POINT OF DEPARTURE
Water is an integral part of the environment and its availability is indispensable to the efficient functioning of the biosphere. Water is also of vital importance to all socio-economic sectors - human and economic development simply is not possible without a safe, stable water supply. On the other hand, water has also a destructive potential. Extreme events may have an impact not only on the human society but also on the aquatic and terrestrial environments.
Conflicts over water have become more common among competing water users. Misuses of water resources and poor water management practices have often resulted in depleted supplies, falling water tables, shrinking inland lakes, and streamflows diminished to ecologically unsafe levels. Water pollution, originating mostly from human activities, occurs even more frequently and in a widespread manner, thus causing decreases in the amount of water suitable for many uses. Although the International Hydrological Programme (IHP) of UNESCO as such focuses on all possible aspects of hydrology, each IHP Phase - while maintaining an overall view - sets priorities. The Sixth Phase of IHP emphasizes societal aspects of water resources. However, this emphasis should not be interpreted as the replacement of the primary concern: to study the occurrence and distribution of water within the natural environment.
The incorporation of the social dimension underlines the need for improved, more efficient management of water resources and the more accurate knowledge of the hydrological cycle for better water resources assessment. So far, water has been managed in a fragmented way. Surface water and groundwater are considered separately in development activities without due recognition of their interdependence. Water resources in many places are still not managed in conjunction with land resources. Water supply schemes, eventually generating large amounts of waste water in consumer areas, are normally designed and built, especially in developing countries, without the required matching drainage networks and waste water treatment facilities. Quantity is generally managed separately from quality, as is water science and water policy. This fragmentation of approach also impedes coherent hydrological analyses at regional, continental and global scales.
The International Hydrological Programme (IHP), UNESCO's international scientific co-operative programme in hydrology and water resources, was established because both the international scientific community and governments - realizing that water resources are often one of the primary limiting factors for harmonious development in many regions and countries of the world - saw the need for an internationally co-ordinated scientific programme focusing on water. It has had a prime role in acting as a catalyst to promote co-operation. The Fifth Phase, IHP-V (1996-2001), set out to stimulate a stronger interrelation between scientific research, application, and education. The emphasis was on environmentally sound integrated water resources planning and management, supported by a scientifically proven methodology within the overall theme, "Hydrology and
Water Resources Development in a Vulnerable Environment".
In continuation, IHP-VI (2002-2007) is based on the fundamental principle that freshwater is as essential to sustainable development as it is to life and that water, beyond its geophysical, chemical, biological function in the hydrological cycle, has social, economic and environmental values that are inter-linked and mutually supportive.
The launching of IHP-VI coincides with the emergence of a profound paradigm shift in society's approach towards water. As far as the management of this resource is concerned, it is documented in the call for integrated water resources management. Research to support integrated water resources management should also be integrated. This implies more inter- and multi-disciplinary approaches but also more co-operation and partnership in executing research programmes. In this regard, water-related activities of intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) should co-operate and be co-ordinated with the programmes of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). It is expected that this synergy could be the most important basis to successfully implement IHP-VI.
GENERAL FRAMEWORK
In recognition of the shift in thinking about water from fragmented compartments of scientific inquiry to a more holistic integrated approach, the general theme for IHP-VI has been defined as "Water Interactions: Systems at Risk and Social Challenges". In defining the critical research components for 2002-2007, it became clear that what had hitherto been missing is a close investigation of water science and policy "at the margins". What happens, for example, at the intersections of distinct components of water resources management?
Some of the interactions to be further investigated, or to be focussed on during the Sixth Phase of IHP include those between:
- Surface water and ground water;
- Atmospheric and terrestrial part of the hydrological cycle;
- Fresh water and salt water;
- Global watershed and river reach scales;
- Quantity and quality;
- Water bodies and aquatic ecosystems;
- Science and policy; and
- Water and civilization.
Bridging the gaps between these disparate components in an integrated fashion is to drive the IHP-VI programme.
The increasing worldwide pressure on water resources under conditions of global anthropogenic and climatic change requires a forceful integrated multidisciplinary approach to address the scientific and societal issues involving water resources. Hence there is need for a close investigation of water science and policy "at the margins". One needs to know what happens at the interface of surface water and groundwater, freshwater and saltwater, at global and watershed scales. Phenomena and possible changes are to be studied by simultaneously addressing quantity and quality, science and policy, and water and civilization aspects.
Many of the present-day research methodologies in water science have been developed with limited data and computational procedure dating back several decades. With the development and improvement of the modern earth observation technologies, the water science-relevant data can be obtained and made available for research and investigation with a much higher spatial and temporal resolution.
Furthermore, the development of information technology now provides access to a higher level of computational capability, which calls for the re-examination of the basic concepts for a better diversification of models for various uses. These trends call for the development of a new generation of water science modelling tools that will not only benefit from the available technology and data but also provide a more reliable analysis of interaction with consideration of up-scaling, down-scaling, water-chemistry-biology interface and the like. However, this is a gradual process and IHP-VI places emphasis on the interactions of these basic issues in order to train the water science and professional communities to better understand them and then use them properly. In this respect the reliability of data and models gain in importance, and due attention is given to these aspects in the proposed activities and specific projects.
THEMES OF IHP-VI
In line with the above-mentioned comprehension of water interactions, technological development of data acquisition and improved modelling of processes and interactions, the relevant IHP-VI topics on hydrologic research, water resources management and education are framed under five themes, with the transition and interaction from the global scale to the watershed scale being the overall driving force for the consideration of the complex relationships between water and society and the overall need for knowledge, information and technology transfer.
Two crosscutting programme components: FRIEND (Flow Regimes for International Experimental and Network Data) and HELP (Hydrology for Environment, Life and Policy) have been identified that, through their operational concept, interact with all themes.
Besides the obvious symmetry with FRIEND, HELP is conceived to be funded entirely from extra-budgetary or external financial sources. This structure accounts first of all for the considerably higher financial requirement and longer time scale of HELP projects that for the ones in the regular IHP time and budget framework. However, it is fully considered as an integrated part of IHP-VI (and beyond) as far as scientific objectives, approach and result dissemination is concerned.
Theme 1: Global Changes and Water Resources
A reliable and clean supply of water is critical to human society and to the biosphere. However, it has been difficult to accurately assess the state of world water resources and their response to the key agents of global change, namely: the greenhouse effect and climatic variability; land cover change, industrialization and population growth; and the control of the natural water cycle through hydraulic engineering. How, when and where such human-induced changes, together with weather and climatic extremes, will influence key ecosystems upon which humans depend heavily is poorly quantified. There is no carefully maintained and clear record of global hydrologic change by which to judge the cumulative impact of human activities on the world freshwater and coastal support systems. In contrast to the well-mixed atmosphere, freshwater and coastal ecosystems have highly site- and region-specific physical and water quality attributes that make such an assessment extremely difficult. And, given deterioration in routine monitoring networks in many parts of the world, for all practical purposes, an accurate assessment is currently impossible.
It can reasonably be stated that process-based hydrological research, while highly productive at the small catchment scale, still awaits success over continental and global domains. There is a critical need for synthesis studies of complex drainage basins that collectively represent the domain over which anthropogenic change and its impact on water resources and the sustainability of the biosphere must be assessed. Indeed, this has provided the impetus for several major international and national observational and modelling programs such as GEWEX, IGBP-BAHC, and GCOS/GTOS. Both cross-cutting programme components of IHP-VI, FRIEND and HELP, target to contribute to clarification of the inherent scientific issues at basin scale, in connection with the legal and water management aspects and impacts. Although progress has been made most notably with respect to land-atmosphere exchanges at both continental and global scales, substantial uncertainties exist with regard to stocks, fluxes, and the inherent nature of interactions among key hydrologic elements.
Nonetheless, several opportunities exist for analyzing the global status of the land phase of the hydrological cycle and associated water resources. The emergence of improved models, high quality biophysical data sets, improved access to remote sensing imagery, and data assimilation schemes, provide a unique opportunity to monitor the state of the hydrological cycle over broad domains and in near-real time. In addition, appropriately cast models can be used with this information to provide improved understanding of the spatial and temporal aspects of global water resources.
Theme 1, through its scope and targetted scientific results, will serve as one of the substantial science bases for the UN system-wide World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP).
Theme 2: Integrated Watershed and Aquifer Dynamics
Hydrological, hydraulic, morphological, biological, chemical processes and human impacts on the hydrological cycle are relatively well known when analyzed at a small-basin and aquifer scale and when the phenomena have been studied in isolation. With population growth and increased pressure on natural systems, large regions of the world are now subject to water-related problems brought about by numerous human activities. There is therefore a need to "upscale" our local-scale knowledge to estimate and to develop the hydrological and water management strategies for ecological, social and economic sustainability over larger domains. Also, the dynamics of the hydrological cycle bring in interaction of all the elements of hydrosystems, combining the water fluxes with other fluxes of sediments, nutrients or polluting agents on and below the earth surface. There are dynamic interactions between environmental (climate change, natural extreme events, desertification), economic (growth of agriculture, industries, energy needs), social and cultural processes (urbanization, human health). Consequently, river systems and the underlying aquifers need to be analyzed in their whole complexity for water management, in an integrated approach, combining natural and man-induced processes, at various scales in space and time.
The new initiative, Joint International Isotopes in Hydrology Programme (JIIHP), is designed to improve the use of isotopes in hydrology and to develop hydrological process-oriented experiments. Global implications from these initiatives and experimental aspects have to be strengthened in the framework of IHP. New sets of high resolution data, from earth observing systems and in situ measurements at the basin-scale, will give more reliable descriptions of the processes governing the hydrological cycle, and then lead to new concepts for the representation of water and associated fluxes (nutrients, pollution loads) in the models at the river scale.
The basin scale is appropriate for comparing water resources (precipitation, groundwater, surface water) and water use or water demand (domestic, industrial, agricultural). It is the natural scale for hydrological processes but it is also a relevant approach for landscape and landuse mapping because of the topographically driven organization of the watershed. The evaluation of water resources at the basin scale needs to combine data from various sources. However, the problem is more complicated for the water demand, which is often evaluated at administrative scales. Mechanisms that govern water demand are not well outlined and relevant parameters are yet to be suggested.
Theme 3: Land Habitat Hydrology
Theme 3 offers a large number of interactions of regional focal areas following the different climatic (arid, humid, temperate, cold), land form (drylands, wetlands, mountains, small islands, coastal zones), and land use (urban, rural, natural environment) orientated classes. "Habitat",
in the title of the Theme refers to a further dimension of interaction, that of the physical (landform/land use and climate) environment with the ecological one, emphasizing that landform, land use and climate define habitats for humans, flora and fauna. Thus Theme 3 outlines the scientific challenges in these three-dimensional interactions.
Arid and semi-arid areas are under higher water stress. Together with the humid tropics, they experience high population growth. In addition, over 90% of the world's developing countries are located in these areas. The lack of sufficient water coupled with the high population growth rates often results in serious water crises. This could reach a possible conflict stage especially in the cases of shared water resources. Therefore, there is a need to develop projects that will help to avert the serious water problems experienced in these areas.
In the humid tropics, the analysis of hydrologic processes at different scales is of great importance considering the critical role that the region plays in the global hydrological cycle. Furthermore, the region constitutes a treasure house of natural resources by holding over 1,200 million hectares of tropical rain forest and a substantial part of the world's estimated 30 million species of plants and animals. In terms of population growth, estimates suggest that for the year 2005, one third of the global population of 7.1 billion will inhabit the equatorial belt. These considerations stress the complexity of environmental and social problems in humid tropics, much of which are water-related. Understanding of the complex mechanisms and interactions of different components of the environment in this region is essential for the development of adequate integrated water management schemes, as is consideration of social and cultural dimensions.
Temperate zones, while normally associated with less dramatic hydrological phenomena than the arid or humid tropical zones, still remain in the focus of interest of IHP-VI. Along with other climatic regions, the temperate zones are also affected by climate change. Furthermore, the intensive land use, industrialization and infrastructure development make these areas the primary objectives to study the interactions of the climate and anthropogene influences and their joint impact upon the hydrological cycle. Having the most extensive long-term observation records and networks, temperate zone catchments can serve as an excellent basis for research aiming to quantify impact-induced changes in the hydrological regime.
Cold zones include high latitude and high altitude areas in which snow, ice and permafrost can be good sources of water resources. In addition, cold zones cover a wide area and influence global climate or global water/energy circulation to a big extent. In this regard, cold zones play significant roles in global and regional hydrology. Avalanches, ice-jam floods and other water-related disasters, that are typical of cold areas, should also be taken into account. The role of ice and ice jamming as an agent of, not only of damage, but also of replenishment of important northern habitats and ecosystems, is only beginning to be understood. Moreover, cold regions are among those that are likely to be most affected by climate change, according to GCM simulations under the 2xCO2 scenario. Though there has been considerable scientific progress in studying cold zone hydrological phenomena, there remain significant gaps that prevent physics-based modelling and necessitate resort to considerable empiricism.
Apart from these climatic classifications, hydrologic and water resources management problems referring to the fragile ecosystem of drylands, wetlands, mountains, coastal zones and small islands are to be considered, irrespective of their geographic/climatic location and land use such as urban, peri-urban areas and rural settlements.
Urban environments are emerging as the predominant living space of humanity with the inherent social, ecological and water management challenges. Erosion and sedimentation, floods induced by urbanization, the problem of fresh and salt water interaction both in the surface water and in the groundwater environment, consideration and development of appropriate water resources management strategies for small islands are some of the ensuing issues to be addressed too. The interference of urban development in coastal zones, islands and/or in mountainous areas further augments the magnitude of the problems to be tackled.
Drylands are associated with deserts and semi-deserts, however in the sense of water interactions drylands can be considered all those areas which do not provide adequate quantity and year-around distribution of precipitation to sustain society's activities without additional water resources management activities (irrigation, water harvesting). Obviously drylands are predominantly located in arid and semi-arid climatic zones, however they may be found also under temperate or cold, or even locally within predominantly humid climatic zones.
Wetlands are identified as particular areas of concern, because they play an essential ecological role in a predominantly water-determinated environment. Wetlands are increasingly endangered by both pollution and land reclamation. Water interactions are not well known in wetlands, thus additional efforts are needed both for preservation and rehabilitation purposes.
The scientific thrust of the proposed activities offers additional categories to distinguish whether they contribute principally to:
- data management
- improved understanding of hydrological processes (experimentation and modelling)
- development of the ecohydrological approach
- analytical techniques and technology (both for hydrology and water resources management)
- predictions and scenario analysis (referring to climate changes but also to the assessment of consequences of socio-economic trends upon land, habitat and hydrology)
Following the sequence set by Themes 1 and 2, moving from addressing global issues towards the consideration of the river basin or aquifer scale, Focal Areas under Theme 3 are, therefore, identified according to geographical (landform/land use) rather than climatic classifications.
Theme 4: Water and Society
All environmental problems are, by nature, also social problems. The theme "water and society" focuses on the complex relationships between people and their water resources. The emphasis is on the human component of the equation, and seeks to answer questions about attitudes, relationships, concepts and beliefs.
In general, one's approach to a watershed should incorporate these human aspects. How can human populations grow and develop in a sustainable manner? How should the needs, interests, and beliefs of a basin's stakeholders be addressed? How best can disputes over use or quality be resolved or, better, prevented? How does one incorporate a water ethic in basin management, and how do water issues impact the human/environmental security of the population? This Theme seeks to address these questions in order to provide guidelines to manage water resources in an equitable, sustainable, and ethical manner.
Theme 5: Water Education and Training
Water Education and Training (WET) forms the overall support shell for IHP-VI. It is thus not only inherently the priority theme, but is also strongly interwoven with other themes as indicated in the respective objectives and suggested activity lists
It is envisaged that each of the themes within IHP-VI will aim at developing an output relevant to human capacity building by strengthening its results with training and awareness-raising activities. It is envisaged that the available technology during the implementation period of the Sixth Phase of IHP will enable access to data, information and knowledge sources by a much wider community. Consequently, the transfer of knowledge, information and technology will be more beneficial for both the water specialists and the general public.
While WET activities are going to cover all levels and aspects of education, information transfer and training, a clear priority is to be given to higher education, including institutional capacity building and networking, education for research at postgraduate level, continuing professional education and to activities targeting "training of trainers", thus facilitating the multiplicative effect of IHP-VI efforts within the domain of education and training.
CROSS CUTTING PROGRAMME COMPONENTS
Flow Regimes from International Experimental and Network Data (FRIEND)
The FRIEND project was initiated in 1985 in Europe within IHP-III on the premise that improvements could be made if hydrologists were to exchange data and experiences with their counterparts in neighboring countries. To date, eight regional FRIEND projects have been established in Northern Europe, in Southern Africa, in the Alpine and Mediterranean region (AMHY), in Western and Central Africa (AOC), in the Hindu Kush - Himalayan (HKH) region, in the Asian Pacific region, in the Nile basin and in the Caribbean (AMIGO). Several other regional FRIEND projects are being considered in Central Asia, South America and North America.
The FRIEND project aims to ease the problem of water resources assessment and management through applied research, targeted at problems identified regionally. The project is an international collaborative study with the primary objective of developing, through the mutual exchange of data, knowledge and techniques at regional level, a better understanding of hydrological variability and similarity across time and space. The advanced knowledge of hydrological processes and flow regimes gained through FRIEND helps to improve methods for water resources management
FRIEND also provides support to researchers and operational staff of hydrological services in developing countries, thereby building their capacity to assess and manage their own national water resources. With its particular features and structure developed during the previous phases of IHP, FRIEND is not only seen as a major contribution within IHP-VI; it also interacts with all five Themes of the Programme. Thus, the special input to all through FRIEND is characterized by the crosscutting programme component status of FRIEND.
The scientific aspects of the FRIEND project include studies into: low flows, floods, variability of regimes, rainfall/runoff modelling, processes of stream-flow generation, sediment transport, snow and glacier melt and climate and land-use impacts.
Not only is FRIEND relevant to many of the proposed projects within IHP-VI, its activities are also pertinent to several world scale environmental and health programmes, such as WHYCOS, GEMS/Water and HELP.
Hydrology for the Environment, Life and Policy (HELP)
HELP is an initiative to establish a global network of catchments to improve the links between hydrology and the needs of the society. The vital importance of water in sustaining human and environmental health has been widely recognized by numerous national and international fora. However, no programme has addressed key water resources management issues in the field and integrated them with policy and management. HELP is designed to change this by creating a new approach to integrated catchment management. It is foreseen as a problem-driven and demand-responsive initiative, which addresses five key policy issues:
- Water and climate
- Water and food
- Water quality and human health
- Water and the environment
- Water and conflict
In order to emphasize the intended coherence of the HELP concept and approach and its relevance to virtually all five themes of IHP-VI, HELP is also seen as a cross cutting programme component status.
Joint International Isotopes in Hydrology Programme (JIIHP)
The aim of the IAEA/UNESCO Joint International Isotopes in Hydrology Programme (JIIHP) is to facilitate the integration of isotopes in hydrological practices through:
- development of tools for better understanding of specific hydrological processes and improving assessment, development and management of water resources;
- support of national, regional and international programmes in water resources;
- incorporation of isotope hydrology as part of hydrological curricula in universities worldwide; and
- integration of isotopic data in hydrological databases at national, regional and global scales.
It is expected that JIIHP will cover scientific, practical and educational aspects of relevant hydrology and water resources studies and will improve implementation and co-ordination of hydrological programmes of UNESCO, IAEA, WMO and other international governmental and non-governmental organizations. Main areas of co-operation have already been incorporated within IHP-VI.
More about the IHP-VI:
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