UNESCO Director-General calls for increased investment in global public goods at World Economic Forum in Davos

With discussions focused on the theme of "shaping the post-crisis world", the Director-General underscored the need for greater investment in global public goods such as education and water, arguing that this was "not only a question of social justice and of protecting the poorest from the effects of the downturn, but also of laying the foundations for a more inclusive and sustainable economic recovery".

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Chinese Minister of Water meets with Deputy Assistant Director General for Natural Sciences of UNESCO

On January 16, 2008 Chinese Minister of Water Resources Chen Lei held a meeting with Dr. Andras Szollosi-Nagy, Deputy Assistant Director General of UNESCO.

The two sides reviewed the cooperation of China and UNESCO in the respects of International Hydrological Programme (IHP), hydrological scientific studies, sediment and training, and exchanged views on new projects, case studies related to the UN World Water Development Report (WWDR). Minister Chen spoke highly of the important role played by UNESCO, especially IHP in global water field.

Dr. Andras Szollosi-Nagy highly appraised the contribution made by the Chinese Government for IHP, sediment studies and training and active role in coping with climate change on water, and expressed wishes to strengthening cooperation with the Ministry of Water Resources (MWR) and other water agencies in China.

Officials from the General Office, Department of International Cooperation, Science and Technology, Hydrological Bureau of MWR, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research and Mr. Abhimanyu Singh, Director and Representative of UNESCO Beijing Office took part in the meeting. (Source: http://www.mwr.gov.cn/)

Prof. Hu Chunhong, the Secretary-General and Deputy Director of International Research and Training Centre on Erosion and Sedimentation (IRTCES) participated in the meeting. In the meeting, Dr. Szollosi-Nagy said that 2009 is the 25 anniversary of IRTCES’ establishment as well as the UNESCO Office in Beijing. Technical activities such as workshop, seminar and lecture are suggested to be co-organized by the UNESCO, the MWR and the IRTCES for the Silver Jubilee of IRTCES and UNESCO Office Beijing.

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PCCP and CI organize a training for journalists on water and cooperation

"How to improve communication and media reporting on water and cooperation?"A training organized by PCCP in cooperation with UNESCO’s Communication and Information sector, will respond to this question. The training workshop will take place on 15 March and will be followed by a practical training during the 5th World Water Forum.

UNESCO’s PCCP will train up to 12 journalists, especially from water-stressed regions, on water issues and the importance of sustainable management of the resources. After the training, the journalists shall engage and inform policy-makers, vulnerable communities and other news consumers about the importance and urgency of turning diverging interests over water resources into actual cooperation.

The training will foster a network of journalists working on sustainable development issues, so as to improve media reporting on water cooperation and contribute to the World Water Day 2009 on Transboundary Waters. It is part of UNESCO’s initiative on "Media as Partners", and uses its resources and blog to reach out to a wider audience.

PCCP Website

Water education workshops to be conducted in Asia-Pacific and Africa

1. Asia-Pacific Regional Workshop on Water Education hosted by Indonesian IHP and Science Foundation, Jakarta, 11-12 February, 2009 (already held)
2. Africa Regional Workshop on Water Education hosted by South African IHP and Water Research Commission, Feather Market Convention Centre, Port Elisabeth, South Africa, 24-25 February, 2009

Water education is key to achieve the water MDGs. While there is a range of materials and projects focusing on water-related education, these are not well connected to offer customised solutions to individual countries. Some of the limitations identified with the existing water education include use of outdated, biased or irrelevant information; poor medium of instruction; lack of continuity between different levels of water education; lack of integration with the wider curriculum and with local knowledge; lack of practical relevance to local and community needs; lack of resources; and poor linkages with locally available professional bodies.

The in Asia-Pacific and Africa regions workshops on water education intend to identify gaps in order to prepare appropriate response to the local needs and to achieve the objectives foreseen in the strategic plan for IHP-VII, the DESD Action Plan and the Water Education Workplan.

The workshops will contribute to the execution of theme 5 ("Water Education for sustainable Development") of the strategic Plan for the 7th Phase of IHP. In particular, the workshops will contribute to the following outputs of focal areas 5.1 to 5.4:

• Recommendations for broader curricula, exemplar educational materials and case studies
• Case studies, best practices and publications on water education within TVET.
• Guidelines for integrating water education related to sustainable development into the K-12 curriculum, with emphasis on "learning by doing" or "experiential learning" approaches.
• Production of guidelines, supported by practical examples, for community-based water education and media reporting of water issues.

The expected outputs of the workshops include regional publications with a compilation of best practices and recommendations for the regions. The regional recommendations will be translated, merged and shared with the IHP National Committees. Follow-up on the recommendations, possibly via pilot or demonstration projects will take place during IHP-VII.

Further Information:
Shahbaz Khan, Chief Sustainable Resources Management and Development Section, UNESCO, Paris, Email: s.khan@uneso.org

High-Level Roundtable "Adapting to Climate Variability in Transboundary Basins" on World Water Day

UNESCO will organise a high-level roundtable event on the World Water Day 2009 with the support of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the UN-Water Secretariat. The topic of the roundtable is "Adapting to Climate Variability in Transboundary Basins".

The objective of this roundtable is to raise awareness and the political focus required for increased cooperation on shared water resources. Ministers, policy makers and other high level figures will address issues of adaptation and management of global challenges and changes in a transboundary water context.

For more information about the World Water Day activities visit the official website of the Day.

Access a complete list of water events around the world

Senior Programme Specialist (Water Sciences)

UNESCO Nairobi Office

Under the authority of the Assistant Director-General for Science and the overall supervision of the Director of UNESCO Office in Nairobi, in close collaboration with the Division of Water Sciences at UNESCO Headquarters, and in coordination with other UNESCO water resources specialists in the region (such as in Accra and Harare), the incumbent will be responsible for planning, programming, coordination and implementation of all the activities in the field of water sciences within the Africa region.

Full announcement

Climate Change Adaptation in the Water Sector

(Eds. Fulco Ludwig, Pavel Kabat, Henk van Schaik and Michael van der Valk)

Today’s climate variability already has a large impact on water supply and protection. Millions of people are affected every year by droughts and floods. Future climate change is likely to make things worse. Climate Change Adaptation in the Water Sector is a new book for students and practitioners in the water sector on how to adapt to climate change and variability. Its main purpose is to offer a compendium of specific adaptation strategies for students, water managers and decision makers. After reading this book, water professionals and advanced students should feel much more comfortable in using climate data in decision support and/or managing water resources. They will know what kind of data or information on climate change and variability are available and how they can be used within the water sector.

The first part of the book describes the general issues and the second part contains specific case studies, drawn from contrasting countries, including Australia, Thailand, The Netherlands, Germany, Philippines, South Africa, and Yemen.

This book is a product of the Co-operative Programme on Water and Climate (CPWC), and is a contribution of the Netherlands to UNESCO’s IHP.

Publisher’s Page

Get the book for a reduced price

• The Earth’s hydrological cycle is the global mechanism that transfers water from the oceans to the surface and from the surface, or subsurface environments, and plants to the atmosphere that surrounds our planet.
• The principal natural component processes of the hydrological cycle are: precipitation, infiltration, runoff, evaporation and transpiration.
• Human activities (settlements, industry, and agricultural developments) can disturb the components of the natural cycle through land use diversions and the use, reuse and discharge of wastes into the natural surface water and groundwater pathways.
• The Earth’s atmosphere contains approximately 13,000 km³ of water. This represents 10% of the world’s freshwater resources not found in groundwater, icecaps or permafrost. However, of more importance is the fact that this vapour cycles in the atmosphere in a ‘global dynamic envelope’, which has a substantive annually recurring volume, estimated to be from 113,500 to 120,000 km³. These large volumes illustrate precipitation’s key role in renewing our natural water resources, particularly those used to supply natural ecosystems and rainfed crops.
• When atmospheric precipitation reaches the ground, it divides into several sections, which pursue the terrestrial part of the hydrological cycle along different paths. Out of a total annual amount of 110,000 km³ of precipitation on the land surface, about 40,000 km³ is converted into surface runoff and aquifer recharge (blue water) and an estimated 70,000 km³ is stored in the soil and later returns to the atmosphere through evaporation and plant transpiration (green water).
• The processes of evaporation and transpiration (evapotranspiration) are closely linked to the water found in soil moisture; these processes act as driving forces on water transferred in the hydrological cycle. Movement through soil and vegetation is large and accounts for 62% of annual globally renewable freshwater.
• About 40% of the precipitation that falls on land comes from ocean-derived vapour. The remaining 60% comes from land-based sources.
• In a temperate climate, 33% of the total precipitation generally either returns by evaporation or evapotranspiration back into the atmosphere, 33% becomes surface water through runoff, and 33% recharges groundwater.
• In a semi-arid climate, 50% of the total precipitation either returns by evaporation or evapotranspiration back into the atmosphere, 30% becomes surface water through runoff, and 20% recharges groundwater.
• In an arid climate, 70% of the total precipitation either returns by evaporation or evapotranspiration back into the atmosphere, 29% becomes surface water through runoff, and only 1% recharges groundwater.

The section "Did You Know…?" is taken from the 2nd United Nations World Water Development Report, 'Water, a shared responsibility'.

- 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