Summary
News
- G-WADI announces establishment of secretariat at ICIWaRM
- UNESCO/UNU-IAS launches visiting Professorship on Water and Cultural Diversity
- Water, Climate and… Action! Enter your short film in the contest!
- UNESCO-IHP kicks-off GEF/UNEP-MAP MedPartnership component on Coastal Aquifers and Groundwater
- H2Ooooh! Water project - Pet Pals TV Series launched by UNESCO Venice Office
- 11th International Symposium on River Sedimentation held on Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Events
UNESCO Water Family (*)
- UNESCO-WCRP Workshop on metrics and methodologies of estimation of extreme climate events
Featured International Events
- COSPAR Training and Capacity Building Course on Earth Observation Understanding of the Water Cycle
- Arab Water Week: Cost recovery at water and waste utilities
- 3rd International SmallWat11 Congress: Wastewater in Small Communities. Towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and the Water Framework Directive (WFD)
- XIVth IWRA World Water Congress
Did you know?
Facts and figures about the Walawe River Basin (Sri Lanka)
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Visit the UNESCO Water Portal
News
G-WADI announces establishment of secretariat at ICIWaRM
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During the 19th Session of the IHP Council, the Secretariat reported on the activities of the IHP Global network "Water and Development Information for arid lands (G-WADI)" programme, which aims to strengthen the global capacity to manage water resources in arid and semi-arid regions by building an effective global community that integrates relevant contributions from networks, centres, organizations and individuals. The G-WADI network, having been established as one of the priorities of IHP-VII (2008-2013) now promotes international and regional cooperation in arid and semi-arid regions worldwide. It has, amongst its contributions, knowledge-bases and products such as near real-time global satellite estimates of precipitation which is available at G-WADI GeoServer hosted at the University of California, Irvine.
Since its launching in 2003, G-WADI has effectively developed a strong Asian Network and is in the process of establishing additional networks in Africa, the Arab region, and in the Latin America and Caribbean region. The programme is organizing a meeting in Cairo, Egypt ((24-28 September 2010) to further discuss establishment of the Arab G-WADI Network. H.E. Mohamed Nasr El Din Allam, Minister of Water Resources of Egypt is expected to open the Cairo G-WADI meeting emphasizing by that the significance of G-WADI’s activities to the region.
The growth of G-WADI and the launching of new regional G-WADI networks now necessitate the establishment of a technical secretariat to help IHP in networking, outreach, communications; training and capacity building. The technical secretariat will also maintain G-WADI events, news and website. Following the examples of IHP’s International Flood Initiative, hosted by ICHARM and the International Sediment Initiative, hosted by IRTCES, the IHP Secretariat has approved that ICIWaRM, a Category 2 center based in the USA, to serve as the host for the technical secretariat of the G-WADI programme.
G-WADI website | ICIWaRM website
UNESCO/UNU-IAS launches visiting Professorship on Water and Cultural Diversity
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Mr Dipak Gyawali, former Minister of Water Resources of Nepal, will take up his duty as a UNESCO/ UNU-IAS Visiting Professor on Water and Cultural Diversity, on 12 October 2010. The Professorship will be hosted by the United Nations University Institute for Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS) in Yokohama, Japan, as part of the UNESCO-IHP project on Water and Cultural Diversity and the UNU-IAS Traditional Knowledge Water Project. The aim of the Professorship is to respond to an international call for further research in the areas of water and cultural diversity – specifically in how cultural diversity can suggest pathways for and be integrated into sustainable water resource management and successful water policies. The Professor will be tasked with, among other things, providing concrete advice on how the importance of the links between water, cultural diversity, traditional knowledge, and global environmental changes can be better recognized in water management and policies.
During his time in Japan, Mr Gyawali will participate in side-events at the COP-10 of the Convention on Biological Diversity and will deliver a series of lectures at Kyoto University, Nagoya University, and Tokyo University. He will also draft articles and working papers while staying in Yokohama.
Mr Dipak Gyawali is currently Pragya (Academician) of the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) and research director of the non-profit Nepal Water Conservation Foundation. He is a hydroelectric power engineer and a political economist who, during his time as Minister of Water Resources, initiated reforms in the electricity and irrigation sectors focused on decentralization and promotion of rural participation in governance. He has been involved, inter alia, as guest scholar and researcher at various institutions such as the Queen Elizabeth House in Oxford, the Norwegian Center for Research in Organization and Management, the International Environmental Academy in Geneva, and at the London School of Economics. Mr Gyawali has been conducting interdisciplinary research on the interface between technology and society, and has published numerous articles on the topic of water, energy, dams, and climate change issues.
For more information on the UNESCO-IHP project on Water and Cultural Diversity, please contact ihp@unesco.org. For more information on UNU-IAS Traditional Knowledge Initiative, contact Ameyali Ramos Castillo.
Water, Climate and… Action! Enter your short film in the contest!
From 22 September to 15 November 2010, the "Water, Climate and… Action!" short film contest is accepting entries on your experiences and messages about climate change and its aspects on water and your life.
Share your experiences and ideas with us! Selected short films will be projected during a side event at the 16th Convention on Climate Change (COP-16) in Cancun, Mexico. They will also be used to help convey the message that we need to act now to adapt to the effects of climate change to the policy and decision makers who hold our future in their hands.
The contest is being held by the United Nations World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) and TheWaterChannel.tv, with the support of the Mexican National Water Commission (CONAGUA), and the Mexican Consejo Consultivo del Agua, A.C.
For more information, please visit the website: www.waterclimateaction.org.
UNESCO-IHP kicks-off GEF/UNEP-MAP MedPartnership component on Coastal Aquifers and Groundwater
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In May 2010, UNESCO-IHP successfully initiated the implementation of the Sub-component on "Management of Coastal Aquifer and Groundwater" within the framework of the UNEP/MAP GEF Strategic Partnership for the Mediterranean Sea Large Marine Ecosystem (MedPartnership).
UNESCO-IHP organized a successful coordination meeting with representatives from eight Mediterranean countries and most of the international and national partners involved in the implementation of the groundwater activities. The meeting was held in Paris on 14-15 September 2010. The aim of the coordination meeting was to review the status of the implementation of different activities under this sub-component and to discuss next steps towards regional integration and replication of results and best practices.
In the Mediterranean coastal zone, coastal aquifers represent generally available and secure water supplies that are increasingly being threatened by depletion, over-extraction and quality degradation caused by contamination. The aim of the Management of Coastal Aquifers and Groundwater sub-component of the MedPartnership is to reverse the trends in over-extraction and degradation in the quality of coastal aquifers through policy interventions in order to supply the appropriate capacity and technology for groundwater management. Activities will focus on the assessment of the vulnerability and risks to coastal aquifers and associated issues, the preparation of a regional action plan, case study demonstrations, identification of gaps and providing recommendations for legal, institutional and policy reforms concerning coastal aquifers management in the participating countries, in light of the Barcelona Convention and related protocols (LBS, Biodiversity and ICZM).
MedPartnership website
H2Ooooh! Water project - Pet Pals TV Series launched by UNESCO Venice Office
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An estimated 884 million people worldwide do not have access to safe water. Almost 1.5 million children die every year from water-borne diseases. Population growth and increasing urbanization, chemical pollution and invasive species are the main factors contributing to the deterioration of water quality. The consequences for the environment and for mankind are considerable.
In the frame of H2Ooooh! Water project, Gruppo Alcuni in collaboration with UNESCO and RAI Fiction has developed this 3-D animated television series with the six Pet Pals as protagonists focusing on the issue of water protection.
Read more
11th International Symposium on River Sedimentation held on Stellenbosch University, South Africa
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The 11th International Symposium on River Sedimentation (11th ISRS) was held at Stellenbosch University, South Africa on 6-9 September 2010 with more than 160 registered participants from over 30 countries and regions attending the Symposium. The Symposium was organized by the Stellenbosch University, sponsored by the International Research and Training Center on Erosion and Sedimentation (IRTCES) and World Association of Sedimentation and Erosion Research (WASER), and co-sponsored by UNESCO, ICOLD, IAHR, IAHS and South Africa Water Research Commission. The main theme was ‘Sedimentation and Sustainable Use of River Systems’.
The opening ceremony was held in the Endler Hall of the Conservatorium on 6 September. Chaired by Prof. Gerrit Basson, Prof Arnold van Zyl, Vice Rector of the University of Stellenbosch, Mr. Wandile Nomquphu, South Africa Water Research Commission, and Prof. Des Walling, President WASER, made welcome speeches. Prof. HU Chunhong, Secretary-General of IRTCES, and Mr. Peter van Niekerk, Department of Water Affairs South Africa, made keynote presentations.
Over 120 technical presentations were delivered in the plenary and parallel sessions with a focus on fundamental aspects of sediment transport, sediment yield, hydraulic structure downstream impacts, hydraulic structures, river sedimentation and reservoir sedimentation.
The 11th ISRS closing ceremony were organized in the afternoon of 9 September, which was chaired by the newly announced WASER Vice President Prof. Zanke. Prof. Di Silvio, the recently announced WASER President, made a speech giving a brief overview of and recommendations from the 11th ISRS, while local organizer Prof. Basson made closing remarks.
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Events
UNESCO Water Family (*)
UNESCO-WCRP Workshop on metrics and methodologies of estimation of extreme climate events
27-29 September 2010: Paris, France
Featured International Events
COSPAR Training and Capacity Building Course on Earth Observation Understanding of the Water Cycle
1-12 November 2010: Fortaleza, Brazil
Arab Water Week: Cost recovery at water and waste utilities
5-9 December 2010: Amman, Jordan
3rd International SmallWat11 Congress: Wastewater in Small Communities. Towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and the Water Framework Directive (WFD)
25-28 April 2011: Seville, Spain
XIVth IWRA World Water Congress
25-29 November 2011: Porto de Galinhas/PE, Brazil
Access a complete list of water events around the world
Did you know...? Facts and figures about the Walawe River Basin (Sri Lanka)
- The Walawe River basin, located in the southeast, has an area of 2,500 km2 and covers 4% of the total landmass of the Sri Lanka, it is one of the nation’s biggest basins.
- Recent water resources development has linked some adjacent small river basins to the Walawe basin. Thus, the total area covered in this study is 3,300 km2 and includes the Malala Oya, Kachchigal Oya and Karagan Oya.
- The annual flow of the Walawe River is 1.5 billion m3, or 3% of the country’s total renewable water resources.
- In the Walawe basin, more than 95% of the total volume of water diverted is for irrigation.
- There are four hydroelectric power plants in the Walawe basin, with total installed capacity of about 130 MW, representing about 10% of the country’s overall installed hydropower capacity.
- District values indicate that access to safe drinking water in the Walawe basin ranges from 73% to 83%, which compares well with the national average of 85%. However, as piped water is not available around the clock in several locations and there are quality problems during dry periods, those percentages represent an optimistic upper limit.
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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