Director-General signs agreement establishing first UNESCO category 2 centre on freshwater in the US

On Thursday 29 October 2009, the Director-General of UNESCO, Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, signed with Major General Don T. Riley, Deputy Commanding General of the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), an agreement establishing the UNESCO International Centre for Integrated Water Resources Management (ICIWaRM) in Alexandria, Virginia.

Also present at the signing ceremony was Dr Robert Pietrowsky, Director of the USACE Institute of Water Resources, which will host the centre, and Dr Eugene Z. Stakhiv, Technical Director of UNESCO-ICIWaRM.

"Today, we establish the first category 2 centre in the US. It is a very important moment. For UNESCO to expand its freshwater programme we need the involvement of the US science community – we need its expertise, its creativity, its entrepreneurship," the Director-General said on signing the agreement. He went on to explain that ICIWaRM would join a powerful global network of over 40 category 2 centres operating under the aegis of UNESCO, around half of which are in the field of freshwater. "Promoting more sustainable freshwater management has been a top priority of my tenure at UNESCO. The creation of this new centre will significantly bolster our implementing capacity in this area", Mr Matsuura underlined, stating that the new centre would notably increase support to developing countries, especially in Africa.

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ISARM releases brochure "Internationally Shared Aquifers in the Balkan Region: Preliminary Assessment"

The "Internationally Shared Aquifers in the Balkan Region: Preliminary Assessment" brochure, including a CD with the inventory of 65 transboundary aquifers of the region, is now available.

This document has been prepared by UNESCO Chair And Network INWEB/Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, at the completion of Phase I of ISARM/Balkans.

Printed copies are available on request to:

International Hydrological Programme (IHP)
UNESCO/Division of Water Sciences (SC/HYD)
1, rue Miollis
75732 Paris Cedex 15
France
Tel: (+33) 1 45 68 39 11/ 40 99
Email: ihp@unesco.org

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UNESCO-IHP participates in 5th Biennial GEF International Waters Conference

The 5th Biennial GEF International Waters Conference was held in Cairns, North Queensland, from October 26 to 29, 2009, hosted by the Government of Australia. The conference was aimed at offering a platform for the exchange of experiences between projects currently being implemented within the framework of the GEF International Waters Focal Area. UNESCO-IHP has developed strong ties with the GEF throughout the last years and is currently executing a number of groundwater projects within the GEF International Waters Focal Area. Prior to the conference, a technical workshop on Global Changes and Freshwater Resources was jointly organized by UNESCO-IHP, James Cook University, CSIRO, and IAEA on October 24 and 25. Leading Australian and international experts in surface and groundwater management, debated on how to resolve conflicting demands among diverse stakeholders, how to cope with water scarcity and how to deal with the technical as well as societal impacts of climate change.

Joint conference statement

Groundwater, climate change and adaptation: IHP session at COP-15, UN Climate Change Conference, Copenhagen

Climatic change is expected to cause significant changes in the water cycle. On the one hand more concentrated and stronger precipitation is expected, and on the other hand it is expected that droughts will be more persistent. Longer and sustained droughts will especially influence semi-arid regions where, in many cases, there are water shortages already. Particularly in these areas, the availability of groundwater is crucial to the survival of both nature and humankind.

The Netherlands National Committee IHP-HWRP, together with AMCOW, GEUS, IGRAC, UCL, and UNESCO's IHP, will host a special session during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP-15) in Copenhagen on Groundwater, climate change and adaptation. The session is supported by IAHS' timely publications on Groundwater and Climate in Africa.

Date: Thursday, 10 December 2009
Time: 20.00-22.00 hrs
Venue: Holland Climate House, Hall C7, Bella Center, UN Climate Change Conference, Copenhagen

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Access a complete list of water events around the world

Proceedings: UNESCO Chair Workshop on Sustainable Groundwater Management in Arid and Semi-arid Regions

IHP VII - Technical Document in Hydrology - No. 1 (UNESCO Beijing Office Series), T. Tanaka (Editor-in-Chief); R. Jayakumar and B. Erdenechimeg (co-editors)

This publication comprises the proceedings of the UNESCO Chair Workshop on Sustainable Groundwater Management in Arid and Semi-arid Regions, held on 1 October, 2008 at the Institute of Geo-ecology, MAS, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in conjunction with 16th Regional Steering Committee (RSC) Meeting for UNESCO-IHP-Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

The workshop was hosted and organized by the UNESCO Chair in Mongolia, Institute of Geo-ecology, MAS, Terrestrial Environment Research Center, University of Tsukuba, the UNESCO Beijing Office and the Mongolian Water Authority. The scientific workshop and meeting is also one of important activities within the framework of implementation of the UNESCO Chair on Sustainable Groundwater Management in Mongolia.

The aims and purpose of the workshop were to share and disseminate knowledge, information and experiences in groundwater resources and watershed management sciences and to promote cooperative and collaborative activities in several areas supporting the core themes of the UNESCO Chair.

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• Cholistan is the largest of four major deserts of Pakistan. It is bordered on the south by the Thar desert in Sindh province and on the east by the Rajasthan desert in India. The Cholistan Desert covers about 26,000 km2, which corresponds to 26% of the 110,000 km2 of the country’s total desert area and 3% of its overall surface area.
• The average annual rainfall in the desert ranges from 100 to 200 mm. Consequently, freshwater availability is very limited. There are no perennial or ephemeral streams, and most of the groundwater is saline with a medium to high range of dissolved solids that make it generally unfit for drinking.
• The only source of freshwater for about 110,000 inhabitants and their approximately 2 million head of subsistence livestock is the occasional rainfall. Fortunately, the average annual potential of 300 million m3 for rainwater harvesting is more than sufficient to satisfy the combined water demand of the people and livestock.
• To make the best use of this potential the herders have found ponds known locally as tobas. These store runoff water for use during the dry periods. Harvested rainwater is also stored for household use in large circular or rectangular tanks called kunds.
• Kunds are concrete structures built to store rainwater for human consumption. There are about 200 kunds in the Cholistan desert. Generally, the stored water stays clean unless there are external contaminants. Analysis of water samples from several kunds showed that water was being polluted by human and livestock waste transported in runoff.

The section "Did You Know…?" is taken from the 3rd World Water Development Report "Water in a Changing World" and its Case Study Volume: Facing the Challenges where you can find out more information about the Cholistan Desert.

- 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