Summary
News
- UNESCO Director-General visits impacted areas of Pakistan floods
- Right to water and sanitation is legally binding, affirms key UN body
- ERASMUS MUNDUS Master Course (EMCC) in Ecohydrology launched
- UNESCO Nairobi Office announces experts working group meeting: "Mainstreaming cultural diversity within Integrated Water Resources Management in Africa"
Events
UNESCO Water Family (*)
- HydroEco2011: 3rd International Multidisciplinary Conference on Hydrology and Ecology: Ecosystems, Groundwater and Surface Water - Pressures and Options
- IWHA 7th Biennial Conference: Talking water history on the African Veld
Featured International Events
- IHA 2011 World Congress: Advancing Sustainable Hydropower
- Second session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol on Water and Health
Vacancies
- Programme Officer, Integrated Water Resources Management – United Nations University, UN-Water Decade Programme on Capacity Development
Did you know?
Facts and figures about Istanbul
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News
UNESCO Director-General visits impacted areas of Pakistan floods
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The Director-General of UNESCO, Ms. Irina Bokova, accompanied by the Assistant Director-General for Natural Science, Acting Assistant Director General for External Relations and Cooperation, and the Director for the Division for Coordination of UN Priorities in Education, visited Pakistan on 31 August. Ms. Bokova and her team were joined by the Director of UNESCO’s Pakistan Office and by a high level delegation from the Government of Pakistan as they flew over disaster affected areas and visited one of the refugee camps in Nowshera. She was also briefed on flood conditions and on damages caused by the flood as well as on actions taken by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). Ms Bokova and her team met with the Prime Minister of Pakistan and also with the Director Generals of the agencies that participated in the intense discussions during the recently concluded science mission.
Describing her mission, Ms. Bokova stated: "I personally witnessed the scale of devastation during my mission to Pakistan on 31 August. It was an occasion to express solidarity and to signal our readiness to work with the Government of Pakistan and its international partners to put in place the foundations of recovery in the short, medium and long term." The ADG/SC and the staff of the science sector stand ready to assist the Director-General and Member States to put in place these foundations.
On the occasion of the Executive Board Information Meeting on Pakistan on 16 September, the Director-General addressed the delegations at UNESCO reaffirming the organization’s commitment to helping the impacted peoples of Pakistan.
More on the Director-General’s visit to Pakistan
Right to water and sanitation is legally binding, affirms key UN body
The main United Nations body dealing with human rights has affirmed that the right to water and sanitation is contained in existing human rights treaties, and that States have the primary responsibility to ensure the full realization of this and all other basic human rights.
While the General Assembly declared in July that safe and clean drinking water and sanitation is a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life and all other human rights, this is the first time that the Human Rights Council has declared itself on the issue.
"This means that for the UN, the right to water and sanitation, is contained in existing human rights treaties and is therefore legally binding," said the UN Independent Expert on human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque.
"This landmark decision has the potential to change the lives of the billions of human beings who still lack access to water and sanitation," she said of the resolution adopted yesterday by the Geneva-based Council.
Almost 900 million people worldwide do not have access to clean water and more than 2.6 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation. Studies also indicate about 1.5 million children under the age of five die each year and 443 million school days are lost because of water- and sanitation-related diseases.
The Assembly’s resolution recognized the fundamental right to clean water and sanitation, but did not specify that the right entailed legally binding obligations.
The Council closed this gap by clarifying the foundation for recognition of the right and the legal standards, which apply, according to a news release.
"The right to water and sanitation is a human right, equal to all other human rights, which implies that it is justiciable and enforceable," said Ms. de Albuquerque. "Hence from today onwards we have an even greater responsibility to concentrate all our efforts in the implementation and full realization of this essential right."
Full article (reprinted from)
ERASMUS MUNDUS Master’s Course (EMCC) in Ecohydrology launched
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The ERASMUS MUNDUS Master’s Course (EMCC) in Ecohydrology (www.ecohyd.org) is a unique international master’s course focusing on a new vision for aquatic ecosystems restoration and long-term sustainability.
The Ecohydrology approach was developed and has been refined within the International Hydrological Programme (IHP) of UNESCO.
On 22 September 2010, the first Erasmus Mundus International Ecohydrology Master’s Course was launched at the University of Algarve, in Faro, Portugal.
The event was attended by students from 17 different nations and by all the consortium members of Erasmus Mundus: the University of Algarve (Portugal) (coordinator Institution), the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education (Delft, Netherlands), the University of Lodz (Poland), the Christian Albrecht University of Kiel (Germany) and the National University of La Plata (Argentina), as well other institutions. Research and UNESCO Centers from Europe, Latin America, Asia and Australia also attended and are contributing with advanced study courses and promoting student exchange.
Erasmus Mundus website
UNESCO Nairobi Office announces experts working group meeting: "Mainstreaming cultural diversity within Integrated Water Resources Management in Africa"
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On 15-17 November 2010 in Nairobi, Kenya, the UNESCO Nairobi Office will organize an experts working group meeting for "Mainstreaming cultural diversity within Integrated Water Resources Management in Africa".
The activity will be implemented in close partnership with the four GWP sub-regional components (Western, Central, Southern and Eastern Africa) in Sub-Saharan Africa, the different networks on IWRM such as WaterNet, WaNet and regional cultural centres such as Ecole du Patrimoine Africain (EPA) and Centre for Heritage Development in Africa (CHDA). Each GWP component and each network will be asked to nominate one expert on IWRM to be member of the working group and to attend the sub-regional workshop. In close collaboration with cultural regional centres and GWP sub-regional components experts on cultural water related issues will be nominated from each sub-region.
The members of the working group will meet during a workshop where they will discuss how best to mainstreaming cultural diversity within IWRM in Africa and will produce a draft Africa briefing policy and road map for its wide dissemination. The draft policy briefing will be sent to all the national water partnerships and national IHP committees for review. The working group will integrate the received comments in order to produce a final Africa policy briefing, which will be published in English and French.
UNESCO Office in Nairobi
Events
UNESCO Water Family (*)
HydroEco2011 : 3rd International Multidisciplinary Conference on Hydrology and Ecology: Ecosystems, Groundwater and Surface Water - Pressures and Options
2-5 May 2011: Vienna, Austria
IWHA 7th Biennial Conference: Talking water history on the African Veld
5-7 July 2011: Kruger National Park, South Africa
Featured International Events
Second session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol on Water and Health
23-25 November 2010: Bucharest, Romania
IHA 2011 World Congress: Advancing Sustainable Hydropower
14-17 June 2011: Iguassu, Brazil
Access a complete list of water events around the world
Vacancies
Programme Officer, Integrated Water Resources Management – United Nations University, UN-Water Decade Programme on Capacity Development
Responsibilities:
- Support and enhance UNW-DPC's endeavours towards institutional capacity development worldwide;
- Support the conception of white papers on capacity development policy, including collection and analysis of good practice, policy papers from donors, national sector strategy papers. The approach should encompass the development of human resources, organizational processes, co-ordination and networks, as well as of systems and institutions, establishing a link to international development goals and issues, notably the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Johannesburg Joint Plan of Implementation (JPOI), climate change, et al;
- Support the development of procedure and implementation guidelines on the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) by;
- cooperating with UN Water members and partners;
- collecting and analysing the existing guidelines and strategies for implementation making them available on line;
- supporting the creation of platforms for discussion and exchange for various actors;
- supporting the development and distribution of training modules for public/institutional and private sector actors;
- supporting the development of guidelines on how to integrate the approach in the pertinent policies and laws; and
- supporting the creation of IWRM curricula in Master studies and guidelines for other possible activities.
Closing Date: 14 November 2010
Full announcement
Did you know...? Facts and figures about Istanbul
- Istanbul, located in northwestern Turkey, has a population of over 12 million. Home to 17.6% of the country’s population, it is the largest city in Turkey and one of the 25 largest in the world.
- Although data do not indicate a clear declining trend in rainfall in Istanbul and its surroundings, extreme events – especially droughts – seem more pronounced than in the past. In 2006, the measured rainfall of 66.7 mm was the record low for the previous 50 years, a period during which the average was 257.2 mm per year. Furthermore, the water level in reservoirs serving the city was just 45% in 2004, and plummeted to around 25% in 2007 and 2008.
- Water to meet the needs of metropolitan Istanbul comes from the Marmara and Melen basins, whose combined water potential (including artificial storage) amounts to about 3.34 billion m3.
- Groundwater resources are limited; their annual potential is around 0.175 billion m3. To protect this precious resource, regulations prohibit the drilling and operation of wells without obtaining a permit.
- However, uncontrolled settlement and over-abstraction have diminished groundwater levels and led to saltwater intrusion in coastal areas. The decline in the water table due to unsustainable abstraction ranges from 30 metres to as much as 150 metres in some areas.
- In 2007, the amount of water resources in use was 1.42 billion m3. This means 40% of the water potential is being exploited, on average.
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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