New water-related sites added to the World Heritage List

The World Heritage Committee held its 30^th session, in Vilnius, Lithuania, on 8 to 16 July 2006. Among the cultural properties inscribed on the World Heritage List on this occasion were several water related sites.

For instance the aflaj irrigation system in Oman includes 3,000 such systems still in use today. Aflaj is the plural of falaj in classical Arabic, which means to divide into shares and equitable sharing of a scarce resource to ensure sustainability and remains the hallmark of this irrigation system. Archaeological evidence suggests that irrigation systems existed in this extremely arid area as early as 2,500 BC.

The Old Town of Regensburg with Stadtamhof in Germany has been an influential trading town since the 9^th century AD. Located on the Danube River, it has preserved a notable number of historic structures spanning some two millennia, including its 12^th century AD stone bridge.

The Vizcaya Bridge in Spain straddles the mouth of the Ibaizabal estuary west of Bilbao. It was completed in 1893 and was the first bridge in the world to carry people and traffic while allowing for navigation thanks to a high suspended gondola.

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The Director-General of UNESCO attends the 6^th Meeting of UN Secretary-General's Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation

The Director-General of UNESCO, Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, attended the 6^th meeting of the United Nations Secretary-General's Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation, which took place in Paris, France, on 10-11 July.

The Director-General gave the Board members a brief overview of the history and role of UNESCO in freshwater, notably, about the four pillars of the Organization's work in this field. These are the International Hydrological Programme (IHP); the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education; the United Nations World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP); and the rapidly expanding network of water centres operating under the auspices of UNESCO.

Mr Matsuura concluded his remarks by highlighting areas of possible collaboration between the Advisory Board and UNESCO. In particular he urged the Board to draw on the expertise and services available at the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, and to draw more heavily on WWAP, especially with regard to monitoring the world water situation.

The Director-General informed the Board that every effort would be made to ensure that the International Labour Organization (ILO) is brought into the WWAP and fully engaged in the production of the 3^rd World Water Development Report, the preparation of which will begin in August this year.

Full press release

North American Surface Water Quality Conference (StormCon'06)
24-27 July 2006, Denver, Colorado, United States -Organizer: StormCon, United States

2006 Specialty Conference 'Infrastructure Stewardship: Partnering for a Sustainable Future'
6-9 August 2006, Detroit, Michigan, United States -Organizers: Water Environment Federation (WEF), United States; Michigan Water Environment Association, United States

Training Course on Borehole Geophysical Logging for Water Resources/Water Supply Applications
28-30 August 2006, Baltimore, Maryland, United States -Organizer: National Ground Water Association (NGWA), United States

International Symposium on Cryospheric Indicators of Global Climate Change
21-25 August 2006, Cambridge, England -Organizers: International Glaciological Society (IGSOC); Commission for the Cryospheric Sciences of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG/CCS); Climate and Cryosphere Projects of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP CliC)

10^th IWA Specialised Conference on Large Wastewater Treatment Plants
9-13 September 2007, Vienna, Austria -Organizer: Institute for Water Quality, Resources and Waste Management of the Vienna University of Technology, Austria; International Water Association (IWA)

Access a complete list of water events around the world

• The humid tropics encircle the Earth's equator and extend over 2,000 Km to the north and to the south, roughly paralleling the Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer.
• This region contains approximately 20% of the world's land area, contains parts of as many as 60 countries and is characterized by warm temperatures, abundant rainfall and extreme weather conditions, including cyclones and monsoons.
• Although the average annual rainfall is high in most tropical regions, often exceeding several metres per year, its distribution in time and space can be highly variable. Madagascar, for example, has an annual average rainfall of 2-4 metres along the east coast, whereas the west coast frequently receives less than one metre.
• Some of the world's largest rivers, including the Amazon, Orinoco, Ganges-Brahmaputra, Mekong, Niger and Congo, are located in the humid tropics.
• Only about 20% of the soil in humid tropics can support agriculture, and most of this area is already in use.
• Some 14 million ha of tropical forests are destroyed every year.
• Bangladesh, Haiti, and India had all lost 100% of their primary rainforest by 1988, and Asia as a hole retains just 6% of its original rainforest.
• Wetlands have similar functions and attributes at all latitudes; however, they can be particularly important in the humid tropics because of the unique and frequently extreme meteorological conditions of this region, which include monsoons and cyclones. Wetlands play an important role in regulating the tropical hydrologic cycle, moderating river flows and buffering tropical coastlines from storm damage.
• Many valuable forestry products are harvested from tropical wetlands. These include fuel-wood (often used for making charcoal), timber, thatching, reeds, peat, bark, resins, honey and medicines.

Information from the publication 'Wetlands of the humid tropics' [PDF format - 5.3 MB]; from 'The Tropical Rain Forest' website.

Forests, Water and People in the Humid Tropics: Past, Present and Future
By Michael Bonell and L. A. Bruijnzeel (editors). © Cambridge University Press 2005.

This publication is a comprehensive review of the hydrological and physiological functioning of tropical rain forests, the environmental impacts of their disturbance and conversion to other land uses, and optimum strategies for managing them. The publication brings together leading specialists in such diverse fields as tropical anthropology and human geography, environmental economics, climatology and meteorology, hydrology, geomorphology, plant and aquatic ecology, forestry and conservation agronomy. The editors have supplemented the individual contributions with overviews of the main sections and provide key pointers for future research. Specialists will find authenticated detail in chapters written by experts on a whole range of people-water-land use issues, managers and practitioners will learn more about the implications of ongoing and planned forest conversion.

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Hydrology and Water Management in the Humid Tropics [PDF format - 5.06 MB]
By the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Water Centre for the Humid Tropics of Latin America and the Caribbean (CATHALAC), 2002.

During the week of 21-26 March 1999 a series of parallel meetings took place in Panama City, Panama. The 2nd International Colloquium on Hydrology and Water Management in the Humid Tropics, as one of these events, brought together a group of leading researchers and water managers from around the world who work in the humid tropics region or execute research programs related to the hydrology of these regions.

The Colloquium consisted of presentations of technical papers and discussions on the following themes:

- multi-dimensional approach to water management
- climate variability and the impacts on hydrology and water resources
- surface, sub-surface and ground water quality
- urban hydrology
- tropical island hydrology
- an ecohydrological perspective of montane cloud forests.

This book contains speeches, conclusions, recommendations, final statements and technical papers that were presented at the colloquium.

Access the full publication [PDF format - 5.06 MB]

Water Centre for the Humid Tropics of Latin America and the Caribbean (CATHALAC)

CATHALAC was established in 1992 under an agreement between the Government of the Republic of Panama and UNESCO. The centre was created to fulfil the existing expectations in the area of cooperative research and coordination among countries in the humid tropics.

The website includes news, events, a virtual library and information about climate change, programmes, scholarships and awards.

Mountain Cloud Forest Initiative

Tropical montane cloud forests are a rare type of evergreen mountain forest found in tropical areas where local climatic conditions cause cloud and mist to be regularly in contact with the forest vegetation.

The Mountain Cloud Forest Initiative (a UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre, UNESCO and IUCN initiative) aims to stimulate wider cooperation and greater action to promote the conservation, restoration and sustainable development of mountain cloud forests everywhere. Their website provides maps of cloud forest distribution and regional overviews of the threats they face.

Access a complete list of water links around the world

Access the UNESCO Water Portal Weekly Update archives (starting at issue N° 85)

For contributions or comments, contact the editor at waterportal@unesco.org