojuma2004(at)yahoo.com

Mr Mohamed Elhassan Eltayeb Elhag (Group Vb - Arab States)
Chairman of the IHP National Committee of Sudan
c/o Sudanese National Commission for Education, Science and Culture 
PO Box 2324
Khartoum, Sudan
Tel: + 249 912 135970; + 249 912 119778 (via National Commission) 
Email: elhassaneltayeb(at)yahoo.com

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