Summary
News
- UNESCO Director-General meets Chinese Minister of Water Resources
- UNESCO-IHP co-organizes three sessions at the Water History Conference
- Kick-off meeting for a new IFI book series at UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, 29-30 April 2010
- UNESCO-IHP SINBAD project to be showcased at World Water Week
- Oregon State University’s Department of Geosciences to hold course in Water Governance and Conflict Management
Events
UNESCO Water Family (*)
- 10th Kovacs Colloquium 2010 - Hydrocomplexity: New Tools for Solving Wicked Water Problems
- ISARM2010 - International Conference on Transboundary Aquifers: Challenges and New Directions
Publications
- Climate Change and Adaptation for Water Resources in Yellow River Basin, China
Vacancies
- Data Manager (United Nations University – UN-Water Decade Programme on Capacity Development)
Did you know?
Facts and figures about the Netherlands
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News
UNESCO Director-General meets Chinese Minister of Water Resources
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On 19 May 2010, the Director-General of UNESCO, Mrs. Irina Bokova met with the Minister of Water Resources, Government of China, Mr. Chen Lei. During the meeting, the Director-General and the Minister reviewed successful cooperation between UNESCO and Ministry of Water Resources during the past thirty years.
Mrs. Bokova was glad to see the increasingly important role that China has taken in the Inter-governmental Council of UNESCO-IHP. Moreover, successful cooperation between the two parties have also led to the foundation and remarkable progress of the International Research and Training Centre for Erosion and Sedimentation (IRTCES). In the meantime, there have been hundreds of Chinese hydrologists and engineers receiving trainings organized by UNESCO, and some of them have earned their master’s degree from UNESCO-IHE. The Director-General is also happy to note that case study report on the Yellow River was included in the World Water Development Report III, coordinated by UNESCO-WWAP. For future collaboration, the Director-General identified fields such as cooperation over major themes of IHP, continued joint research on impacts of climate change on water resources in sensitive areas, and water education contributing to sustainable development.
Minister Chen expressed his strong commitment supporting cooperation with UNESCO in the field of sustainable water resources management. The Ministry of Water Resources will continue to participate wholeheartedly in major activities organized under UNESCO frameworks. In addition, the Minister is looking forward to sharing experiences, knowledge and technical know-how with developing countries, and UNESCO provides this multilateral forum. Specifically, Mr. Chen emphasized his focus for future cooperation on renewed cooperation on research for climate change and water resources, institutional building of IRTCES, improvement of IHP implementation, support to the compiling of the 4th WWDR, along with enhanced cooperation with UNESCO-IHE.
UNESCO-IHP co-organizes three sessions at the Water History Conference
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The International Water History Association, the Delft University of Technology and UNESCO-IHE have co-organized Water History Conference 2010 to take place 16-19 June 2010 in Delft, the Netherlands. During the conference, UNESCO-IHP will co-organize three sessions. In a double session on 17 June, Palestinian and Israeli researchers are presenting the intermediate research results of the joint project "Harnessing History to Understand the Current Israeli-Arab Water Landscape" of UNESCO-IHP and the Israeli-Palestinian Science Organization. "Harnessing History" conducts historical research to better understand the regional development of major water projects, water laws, and of the changes in the landscapes of Israel/Palestine due to irrigation. The project is financed by Funds-in-Trust of the Government of Italy and constitutes a contribution to the initiative . "Harnessing History" conducts historical research to better understand the regional development of major water projects, water laws, and of the changes in the landscapes of Israel/Palestine due to irrigation. The project is financed by Funds-in-Trust of the Government of Italy and constitutes a contribution to the initiative PCCP and to the UNESCO History of Water and Civilization.
On 19 June, high level representatives of UNESCO and IWHA and the Editor-in-Chief Professor Fekri Hassan will be closing the conference with a session dedicated to the forthcoming book series History of Water and Civilization and an outlook towards the first volume, "Water History and Humanity", which will be released by UNESCO Publishing later this year.
Conference website
Kick-off meeting for a new IFI book series at UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, 29 and 30 April 2010
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The Section of Hydrological Processes and Climate, Division of Water Sciences, UNESCO-IHP has launched a new book series on floods as a contribution to the International Flood Initiative – IFI. The objective of the book series is to provide sound knowledge to the theory of flood disaster management and practice under the current climate change conditions. Best practices around the world and state of the art knowledge will be presented together with a set of computational tools for practical applications.
The workshop was attended by the IFI partners, namely IAHS, WMO, UNU, ICHARM and ISDR which will contribute to the IFI book series. The main objective of the workshop was to establish the book outlines with the inputs from all IFI leading organizations.
Four publications are envisaged dealing with:
- Extreme Precipitation and Climate change
- The proposed book will examine the impacts of climate change on extreme precipitation events in an effort to: increase our understanding of the impacts of climate change on extreme precipitation events; quantify the uncertainties associated with extreme precipitation events and develop procedures and guidelines for risk-based decision-making in the presence of the impacts of climate change.
- Hydrologic Modeling of Floods
- Practical tools for hydrologic modeling of extreme water-related events under climate change will be the focus of this book. The book will concentrate on floods under changing climate and selection of proper hydrologic modelling approaches for their estimation.
- Flood Inundation Modelling
- The proposed book will present hydraulic tools in public domain and focus attention on the use of GIS technology for floodplain mapping under climate change conditions.
- Flood Risk Management
- This book will be an investigation of different methodologies of flood risk management. The innovative aspect of this book will be the fuzzy set approaches to water related disaster risk.
Contact: Dr. Siegfried Demuth, Chief of the Section of Hydrological Processes and Climate, Division of Water Sciences.
UNESCO-IHP SINBAD project to be showcased at World Water Week
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The UNESCO-IHP project "SINBAD - Système INtégré de gestion du BAssin pour la réutilisation Des eaux usées pour l’agriculture" (Integrated Wastewater management for wastewater reuse in Agriculture), has been selected by SIWI for a poster presentation at the 2010 World Water Week in Stockholm.
The overall objective of SINBAD is to improve water use efficiency in Algeria by promoting an integrated wastewater management approach and reusing (treated) wastewater in irrigated agriculture. Two pilot areas were selected for the project implementation: the hydrological basin draining to Lake Réghaïa, situated on the Algerian Mediterranean coast, and the city of Constantine in the north-east. To achieve this goal the project has built an integrated mathematical model of the wastewater cycle (sewer networks and Wastewater Treatment Plant - WWTP) of the target areas. Alternative wastewater treatment options are simulated to identify the most cost-effective one that is engineered in the master plan for the wastewater management of the two pilot sites.
Read the abstract
Oregon State University’s Department of Geosciences to hold course in Water Governance and Conflict Management
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On 14-18 June 2010, Oregon State University’s Department of Geosciences, one of UNESCO PCCP’s partners is offering a course in Water Governance and Conflict Management at OSU’s campus. The Water Governance and Conflict Management course offers an opportunity for water resources professionals and graduate students to learn about current and leading-edge ways to work effectively in contentious water situations. It explores conflict tolerance, prevention, management, and transformation through collaborative structures as well as through models of negotiation and dialogue.
The week-long course emphasizes experiential learning. Class offers a place to learn and practice new skills that are applicable from the individual level to the societal level and across a range of real-life situations. Additionally, the course helps students understand just how creative, messy and inelegant workable solutions are likely to be.
Course brochure
Events
UNESCO Water Family (*)
10th Kovacs Colloquium 2010 - Hydrocomplexity: New Tools for Solving Wicked Water Problems
2-3 July 2010: Paris, France
ISARM2010 - International Conference on Transboundary Aquifers: Challenges and New Directions
6-8 December 2010: Paris, France
Access a complete list of water events around the world
Publications
Climate Change and Adaptation for Water Resources in Yellow River Basin, China
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IHP VII Technical Document in Hydrology – UNESCO Office in Beijing, 2010
This publication is compilation of research papers on impact of climate change and adaptation for water resources in Yellow River Basin under the MDG Achievement Fund supported UN China initiative of Climate Change Partnership Framework (CCPF). Some of the research papers were presented during the inception workshop and 4th Yellow River Forum.
Download the document.
Vacancies
Data Manager (United Nations University – UN-Water Decade Programme on Capacity Development)
Responsibilities:
Under the authority and supervision of the Director of UNW-DPC and the supervision of the responsible Programme Officer, the successful candidate shall be entrusted with the following tasks:
- Checking for data consistency (characters, strings, arguments semantics)
- Data import and migration to an Information System which includes:
- Structuring of analogue (manual) data
- Digitizing the data, and
- Validating the data exported to the UNW-DPC information system
- Support testing of the UNW-DPC information system, including active involvement in user testing of Information System
- Other tasks related to information system services as the needs arise involving the data
Closing Date: Friday, 4 June 2010.
Full announcement.
Did you know...? Facts and figures about the Netherlands
- The Netherlands is located in Western Europe, bordered by Belgium to the south, Germany to the east and the North Sea to the north and west. Geographically, the Netherlands is a flat, low-lying country formed by the estuary of four important European rivers: the Rhine, the Meuse, the Ems and the Scheldt.
- Two-thirds of the country is threatened by flooding. Through history, the country has defended itself against threats posed by water, building dikes and dams, canalizing rivers and reclaiming land from the sea. Today, about 9.6 million of its inhabitants (60% of the population) live below sea level, and about 70% of the country’s GDP is generated below sea level thanks to a 3,500 km primary flood defence system composed of dikes and sand dunes.
- Although there are some local water shortages, the presence of large rivers such as the Rhine and its tributaries, as well as the Meuse, ensures that water quantity and water allocation to various sectors are not generally an issue in the Netherlands. Only 9% of the total annual renewable water resources is used. In recent years, however, periods of low river flow have become more frequent and tended to last longer.
- Responsibility for the management of natural water systems in the Netherlands and for protecting residents from flooding is largely allocated to the Waterschappen (regional water authorities or water boards). The 26 current Waterschappen constitute a fourth form of government body in the Netherlands, alongside the central, provincial and municipal governments.
- Floods: The main challenge. Floods have always been a major threat in the Netherlands. They can come from storm surges from the sea, high river discharges after heavy rain or snow-melt upstream, or intense local rainfall.
The section "Did You Know…?" is taken from the 3rd World Water Development Report "Water in a Changing World".
UNESCO's Water Family consists of the following:
- 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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