Director-General addresses first Asia-Pacific Water Summit in Beppu, Japan

On 3 December, the Director-General of UNESCO, Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, addressed the first Asia-Pacific Water Summit in Beppu, Japan, alongside nine Heads of State and Government from the region.

He also attended the opening ceremony, where speeches were delivered by His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince of Japan; His Royal Highness Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and Chairman of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation; the Prime Minister of Japan, Mr Yasuo Fukuda; the former Prime Minister of Japan and Chair of the Steering Committee of the 1st APWS, Mr Yoshiro Mori; and the Chair of the Governing Council of the Asia-Pacific Water Forum, Professor Tommy Koh. The two-day event was organized by the Asia-Pacific Water Forum, and hosted by the Japanese Government and the Oita Prefecture (Reprinted).

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UNESCO, the National Science Museum of Thailand and the Japan Water Forum join forces to establish the Asia-Pacific Water Museum

At the occasion of the 1^st Asia-Pacific Water Summit, held in Beppu, Japan, 3-4 December 2007, the National Science Museum of Thailand, the Japan Water Forum and UNESCO announced the beginning of their collaboration towards the establishment of the Asia-Pacific Water Museum, to be set up in Pathum Thani, Thailand. The Asia-Pacific Water Museum will dedicate itself to promoting understanding and awareness of the importance of water to all life forms and for the future of our planet.

Based on an interdisciplinary approach, the Asia-Pacific Water Museum will present scientific, historical and cultural information related to water. The Museum will serve as a regional platform that can make a valuable contribution to sustainable water management by educating the public about the complex human-water interrelationship in Asia and the Pacific. Hence, it dovetails closely with the objectives of the Asia-Pacific Water Forum (APWF) and its lead organizations, among them UNESCO and JWF, to increase the region’s access to improved water supplies and sanitation, protect and restore river basins, and reduce people’s vulnerability to water disasters.

The Asia-Pacific Water Museum will convey knowledge about water, water resource management and ecology, from the historical past to future developments. Case studies from His Majesty King Bhumibol’s projects in water management will demonstrate best practice. The museum seeks to contribute to solving the region’s urging water issues by becoming a leading center of information and exchange on water resources management and technology, providing education and awareness raising programmes on water issues, whilst commemorating His Majesty’s achievements in this field.

The construction of the Museum is expected to begin in 2008 and to last 4 years, under the direction of the National Science Museum of Thailand, with support from various partners across the region. UNESCO Sectors for Natural Sciences and for Culture provide interdisciplinary scientific advice: on water issues, in particular pertaining to the history and cultural diversity of human-water interactions; and on establishing and maintaining the museum’s collections. The government of Thailand is providing the core funding for the Asia-Pacific Water Museum.

For more information, contact Mr. Alexander Otte

UNESCO-ISARM project announces 3^rd Conference on Managing Shared Aquifer Resources in Africa

In Tripoli in 1999 and 2002 the General Water Authority of Libya and UNESCO, in coordination with the Observatoire du Sahara et du Sahel (OSS), convened two major conferences devoted to the identification of shared aquifer resources in Africa. The first marked a milestone in the discussion of the emerging concept of regional aquifers and was also instrumental in launching the UNESCO International Shared Aquifer Resources Management Initiative (ISARM). The second conference focused more specifically on the features of African aquifers shared by one or more states. Subsequent to this, the Government of Libya decided to establish the Regional Centre for the Management of Shared Groundwater Resources. The centre will operate under the auspices of UNESCO and aims to strengthen capacity on groundwater resources management in the region.

A third Tripoli conference, focusing once again on the needs of Africa, will aim to take the ISARM initiative one stage further. This will include providing support for the sub regional ISARM expert networks which have been developing actions in the South African Development Community (SADC) and West Africa, drawing on suggestions made in the ISARM Framework Document (2000) [PDF document]. The conference will therefore consider the formulation of inputs and recommendations for the Regional Centre in order to develop a plan of action supporting both the current as well as the new African Expert Groups. The scope of the Conference will also include the establishment of a Plan of Action for shared aquifer systems resources management in Africa as a whole. This will provide support to both the African Union and the African Ministerial Council on Water.

This conference will be a contribution towards the implementation of the Seventh Phase (2008-2013) of UNESCO’s International Hydrological Programme (IHP) and to the 5^th World Water Forum that will be held in Istanbul in March 2009.

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UNESCO-IHE announces symposium final recommendations

UNESCO-IHE hosted the International Symposium Water for a Changing World: Enhancing Local Knowledge and Capacity in June 13-15, 2007, in Delft, the Netherlands, to assess the priority challenges in the water sector and to recommend principles and strategies for enhancing knowledge and capacity at country level in order to make international development and water management more effective and sustainable.

This report reflects the opinions of over 300 professionals, leaders and politicians representing national and local governments, scientists, education institutions and NGOs from 56 countries, as well as UN agencies and multilateral development banks.

The Discussion Forum was chaired by H.R.H the Crown Prince of the Netherlands, and comprised Ministers from Yemen, Indonesia, Uganda and Mozambique, as well as the Deputy Director General of UNESCO, the President of the World Water Council, and the Deputy CEO of Suez.

General recommendations

• Prioritize the local actors –Build on existing local Knowledge
• Raise awareness –teach water literacy
• Promote integrated approaches
• Transform organisations to make them more effective
• Reform the water sector
• Build learning networks
• Target and encourage leaders and champions
• Share information and knowledge

Five policy recommendations

• Capacity and Knowledge Development require long-term time horizons.
• Developing countries must become more independent in their own problem-solving.
• Capacity and knowledge development is a goal in itself, not just a tool.
• Start early: At primary school and beyond.
• Make knowledge and capacity development more effective: UNDERSTAND how it works.

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UNESCO-IHP and partners convene workshop on shared aquifer database in the MEDA region

The workshop “Shared Aquifer Database in the MEDA Region: Contents, use and maintenance” was recently organised by the UNESCO Chair and INWEB Network (International Network of Water/Environment Centres for the Balkans) based at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (26-27 November 2007). It is the fourth workshop to be organised within the scope of the project “Capacity building for sustainable utilisation, management and protection of internationally shared groundwater in the Mediterranean region”, developed by UNESCWA in partnership with UNECA and UNESCO-IHP. The project aims at strengthening the capacity of water management institutions in the MEDA region to implement sustainable forms of utilisation, management and protection of internationally shared ground water resources. As much as 80% of the water resources in the Mediterranean region are shared water resources, with groundwater constituting an essential and significant portion of the total available freshwater resources in the Economic and Social Commission of Western Asia (ESCWA) region. Groundwater is also the major source of water for the North African member states of the Economic Commission of Africa (ECA) and for the South European member states of the Economic Commission of Europe (ECE). A considerable number of the aquifers in the ECE-ECA-ESCWA region are shared between two or more countries. Hence, three regional commissions of the United Nations (ECE, ECA and ESCWA) in cooperation with UNESCO-IHP have been implementing various activities aiming to improve the management of internationally shared groundwater resources in their respective member states.

In order to achieve the project objective of knowledge transfer and exchange, the UNESCO Chair and Network INWEB (AUTh), in consultation with UNESCWA and UNESCO-IHP, prepared a questionnaire, which was distributed to all relevant institutions and individual experts in the region to solicit existing data and information on shared aquifers in the region. Relevant UN and non-UN institutions in the region such as ESCWA, ACSAD, OSS, and CEDARE were contacted in order to identify and review existing information and data. The purpose of the workshop was to discuss the findings of the survey and the progress made in developing regional databases.

For more information and for the workshop report please contact Ms. Raya Marina Stephan

• Hengshui Lake is located in the centre of the North China Plain in Hebei Province, China
• The lake ecosystem has a semi-arid and dry sub-humid climate, controlled by the mainland terrestrial monsoon in the temperate zone. The mean annual climate conditions are air temperature: 13°C, rainfall: 518.9mm, and evaporation: 1,296mm.
• The water of Hengshui Lake is supplied by the Yellow River, bringing about 80 million tons of water into the 42 km² Hengshui Lake wetland. But under the future management regime of the South-North Water Transfer scheme, to come into effect around the year 2010, the water supplied is projected to be 180 million m³ and to cover an area of 75km².
• Hengshui Lake is to be developed as a source of surface water for drinking for the surrounding urban areas and will supply 36 million m³ annually
• The average consumption of water per capita in this region is currently only 185 m³, this corresponds to 1/13 of the average for China, and 1/26 of global average per capita consumption.
• Since 1958, Hengshui Lake has provided water for agricultural irrigation. This practice is continuing in the present day.
• In 2003, a national nature reserve was established in the Hengshui Lake wetland. This had a positive impact on wildlife and natural resources. The bird population observed in the area increased to more than 296 species.
• Hengshui Lake ecosystem has undergone severe processes of environmental change which are related to physical alteration of the lake habitat, as well as to problems of water quality (eutrophication) and water quantity.
• Due to shortages of surface water, supplies for industry, agriculture and domestic use in Hengshui city, have been taken from deep groundwater sources. Groundwater extractions for these purposes have taken place at a rate of 1637 million m³ annually.

The section “Did You Know…?” is taken from the Water and Ecosystems: Managing Water in Diverse Ecosystems to Ensure Human Well-being, a joint publication of the United Nations University’s International Network on Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) and UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) and International Hydrological Programme (IHP).

- International Hydrological Programme
- World Water Assessment Programme
- UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education
- Water-related Institutes and Centres under the Auspices of UNESCO
- UNESCO Water-related Chairs

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