Programme implementation

IHP/Bur-LIII/7 Paris, 19-21 April

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International Hydrological Programme

53rd Session of the IHP Bureau (Paris, 19 to 21 April 2016)

PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION

Item 4 of the provisional agenda.

This document provides a summary of the implementation of the Programme, in particular:

4.1 Implementation of IHP VIII (2014-2021).

4.2 Report on the implementation of the resolutions and decisions adopted at the 21th session of the IHP Intergovernmental Council and the 52th Bureau

4.3 External evaluation of IHP-VII, including the report on the IHP National Committees survey

4.4 Report on the follow-up to the Natural Sciences Sector Audit

4.5 Cooperation with other UNESCO programmes Actions expected from the Bureau: 4.1 To take note and comment on the progress implementation of IHP VIII 4.2 To take note of the implementation of previous resolutions adopted during the last 21st IHP Council and 52nd Bureau and provide advice on the next steps, suggesting as well possible contributions from Member States 4.3 to take note and comment on the external evaluation of IHP VII including results of IHP national committees survey, if necessary provide recommendations 4.4 to take note of the audit of Natural Science Sector and advice on aspects related to IHP 4.5 to take note that we cooperate with MAB, IGCP, IOC, PCB/SIDS and invites IHP to strengthen the intersectoral and further cooperate with SHS in the COMEST programme The Bureau may wish to provide its appreciation and provide advice on next step as suggesting to the council ways to be more engaged on the implementation of IHP VIII at the local and regional level, may wish to take any resolutions regarding the implementation of the programme.

IHP/Bur-LIII/7 Page 1

IHP-VIII IMPLEMENTATION (Agenda item 4.1) Theme 1: Water-related disasters and hydrological change

1. The main objective is to support institutions at a national and regional level to develop research and training programmes on floods and drought risk management related to climate extremes towards strengthening Countries adaptation capacity.

2. Floods: ICHARM is leading to develop revised strategy and implementation plan for

the International Flood Initiative (IFI) in coordination with all the partners including UNESCO-IHP. UNESCO Jakarta Office, in collaboration with other partners has organized various activities related to floods management including: (a) an inception workshop on "Evidence-based Forecasting of Monsoon Driven Floods in Transboundary Rivers of Pakistan” with 31 participants from and Afghanistan, Japan and Pakistan leading to the formulation of rationally combined top-down and bottom-up approaches in hydro-meteorological modelling for reliable flood forecasting on the Indus tributaries; b) an international seminar entitled “Enhancing Resilience against Multi-hazards through effective Mitigation Systems and Adaptation Strategies” in delivering state-of-the-art, accurate and useful forecasts to avoid preventable losses in life and property with 90 participants from 7 (seven) countries (Bangladesh, France, India, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines and Pakistan, c) an e-Learning MasterClass on Community-Based Flood Management for more than 170 participants from higher education institutions across Asia-Pacific aiming to build awareness and develop synergies; d) a workshop on the “South-south Cooperation for Modelling and Managing Hydro Hazards, August-September ”, Indonesia with 27 participants from 7 countries (Australia, Benin, China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, and New Zealand), which led to the creation of a professional modeling experts group in hydro hazards through Linkedin “Modeling group in hydro hazards in Asia-Pacific and Africa region” 3. Within the framework of the EU project FLOODIS, the Venice Office organized the Regional Workshop on “Increasing Resilience to Emergencies through Earth Observation, Crowdsourcing, and Satellite Navigation Systems”, in Paris with 40 participants from

Albania, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, The Netherlands, Russia and Serbia. The project, concluded in 2015, assisted in providing a high accuracy, professional location-based solution for flooding events alerting and management; 4. Forty (40) experts from Egypt, Jordan, Sudan, and Yemen have been trained towards the production of flash flood hazard risk maps. 5. Droughts: The first International Drought Initiative (IDI), Expert Group meeting, was held in Teheran in June 2015 to share experience, best practices and provide expert knowledge, advice and to help in networking and institutional support for implementing IDI’s activities.

6. A regional workshop on Drought was held in Bogor, Indonesia, with 25 (23 from Indonesia, one from Mongolia and one from Pakistan) experts contributing to increasing knowledge on drought, including drought impacts on groundwater and river flow (hydrological drought). The ENHANS project on "Increasing Resilience to Natural Hazards of origin in South America" was launched in Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay with the participation of IHP-LAC. The working group on Snow and Ice met in Chile in September 2015 with 61 participants from Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Bolivia, Germany, Argentina, Colombia and US. 7. Climate change: During the International Scientific Conference “Our Common Future under Climate Change”, held at UNESCO HQ in 2015, IHP and other partners convened three sessions on: (a) Freshwater: state of the Knowledge b) Freshwater: Shaping the Future and (c) Africa facing climate change. IHP and partners contributed to the session:


“Managing change: strengthening resilience to climate and disaster risks – during the Stockholm Water Week 2015 and to international conference the ‘Mountains of Our Future Earth’ in Scotland, 2015. FRIEND in partnership with the Government of Tunisia organized the first international conference on Large African River Basins Hydrology in Hammamet, Tunisia in October 2015. 8. As part of the outreach activities, during the General Conference, IHP presented the exhibition “Mountains: early warning systems for climate change” (the exhibition was mounted on UNESCO’s Headquarters fences at Suffren’s Avenue side). It is estimated that around 4000 people were able to get the information through the exhibition panels. Within the framework of the exhibition “Mountains: early warning systems for climate change”, the French documentary film “The Ice and the Sky” was screened, directed by Luc Jacquet. The film is about the work of Claude Lorius, who began studying the Antarctic ice in 1957, and in 1965, was the first scientist to be concerned with global warming. The projection took place at the Cité International de Paris’ main auditorium in the presence of Claude Lorius, who exchanged with the 200 international students attending the event. Furthermore, IHP organized lunch talk on addressing water security under climate change; during COP21 attended by 60 experts, permanent delegations and decision makers. 9. A training manual on climate change mainstreaming in water resources strategies and action plan to enhance the capacities of high-level decision makers, water resources planners, and professionals has been developed and reviewed by experts of 11 Arab Member States during a workshop in Egypt (2015).

Theme 2: Groundwater in a changing environment 10. The objective of Theme 2 is to contribute to water security by protecting the groundwater resources contained in aquifers and ensuring their sustainability IN the future. 11. For the Internationally Shared Aquifer Resources Management (ISARM) initiative, main targets have been achieved regarding TransBoundary Aquifers (TBA). The 2015 Map of Transboundary Aquifers of the World was jointly produced with the UNESCO’S IGRAC C2C, showing 592 TBAs (366 outside Europe). UNESCO-IHP undertook the first ever indicator-based global assessment of 199 transboundary aquifers and groundwater resources in 42 small islands within the “Transboundary Waters Assessment Programme” (TWAP) project. 12. An in-depth assessment of 3 TBAs in Central America, Southern Africa, and Central Asia was carried out within the “Groundwater Resources Governance in Transboundary Aquifers” (GGRETA) project; efforts in Southern Africa have led to firm steps towards the implementation of a multi-country consultation mechanism for the Stampriet aquifer. Furthermore, the GGRETA Project developed guidelines for TBA assessment, which include specific and innovative indicator-based evaluation methodologies for gender (in collaboration with UNESCO WWAP) and legal and institutional aspects, and applied them in the 3 TBAs studied. In Latin America, the results of more than ten years of successful and fruitful collaboration between UNESCO-IHP and the Organization of American States (OAS) led to the publication of a Regional Strategy for the Assessment and Management of the Transboundary Aquifer Systems of the Americas in 2015. In Europe, principles have been formulated for the joint management of the Transboundary Dinaric Karst Aquifer System in consultation with Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia and Montenegro and a set of priority actions established in 2015.


13. An assessment of Mediterranean coastal aquifers and groundwater resources in 13 countries was completed in 2015 and provided important baseline information on groundwater use and pollution concerns and the legal, institutional and policy framework for groundwater resources management in the region. An innovative methodology was furthermore developed to characterize and map the degree of dependency of coastal wetlands on groundwater resources, which will contribute to the formulation of groundwater resources management policies. The related study of 26 representative Mediterranean coastal wetlands confirmed the dependence on groundwater of all wetlands studied. As a result of these activities, a set of priority actions for Mediterranean coastal aquifers was established and endorsed by nominated representatives of the participating countries. 14. UNESCO-IHP celebrated 50 years of successful cooperation with the German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) with the publication of “Fifty Years of Hydrogeological Mapping Activities” and a new Global Map of Groundwater Vulnerability to Floods and Droughts. 15. The importance of groundwater in climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies was highlighted by the UNESCO-IHP Groundwater Resources Assessment under the Pressures of Humanity and Climate Change Network (GRAPHIC) through a set of publications that was launched by UNESCO-IHP during COP21. Furthermore, climate change impacts including sea level rise were assessed on two coastal aquifers in the Nile Delta and North coast of Egypt. 16. In support of UNESCO’s Priority Area for Small Island Developing States (SIDS), the GRAPHIC Network prepared a special publication on groundwater and climate change in SIDS and UNESCO-IHP’s assessment of groundwater systems in SIDS can be used to enhance the governance frameworks for groundwater resources in these areas. 17. UNESCO-IHP has actively promoted all the available international legal instruments applicable to transboundary aquifers (i.e. UN International Law Commission 2008 Draft Articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers, UNECE Water Convention, and the UN Watercourses Convention). UNESCO-IHP hosted the first unofficial gathering of the Members of the Parties of the UN Watercourses Convention in September 2015. A new Chair in Hydrodiplomacy at the University of Geneva was created in 2015. 18. Guiding principles on groundwater governance were prepared in cooperation with FAO and the World Bank as a result of a four-year project that assessed the present groundwater governance status in all regions of the world; UNESCO-IHP National Committees will be able to consider how to apply these principles. Groundwater governance was promoted during the training workshop on “Water Governance: Transforming water management” attended 34 water professionals representing 10 Arab Member States and held in Oman (2015). 19. The knowledge base on groundwater resources has been considerably strengthened and advanced through mapping and assessment activities. The IHP contributed to the improved sustainability of the world’s groundwater resources by preparing tools for better governance of these resources and by assisting countries to move towards cooperative mechanisms in the case of transboundary aquifers. Theme 3: Addressing water scarcity and quality 20. The theme contributes to addressing Water scarcity and quality challenges. On water scarcity, the objective is to help member states to predict and plan for water scarcity based on the sound knowledge base and appropriate tools. For water quality, the objective is to


support countries to improve water quality and wastewater management by strengthening knowledge and capacity on technical and policy approaches. 21. The Global G-WADI Advisory Group Meeting and Training Workshop on: “Advances in Water Resources Management in Arid and Semi-Arid Areas: A G-WADI approach” took place in Sudan in February 2016. Approximately 60 participants representing 12 countries from Asia, Africa, the Arab region, America and Europe attended the event. G-WADI in cooperation with the University of California-Irvine’s Centre for Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing (CHRS; http://chrs.web.uci.edu/), have developed G-WADI PERSIANN-CCS for iOS- and Android-based devices called RainMapper, which can be freely downloaded from the App Store and Google Play. Using the information provided by the PERSIANN-CCS GeoServer, RainMapper features a geographical search engine designed with a user-friendly interface of local real-time precipitation and several display options for base maps. The mobile app was used to track Typhoon Rammasun (considered one of the only two category five super typhoons on record in the South China Sea) across the Philippines in July 2014. The Namibia Hydrological Services of the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry continues to use IHP-supported G-WADI’s Precipitation Estimates in their Daily Flood Bulletin (http://hydis.eng.uci.edu/gwadi/). A meeting to present the achievements of the project ‘Managing Water Resources in semi-Arid Regions of Latin America and the Caribbean’ (MWAR-LAC) was organized in February 2016 in Brussels, Belgium.

22. The state-of-the-art scientific knowledge, new technologies, innovative policy approaches and best practices on water quality monitoring were promoted to support countries in the implementation and monitoring of SDGs targets related to water quality through the UNESCO-IHP IIWQ International Symposium on “Scientific, Technological and Policy Innovations for Improved Water Quality Monitoring in the Post-2015 SDGs Framework”. The Symposium was held in Kyoto-Otsu, Japan (2015) and attended by 80 participants from 24 developed and developing countries (Australia, Bahrain, Benin, Brazil, Burundi, China, Egypt, Germany, India, Iran, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Namibia, Nigeria, Nigeria, Portugal, Spain, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, and the United States) from all regions, shared and learned from country experiences. 23. Strategic issues and challenges on water quality faced by different regions were identified through UNESCO-IHP IIWQ Regional Consultation Meetings on Water Quality in the Americas (US, 2015) with participation of 27 experts from 21 countries1 from the North America, Latin America and the Caribbean and Europe (Germany, 2015) with the participation of 46 experts from 23 countries2 from Western, Central and Eastern Europe. The meetings also provided a platform for sharing and promoting national case studies on best practices to address specific water quality and wastewater challenges. 24. The knowledge base and research on emerging pollutants, which is a water quality challenge, was greatly enhanced by 16 IIWQ case studies under the major UNESCO Project “Emerging Pollutants in Wastewater Reuse in Developing Countries. Three (3) global, two (2) regional and 11 national focus case studies covering 20 countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Kuwait, Mexico, Mongolia, Nigeria, Norway, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Thailand, Tunisia, Ukraine and Vietnam) are included, creating a network of 67 experts from 47 institutions.

1 Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Caribbean region, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, United States of America, Uruguay, Venezuela 2 France, Germany, Switzerland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, The Netherlands, Ireland, Ukraine, Italy, Senegal, United Kingdom, Armenia, Albania, Poland, Russia, Turkey, Denmark, Serbia, Uzbekistan, Slovenia, Sweden, Japan, Colombia, Greece

http://chrs.web.uci.edu/

http://hydis.eng.uci.edu/gwadi/


25. In cooperation with Sultan Qaboos University, UNESCO Doha organized a training workshop on greywater use for sustainable food production in rural areas (Dec 2015) with the aim of enhancing Oman’s capacity in wastewater management and reuse. 26. Aiming to support the Arab Strategy for Water Security (LAS, 2012), which emphasizes the critical water scarcity issues of the region, UNESCO Cairo Office and the Arab Water Council initiated a regional cooperation to promote non-conventional water resources management in the Arab region. A regional consultation was organized (Nov 29- Dec 1, 2015, Cairo, Egypt) with the participation of more than 50 experts from water ministries, research centres, desalination and wastewater treatment operators, and NGOs. The participants elaborated a conceptual framework of a regional initiative to support policies, action plans, technology, capacity, investment and practices needed to ensure sustainable development and management of the increasingly important non-conventional water resources in the Arab region. Theme 4: Water and human settlements of the future 27. The thematic area aims at supporting cities and settlements facing climate change, population growth, deterioration of urban infrastructure systems and other challenges in understanding the issues and in adopting an approach based on the interdependence of the different water systems. The following paragraphs summarize the activities since the last IHP Bureau using as a basis the five focal areas of the theme. 28. Within the “game-changing approaches and technologies” focal area, in the month of October 2015, UNESCO-IHP made a presentation during the international conference on the “Water-Food-Energy Nexus” and met with K-Water researchers for exchanges on Smart Water System’s technologies and developments to explore further networking and knowledge exchange. During the same month, UNESCO’s IHP-LAC working group on Urban Waters met and provided technical support to the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) to conduct a Focus Group on Smart Water Management (FG-SWM) in the region. 29. On December 2015, the technical workshop “Water Eco-Security 2015” was co-organized by UNESCO-IHP, the Syndicat Interdépartemental d’Assainissement de l’Agglomération de Paris (SIAAP), W-Smart (an international association of water utilities), the Association of Metropolitan Water Authorities (AMWA, from the USA), and the University Denis Diderot. An important part of the workshop was dedicated to the new developments and experimentations on Smart Water Systems. A total of 56 experts, 11 of which were female, from 16 countries participated 30. For the focal area on system-wide changes for integrated management approaches, UNESCO-IHP organized a meeting on November 2015, in Paris with mayors and key actors from Lebanon, Israel and Palestine to promote coastal ecosystems preservation and monitoring measures for alleviating public health risks and environmental hazards due to the spilling of untreated wastewater along the East Mediterranean Coast. The meeting decided to pursue an extrabudgetary project that will facilitate the Member States actions towards environmental sustainability and health protection while supporting Member States in reporting on SDG 6. 31. In pursuing institution and leadership for extracting the maximum benefits from water (beneficiation) and integration and at the invitation of the Foreign Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore, UNESCO-IHP made a presentation during the Asia-Europe Seminar on Sustainable Management of Wastewater and Sanitation, June 2015 in Singapore and is cooperating with them for organizing a session at the Singapore International Water Week.


32. The International Conference “Water, Megacities and Global Change”, was co-organized by UNESCO-IHP, 1 to 4 December 2015 in Paris, during the first week of the COP21. The conference brought together 388 scientists, public and private operators, elected officials, and representatives of international institutions and NGOs from 20 countries who had the opportunity to exchange knowledge on a variety of issues challenging the development of Megacities. An output of the conference was a Declaration (Reference Document IHP/Bur-LII(I/Ref5) committing to setting up a cooperation platform, within two years, to facilitate the dialogue on adapting to or mitigating the effects of climate change related to water in Megacities. In particular, the platform will seek to support Megacities in learning from each other’s experience, exchange best practices, partner with appropriate technical, academic, and financial institutions, and design and implement their individual responses to the challenge. It was further proposed that a Task Force under the auspices of UNESCO-IHP would be set up in 2016 to provide the preliminary conditions for the establishment of this platform (Reference Document IHP/Bur-LII(I/Ref4). 33. In our efforts to provide the state of the art knowledge outlet on issues related to sanitation, UNESCO-IHP is revising the reference book “Sanitation and Disease: Health Aspects of Excreta and Wastewater Management.” published in 1983 (by R.G. Feachem, D.J. Bradley, H. Garelick and D.D. Mara). To that extent, two workshops with the authors and editors of the chapters of the future book were organized in Lisbon, 12-13 September 2015 in conjunction with the 18th International Symposium on Health-Related Water Microbiology and Leeds, 21 March 2016, prior to the 11th IWA Specialist Group Conference on Wastewater Pond Technologies. The project is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. 34. A group of experts in urban water-related issues to advise, guide, support and disseminate IHP’s work on Theme 4 from France, the Netherlands, Canada, the United States, Philippines, India, Japan, Uganda, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Mexico, Singapore, the UK and Australia has been established. The group had meetings on 9-10 July at UNESCO-HQ in conjunction with the international conference “Our Common Future under Climate Change” and then a second meeting took place during the COP21, 29-30 November 2015. 35. Overall, there were numerous knowledge exchange sessions supported benefiting more than 500 people, in at least 30 countries; 56 people were trained, 20% of which female and awareness was risen on new technologies to be used, on system-wide changes for integrated management approaches and in pursuing institution and leadership. Theme 5: Ecohydrology, engineering harmony for a sustainable world 36. To face the increasing challenges in the sustainable management of ecosystems, there is a need for new approaches combining hydrology and biota for water security regarding its quality and quantity. As part of the implementation of IHP VIII, Theme 5 encourages Member States to adopt the ecohydrological best practices in natural resources master plans as an important component of the integrated water resource management approach. 37. A workshop on coastal ecohydrology took place in the Bahamas (June 2015). The IHP-LAC contributed to the workshop on "Cooperation for sustainable management of water resources" of the "Basin Level Planning" initiative (Argentina) and the information platform of IHP ecohydrology program (France, September 2015) by providing information about the demonstration sites of Argentina, Bahamas, Costa Rica and the Trifinio Region (El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras).


38. UNESCO and IRSTEA organized the International Conference Ecohydrology 2015: “Measuring, Modeling and Managing of the natural processes related to water flows, Social values of the linked ecosystem services” in September 2015, France attended by approximately 100 participants from 20 countries facilitating knowledge exchange and networking opportunities. 39. An Ecohydrology Demonstration Sites’ workshop was organized in September 2015 in Lyon France, as part of the International Conference Ecohydrology 2015; the workshop consisted of 14 countries (Poland, Portugal, Croatia, Germany, Italy, France, Kenya, Ethiopia, Argentina, Philippines, Malaysia, China, Australia and Indonesia), each representing ecohydrological demonstration sites. 40. The Ecohydrology networking platform (web platform) is being designed since January 2015 together with the International Centre for Hydroinformatics (CIH) in Brazil. The platform aims to provide access to the information exchange network and the procedure of data sharing and make data on demonstration sites available to all. It is also being designed to be a portal to inform on general ecohydrological events, conferences and seminars, funding opportunities for project proposals and mainly to host the criteria and guidelines and online application to become a UNESCO Ecohydrology programme demonstration site. The web platform also contains a “Demo site Card” for each site, a harmonized/normalised and simplified visualisation of the main characteristics, achievements and results obtained by each demo sites and represented in a one-page format. The web platform was launched during the International Conference “Ecohydrology 2015”, in Lyon, France, September 2015. 41. Guidelines and criteria for ecohydrological demonstration sites application are being produced (Ecohydrology guidelines “How to build a demo site card” Low cost advanced methodology for mitigation impacts from molecular to catchment scale”). The guidelines, contained in the web platform, were finalized (together with application criteria to become ecohydrology demonstration sites) and launched during the International Conference “Ecohydrology 2015” in Lyon, France, September 2015. So far 15 countries (2 in Africa, 4 in Asia – Pacific, 6 in Europe and 3 in Latin America and the Caribbean) have adopted and applied the guidelines for 23 demonstration sites. 42. The major achievements since the last IHP Bureau (52nd June 2015) are the following:

Finalization and launch of the Ecohydrology Networking Web Platform

Production and dissemination of the guidelines and criteria for ecohydrological demonstration sites application, which were adopted by 15 countries around the world.

Theme 6: Water education, key for Water Security 43. The objective of the Theme is to guide and provide technical support through demonstration projects and development of prototype materials at national/regional levels in selected Member States/regions. UNESCO-IHP has conducted a wide range of courses and workshops at all levels for water experts, technicians and teachers but also young civil servants in several regions.

44. UNESCO-IHP via the HOPE-Initiative conducts a wide range of short, intensive and highly specialized courses, which aim at upgrading and refreshing the knowledge and skills of Technicians, Scientists, Engineers and mid-career professionals. These included the organisation of the Open Water 2015 Symposium and Workshops in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (September, 16-17 2015), where 120 scientists from 24 countries participated, 30% of whom were women; the QSWAT / QGIS Interface for Soil and Water Assessment Toll (SWAT) training (September, 14-15 2015) attended by 24 participants (5 women and 19 males) from


nine nationalities and the, AquaCrop training in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (September, 15 2015), where a total of 10 (4 women and 6 males) participated. Typically, applicants come from governmental and non-governmental agencies dealing with agricultural water resources management, from extension services formulating practical advice to farmers, or from a relevant research or higher education institution. Finally, under the same initiative, an Introduction to MODFLOW-2005 and ModelMuse with hands-on training was held in Pretoria, South Africa (December 1-3, 2015) involving seventeen (7 women and 12 males) participants from eight different institutions and three different countries (Botswana, Namibia and South Africa).

45. Educational tools were also improved for the teaching of water issues in the K-12 curriculum in six African countries (Cape Verde, Cameroon, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Sao Tome and Principe). In Cape Verde, UNESCO reinforced water education and provided drinking water in three schools in partnership with the National Commission of Cape Verde to UNESCO and the country’s Ministry of Education in a project entitled “Agua nas Escolas”, (“Water at Schools”), with the support of a private donation. In the context of the project IESCEE-Cameroon, a school manual for Francophones was revised and co-published by UNESCO and Afrique Vivante: “Leçons d’eau : 3 générations à l’école des sciences appliquées”, 158 pages, ISBN: 979-10-91994-01-9. The manual will be published on 22nd April 2016, following the World Water Day event, and should give rise to a Water Education training in 5 selected schools. Within the framework of a Water Education Project entitled “Education on Water for Sustainable Development in the PALOP “ in support to PALOP water education programme, a technical meeting was held in Maputo,

Mozambique on 6-7 August 2015, gathering around 15 attendees from Angola, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Sao Tome and Principe.

46. The Caribbean and the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) held several courses from March to December 2015 in São Paulo, Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro on strengthening the integrated management and sustainable use of water resources. With the support of AECID and CODIA (Conferencia de Directores Iberoamericanos del Agua), joined efforts to provide capacity building training courses for technicians and decision-makers. A course on Water Economics was organized in the AECID Centre in Montevideo (August 3-7, 2015), gathering 40 participants (40% women). A course on Gender Mainstreaming in Water Resources Management took place from in the AECID Centre of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia (November 11-13, 2015), gathering 28 participants (88% women). A course on Water Diplomacy was also organized by the AECID Centre of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, from 30 November

to 1 December, gathering 28 participants (14% women). UNESCO’s Office in Montevideo organized, in September 2015, a Conference on "Water Diplomacy in Latin America and the Caribbean: the contribution of UNESCO’s cooperation on water" in collaboration with the Argentine Council for International Relations (CARI) in Buenos Aires. UNESCO-IHP initiated also a regional cooperation with UCO, ALECSO and Queen Rania Teachers Academy (QRTA)-Jordan leading to the organization of a regional workshop on Water Education Guidelines for teachers in the Arab region held in Amman, Jordan (August 18-20, 2015). Two levels of participants (per country) attended the workshop, including top education management and lead teachers from Egypt, Sudan, Tunisia, UAE, Jordan, Oman and Lebanon. Through this initiative, working Group Sessions were held on “Water Education Project for Teachers in the Arab region” in Cairo, Egypt (December 12-14, 2015) and attended by experts from Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, Tunisia, UAE and Oman.

47. Overall, efforts should continue to be made to improve and update water education at all levels. During 2014-2015, UNESCO-IHP and it water family, was able to train 3509 persons (50% men and 50% women) and made available several new tools dealing with water education to the member states.

https://www.google.fr/search?q=maputo+mozambique&espv=2&biw=1920&bih=980&site=webhp&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwj11ebt98LLAhXGNhoKHYG8B3wQsAQIJg


REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES (Agenda item 4.1 continued) 48. In Africa, access to safe drinking water and sanitation, recurrent water-related disasters both floods and droughts and lack of human capacity are the main key challenges. IHP activities have been implemented by the different offices in Africa in partnership with national IHP committees, UNESCO chairs, centres and scientific networks and regional organizations in the region. The following main regional initiatives have been developed and promoted: (a) Regional programme for the Sahelian countries on sustainable and peaceful management of cross-border water resources has been prepared by Dakar office within the framework of the UN Integrated Strategy for the Sahel; (b) Regional programme on the review of hydrological norms for the design and management of hydraulic infrastructures for Central Africa and West Africa; (c) Regional programme on capacity building in partnership with EU and NEPAD water centres of Excellence. 49. Awareness has been raised on addressing Water Security challenges in Africa and on post-2015 and the need to adopt science-based tools and guidelines for sustainable water resources management during various events, including the 3rd China-Africa water conference held in Cape Town in August 2015 attended by more than 60 participants including 15 delegates from China, delegates from South Africa, Namibia and Egypt and representatives from the African Ministerial Council on Water (AMCOW), NEPAD network of centres of excellence on water, the 2nd NASAC-IANAS water workshop held in Nairobi in 2015 with the participation of over 50 participants from various African and American academies of science, scholars and practitioners in the area of water 50. Collaboration and partnership have been promoted and enhanced, and regional IHP governance strengthened. UNESCO-IHP has been engaging with Swaziland for the possible organization of the 6th regional meeting of national IHP committees in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2016. 51. In the Arab region, Water scarcity is the most significant water resources challenge. UNESCO has been supporting Member States in the region with emphasis on regional cooperation towards developing water resources policies, educational frameworks, and action plans to enhance the member states’ preparedness to address water scarcity issues in light of the potential impacts of climate change. UNESCO offices in the Arab region with active coordination from UNESCO Cairo (UCO) as the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Sciences in the Arab States, have managed to engage increasingly regional experts, governments, and regional organizations through series of consultations to define and plan key activities with most impacts and cost effectiveness. 52. The 15th Regional “expanded” meeting of the Arab National IHP Committees, Centres and Chairs was held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt in November 2015. UNESCO Cairo succeeded to establish a partnership with ISESCO, ALECSO, GIZ, LAS, AWC for the initiation of Arab G-WADI Network capacity development project on "Capacity building for water security in response to water scarcity in the Arab region and adapting to climate change and climate variability." The project was further elaborated and approved during the Arab G-WADI second steering committee meeting in Muscat, Oman (June 2015). 53. An online cooperation facility for the Arab IHP National Committees was developed through partnership with the Sudanese National Commission for UNESCO, the Regional Centre for Capacity Building and Research in Water Harvesting (Category 2 centre in Sudan), and the Water Research Centre at the University of Khartoum 54. IHP, through UNESCO Rabat Office launched the resEAU-Maghreb platform in December 2015 to facilitate cooperation and information exchange between water experts in the Maghreb region(http://res-eau-maghreb.eu/).


55. In the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region, ensuring universal access to water services and water security remains a priority, in line with IHP-VIII and the SDGs. In addition, several areas are severely affected by droughts and floods, as well as by the pollution of water resources. In coordination with UNESCO Montevideo Regional Office for Science, UNESCO Offices in the region assisted Member States in capacity building efforts, the elaboration of regional strategies, the strengthening of the knowledge base and the reinforcement of international collaboration along transboundary resources and for technological and knowledge transfer. The XI Meeting of IHP-LAC’s National Committees and Focal Points (Chile, 26-27 October 2015), with the presence of 28 Member States, representatives of Category 2 Centers and UNESCO Chairs, as well as observers from the UN System and other partners, resulted in the adoption of fourteen resolutions and several recommendations concerning water governance and the implementation of IHP-VIII in LAC in the 38C biennium. A celebration of the 50 years of the water programmes of UNESCO took place on 28 October, followed by meetings of UNESCO water-related centres and UNESCO Chairs and of several IHP-LAC working groups on 29 and 30 October. 56. A “Regional Strategy for the evaluation and management of Transboundary Aquifer Systems in the Americas" was prepared and published as part of ISARM-Americas. The knowledge base on the impact of glacier retreat in the Andes advanced with the support of FUST, with several conclusions presented in June 2015 (Chile). Work on sedimentation was reinforced through the IHP ISI-LAC working-group (Mexico, July 2015). 57. The capacities of high-level decision makers in the water sector were reinforced in cooperation with the IberoAmerican Conference of Water Directors (CODIA) and AECID, through the conduction of three advanced courses on water diplomacy, economics and gender mainstreaming (Bolivia and Uruguay, August to December 2015). Additional IHP capacity development activities comprised workshops on coastal ecohydrology (Bahamas, June 2015), monitoring and evaluation of groundwater (St. Kitts and Nevis, October 2015), water diplomacy (Argentina, September 2015), disaster risk management in the Caribbean (Cuba, November 2015), water for media professionals (Uruguay, December 2015), and groundwater governance (Uruguay, February 2016). Support was also provided to a river hydraulics symposium (Uruguay, November 2015). IHP has provided technical contributions to the Ramsar COP (Uruguay, June 2015), pledging to work together at the regional level, and promote synergies and projects of common interest. 58. In the Asia-Pacific region, water-related disasters, sustainable urban water and water management including capacity development remain a priority. As the Regional Science Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, UNESCO Jakarta in cooperation with other field offices and in collaboration with UNESCO water family namely IHP National Committees, Category 2 water centres, UNESCO water chairs, research and training institutions and other partners, provided support for scientific research, technical projects, cooperative research networks, capacity-building, community-based initiatives, training and non-formal education at national and regional level. 59. The 23rd Meeting of the IHP Regional Steering Committee for Southeast Asia and the Pacific was held from 19 to 20 October 2015 in Medan, Indonesia. Thirteen Member States (Australia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Thailand and Vietnam) sent their country report along with an observer country Pakistan and three UNESCO category-2 centres APCE, HTC-KL and ICHARM. This meeting was the occasion to welcome for the first time Brunei Darussalam as an observer. A special commemoration of the 50 years of International Hydrological Programme/International Hydrology Decade took place on 20 October 2015, and it was the occasion to acknowledge through UNESCO IHP RSC SEAP awards to 10 individuals in the region which contributed outstandingly to IHP over the years.


REPORT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RESOLUTONS AND DECISIONS ADOPTED AT THE 21st SESSION OF THE IHP INTERGOVERNMENTAL COUNCIL AND THE 52nd IHP BUREAU (agenda item 4.2) 21ST SESSION OF THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL COUNCIL RESOLUTION XXI-1: Financial Support to the International Hydrological Programme 60. The total budget allocated by the 38th General Conference was 13.9 M with an increase of approximately 10% with respect to 2014-2015 Regular Budget (USD 12.8 M). 61. The current staff situation within the Division is the following: Recruitment of existing posts:

Due to the retirement of Mr. Siegfried Demuth (end of September 2015), Chief of the Section on Hydrological Systems and Water Scarcity (SC/HYD/HSS), at P5 level, Mr. Abou Amani was recruited as of January 2016;

A Programme Specialist at the Section on Groundwater Systems and Settlements (SC/HYD/GSS) at P4 level was recruited: Mr. Alexandros Makarigakis started in February 2016;

Further to the move to the UNESCO Office in Montevideo of Mr. Miguel Doria, a Programme Specialist at P3 level at Section on Ecohydrology, Water Quality and Water Education (SC/HYD/EQE) was recruited: Mr. Youssef Filali-Meknassi started in February 2016;

Associate Programme Specialist, Science Communication at P2 level is under recruitment at the Section SC/HYD/EQE;

Transfers:

Assistant Programme Specialist at P2 level transferred to SC/HYD/EQE Section from the Division of Science Policy and Capacity-Building (SC/PCB): Ms. Nicole Webley;

A P1/P2 post has been transferred from the Division of Ecological and Earth Sciences (SC/EES) to cover the post of the Young Professionals Programme (YPP) at SC/HYD/HSS Section, Ms. Gift was recruited and will start at the end of May;

A General Assistant post at G3 level, Ms. Sandrine Baron, was transferred to SC/EES;

Assistant to Programme Specialist at G4 level, Ms. Natasha Lazic, was transferred to SC/HYD/EQE.

New posts:

A new post at P5 level has been established for Chief of SC/HYD/EQE Section, and it is under recruitment.

Abolishment of posts:

The post of the Assistant to Chief of Section at G5 level, Mrs. Georgette Gobina, was abolished after her Retirement (end of February 2016).

62. To summarize, since the 52nd session of the IHP Bureau, 5 posts were already filled, 4 vacant posts were recruited, 2 Professional and 1 General posts were transferred to the Division of Water Sciences (SC/HYD), 1 General transferred from SC/HYD, 1 P5 post created, and 1 G5 post abolished. In summary: seventeen posts under the RP, 1 Project Assignment (PA) and 2 secondments (one from Japan and one from K-Water Korea) for a total of 20 posts. 63. The staff situation within the other 2 Divisions of the Natural Science Sector in headquarters is as follows: Division of Ecological and Earth Sciences (SC/EES): 14 RP posts, one Funds-in-Trust Overhead Costs Account (FITOCA), two Project Assignments (PA), one secondment and one Associate Expert (AEX), for a total of 19 posts; Division of


Science Policy and Capacity Building (SC/PCB): 20 RP posts, 5 PAs, 1 EXB, for a total of 26 posts. 64. In the Field Offices, the Division of Water Sciences provides 16 professional and national professional officer posts in Africa (covering 5 - 70% of the post’s salary), 7 posts in the Arab States (funding 23 - 60% of the post’s salary), 13 posts in Asia Pacific (funding 7 - 55% of the post’s salary), 9 posts in Latin America and the Caribbean (covering 26 - 80% of the cost associated with the post) and 2 posts in Europe and North America (33% of the post’s salary). The budget is used to cover a total of 47 posts partially compared to 26 posts during the 2014-2015 biennium. RESOLUTION XXI-2: Implementation of a Communication and Outreach Strategy 65. The Secretariat continued the implementation of the Communication and Outreach Strategy as reported in IHP/Bur-LIII/6 on Institutional developments at UNESCO, under sub-item 3.7. RESOLUTION XXI-3: Proposal for the Establishment of the World’s Large Rivers Initiative (WLRI) 66. World’s Large Rivers Initiative (WLRI) 1st Working Group Meeting was held in Vienna from 25th and 26th June 2015. The meeting discussed the knowledge base required for a holistic scientific assessment of the status of the WLRs and to promote their integrated and sustainable management. Participants were divided into 4 thematic group: Hydrology and Hydraulics; Sediment Transport & Morphodynamics; Water Quality & Ecology and River Management & Socioeconomics. The Second Working Group Meeting of WLRI is planned to be held from 25-29 April 2016 in Vienna. RESOLUTION XXI-4: Proposal for the Establishment of Water-Related Centres under the Auspices of UNESCO (Category 2) 67. The 21st session of the IHP Council endorsed the following proposals for category 2 water-related centres:

the African Regional Centre for Ecohydrology (ARCE), Ethiopia; the Central Laboratory for Environmental Monitoring (CLEQM), El-Qanater, Egypt; the Integrated and Multi-Disciplinary Water Resources Management Centre at the

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece; the Water Research Centre at the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Kuwait; the International Centre for the Integrated Management of Watershed and Bio-

resources in Arid and Semi-Arid Regions, Islamic Republic of Iran; and the Regional Water Research Centre (RWRC) at the COMSATS Institute of

Information Technology, Abbottabad, Pakistan. 68. The Secretariat undertook the required fact-finding missions to assess the feasibility of each centre. The feasibility studies found that the centres could make contributions to UNESCO and to IHP and that their establishment would be in line with the integrated comprehensive strategy for category 2 institutes and centres, under the auspices of UNESCO, as approved by the General Conference in 37 C/Resolution 93. It was also determined that each of the host governments demonstrated the commitment to support the proposed centre and the capacity to carry out the proposed activities.

69. The Director-General presented her report to the 197th session of the Executive Board (September 2015) on the evaluation of the feasibility of establishing the proposed water-related Centres. The Executive Board endorsed all six centres and recommended that


the General Conference, at its 38th session (November 2015), approved the centres and authorized the Director-General to sign their corresponding agreements. The 38th approved the establishment of all six proposed centres and authorized the Director-General to sign their corresponding agreements. The IHP Secretariat has informed the centres of the General Conference’s decisions. RESOLUTION XXI-5: Proposal for the Establishment of UNESCO-HIDROEX International Institute for Education, Capacity Building and Applied Research as a UNESCO Category 1 Institute 70. Generic information on the establishment of Category 1 Institutes and Centres was provided. RESOLUTION XXI-6: Water in the Post-2015 Development Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals 71. In September 2015, heads of state from all around the world gathered in New York to adopt the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, an ambitious “plan of action for people, planet and prosperity,” comprised of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets. The 2030 Agenda includes a dedicated goal on water and sanitation (SDG 6) that sets out to “ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. RESOLUTION XXI-7: Monitoring of Water-Related Sustainable Development Goals and the Post-2015 Agenda 72. To respond to the monitoring needs of SDG 6 relating to on water and sanitation, an Inter-Agency Initiative was established in 2014 under the UN-Water umbrella. The objective of the Initiative called “Integrated Monitoring of Water and Sanitation Related SDG Targets” (GEMI), is to develop coherent methodologies for monitoring. The GEMI Steering Committee consists of seven United Nations Agencies working under the coordination of UN-WATER. UNESCO is one of the seven Steering Committee members of this Initiative, together with UNEP, UN-HABITAT, WHO, FAO, UNICEF and WMO. RESOLUTION XXI-8: Reviewing and Monitoring of IHP’s Programmes 73. At the 52nd IHP Bureau meeting was reported that IHP’s cross-cutting (FRIEND and HELP) and associated (GRAPHIC, G-WADI, IFI, IDI, ISARM, MAR, JIIHP, PCCP, UWMP, WHYMAP and IIWQ) programmes were assigned to specific themes of IHP-VIII during the elaboration of 38 C/5. This option strengthens the linkages with IHP expected results and objectives with the C/4 and SDGs avoiding the propagation of workplan elements. Additionally, this structure can be used to inform periodic reviews of the Programmes. The suggestion for a framework aimed at implementing roadmaps would rely on availability of extrabudgetary resources. 52ND IHP BUREAU DECISION Item 3.1: Developments at the Natural Sciences Sector and the Division of Water Sciences following the 195th and 196th sessions of the Executive Board 74. In the period from June 2015 to April 2016 the following posts were filled: Chief of HSS Section (Mr. Abou Amani) at P5 level (replaces Mr. Siegfried Demuth, retired); Programme Specialist at P4 level at HYD/GSS (Mr. Alexandros Makarigakis); Programme Specialist at P3 level at HYD/EQE Section (Mr. Youssef Filali-Meknassi replaces Mr. Miguel Doria, who moved to UNESCO Montevdeo Office); Associate Programme Specialist, Science Communication at P2 level; YPP-Young Professions Post at P1/P2 level at HYD/HSS Section (Ms. Gift will start at the end of May); a new post of Chief of EQE Section is announced/under the recruitment at P5 level.


75. Among the posts mentioned above, the Secretariat received three new staff members (internal transfers) to fill vacant posts: Assistant Programme Specialist at P2 level transferred to HYD/EQE Section from SC/PCB (Ms. Nicole Webley); P1/P2 post has been transferred from EES Section to cover the post of the YPP at HYD/HSS Section; a new P5 post has been established, Chief of HYD/EQE Section. DECISION Item 3.2: Audit of the governance of IHP 76. The Secretariat took note of the decision of the IHP Bureau to recommend to the 22nd session of the IHP Council a new procedure for the adoption of its resolutions: the Council is to discuss resolutions as part of each agenda item, rather than at the end of the session. The 22nd Council will be requested to decide on this among other proposals related to is governance. DECISION Item 3.3: Proposal for the update of the IHP Statutes and of the Rules of Procedure of the IHP Council 77. Following the decisions of IHP Bureau, the Secretariat held a consultation among IHP National Committees and Focal Points in different regions on the update of the IHP Statutes and of the Rules of Procedure of the IHP Council. Complete information is available in document IHP/Bur-LIII/6 (item 3.3). The 22nd Council will be requested to decide on the adoption of the proposed changes. DECISION Item 3.4: IHP-related extra budgetary activities 78. The Secretariat took note of the decision of the IHP Bureau and has since organized discussions with the financial and administrative officers of the Science Sector to discuss actions to overcome challenges in this area. In order to facilitate the mobilization and implementation of extrabudgetary resources for projects and activities, workflow improvements are necessary, including timely validation and visas for contracts, provision of full daily subsistence allowances and terminal fares to experts for activities financed with extrabudgetary funds, and designation of sufficient office space at Headquarters for consultants that contribute to extrabudgetary projects. The Secretariat is working with the administration on addressing these improvements. In March 2016, the Natural Science Sector convened the first meeting of its new fundraising committee, in which Division of Water Science is participating. DECISION Item 3.6: Report of the IHP Finance Committee 79. The Chairperson of the Finance Committee informed the Secretariat that in following the IHP Bureau decision he had contacted the Bureau members but so far he has not received any response yet.

80. The Secretariat took note of the decision of the IHP Bureau requesting “a resolution to call on the IHP fundraiser to explore and implement ways in which IHP could attract higher levels of extra budgetary resources for activities in Africa”. The 22nd Council will be requested to decide on this decision. 81. Following the decision of the IHP Bureau on the possibility of establishing a fund-raising strategy, the Secretariat will commence to prepare it in close communication with the Chairperson of the Finance Committee and in harmony with the existing fund-raising strategy of UNESCO Natural Sciences Sector.


DECISION Item 3.7: Report of the IHP Communication and Outreach Committee 82. The Secretariat appreciates the decision of the IHP Bureau to support strengthening IHP’s communication and outreach activities. It expresses its gratitude to the Government of the People’s Republic of China for reinforcing the communication team through the fulltime help for ten months of intern Mr. Jingfu Chen. It would be very desirable to renew this experience. The Bureau may wish to consider encouraging other Member States to put interns or professionals at the Secretariat’s disposal.

83. Following the request of Bureau regarding the possibility to re-launch periodic information messages to Member States and organize informal information meetings with Delegations to update on IHP activities, the Secretariat is organizing with the Chairs of the UNESCO Member States’ Regional Groups, presentations to be shown at their meetings at HQ. 84. The IHP Communication and Outreach Strategy, developed by the dedicated committee and the IHP Secretariat was made available online. Periodic information messages to Member States were sent throughout the 50th anniversary celebrations of UNESCO’s water programmes (50Y). The IHP Secretariat directly involved UNESCO’s Permanent Delegations, to the extent allowed by UNESCO’s rules and regulations, in several events and conferences and updated them at these occasions on IHP activities and involvements, particularly related to 50Y, the SDG and COP 21 (cf. IHP/Bur-LIII/6, 10 and (6,7,8,9, and 10)). 85. In line with the respective Bureau decision, the IHP Secretariat made use of large international water events to strengthen connections among the UNESCO Water Family, by informing the UNESCO Water Family of specific events, hosting informal networking meetings, such as at COP 21 and compiling and sharing where possible a list of UNESCO Water Family members present (cf. IHP/Bur-LIII/8). Furthermore, in March 2016, the Secretariat launched communiqués introducing its new professional staff. 86. The Terms of references of the IHP Publication and Communication Committee, as approved by the 19th IHP Council can be found in the annex of the document IHP/Bur-XLVI/14 “Recent developments at UNESCO relevant to the IHP Publication and Communication committee”, available as reference document to the 53rd session of the Bureau; http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0019/001927/192770E.pdf. The development, on this basis, of the Terms of Reference of the IHP Communication and Outreach Committee is ongoing. 87. The Secretariat has publicized online several events of the UNESCO Water Family with high visibility, primarily in news items, but also in the webpages dedicated to the 50Y celebrations. DECISION Item 3.8: The celebration of the 50th anniversary of the UNESCO water programmes 88. The Secretariat put in place an action-oriented communication plan for the 50th anniversary of the UNESCO Water Programmes, the International Hydrological Decade and IHP (50 Year celebration). The team informed Member States and the wider public, respectively through frequent e-mails, news items about ongoing activities and events of the 50 Years celebration. The Secretariat also created dedicated webpages in English, French and Spanish, which were cited as examples for good practice by UNESCO's communication services. Worldwide, 34 events were registered as dedicated to the 50-year celebration: 18 in Region I, 2 in Region II, 4 in Region III, 9 in Region IV and 1 in Region Va.

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0019/001927/192770E.pdf


89. The Secretariat put in place an action-oriented communication plan for the 50th anniversary of the UNESCO Water Programmes, the International Hydrological Decade and The Government of Mexico presented an official postage stamp commemorating the 50 years of the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme (IHP) and the International Hydrological Decade (IHD) on 11 November 2015 during the XXIX Annual Convention and Expo of ANEAS in Chihuahua, Mexico. 90. News about the 50 Years (50Y) celebration have been featured on social media through the general accounts of UNESCO on Facebook and Twitter. Photos of events have been featured on Flickr through dedicated photo albums as part of the UNESCO Natural Sciences account. Dedicated webpages on the 50 Years celebration informed on celebratory activities and events, and promoted IHP’s work and achievements throughout the past half century; historical documents and photos; the 12 events "50 Years, 50 Movies on Water" organized at UNESCO Headquarters and at COP21 from 25 June-2 December. A YouTube playlist features all the videos screened. A celebratory short movie was also produced and premiered during the COP21 video session. In October and November 2015, the anniversary website has received 305 visits with 1421 page views. 91. The Secretariat officially launched the dedicated 50Y website at a celebratory event during the 38th General Conference of UNESCO in November 2015, where a panel of regional representatives shared their views with the audience about the impact of UNESCO’s water programmes in their regions over the past fifty years, as well as their vision for the future of their collaboration with IHP. 92. On 2 December 2015, during Water and Climate Day at COP21, the Secretariat launched the 50Y anniversary book “Water, People and Cooperation: 50 Years of Water Programmes for Sustainable Development at UNESCO”, in the presence of Mr. Sirodjidin Mukhridinovich Aslov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan and a representative from the donor country of the 50 years anniversary book, Mexico, as well as from the International Council for Science (ICSU) and the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS). The book summarizes IHP’s past achievements and current activities, and presents options for the future. Illustrated in full colour, it is available in English, French and Spanish as hardcopy and online. 93. The Secretariat recruitment of a communication’s officer at a P2 level is ongoing and it is expected that an expert will be in place prior to the Organization of the 22nd IHP Council meeting.


DECISION Item 4.3: Report on the implementation of the resolutions and decisions adopted at the 21th session of the IHP Intergovernmental Council 94. The Secretariat took note of the decision of IHP Bureau. Nevertheless, the establishment and renewal of water-related category 2 centres would be in line with the integrated comprehensive strategy for category 2 institutes and centres, under the auspices of UNESCO, as approved by the General Conference in 37 C/Resolution 93. DECISION Item 5.1: Status of the UNESCO water network 95. The Secretariat took note of the decision of IHP Bureau. Nevertheless, the establishment and renewal of water-related category 2 centres would be in line with the integrated comprehensive strategy for category 2 institutes and centres, under the auspices of UNESCO, as approved by the General Conference in 37 C/Resolution 93. DECISION Item 5.4: Proposed centres under the auspices of UNESCO 96. The Secretariat took note of the decision of bureau and undertook the preparation of required documents on the proposal for the establishment of a Regional Centre on Water Security in Mexico to the consideration of 21st IHP Council. DECISION Item 5.6: Proposed IHP Panel for Water Future and Sustainability 97. Following the decisions of IHP Bureau, the Secretariat held a consultation among IHP National Committees and Focal Points in different regions on the establishment of an Intergovernmental Panel on Water. Complete information is available in document IHP/Bur-LIII/6 (item 3.4). DECISION Item 6.4: IHP’s role in the post-2015 Development Agenda 98. Following the decision of IHP Bureau, the Secretariat informed, through meetings and communications, to IHP National Committees and UNESCO Water Family members on the development of the 2030 Agenda SDG 6 relating to water. DECISION Item 8: Other matters 99. Following the decision of IHP Bureau, the Secretariat:

a) Contacted to UNESCO External Relations focal point in order request its authorization to send directly IHP documents to Permanent Delegations. b) Included a separate list of decisions and action items in the 52nd IHP bureau meeting report. c) Despite efforts of Secretariat and IHP Chairperson to organize a meeting of the IHP Bureau in México, it was not possible to organize it. d) Provided to IHP Council members an update list of IHP National Committee’s details.

The Bureau may wish to take note of the report and encourage further implementation of the resolutions and decisions. 4.3 Follow-up to the external evaluation of IHP-VII, including the report on the IHP National Committees survey 100. The IHP Secretariat pursued follow-up to the recommendations of the evaluation, inter alia through improving communication, outreach and visibility of IHP and the coordination of the UNESCO Water Family (cf. IHP/Bur-LIII/6, sub-items 3.7 and 3.8;


IHP/Bur-LIII/8 5.1 and 5.2). As part of this endeavour, the Secretariat conducted the IHP National Committees Survey in 2015, to which by 15 October 65 Member States had replied. On 14 November, the Secretariat shared the report of the survey with the Bureau members. The Bureau may wish to consider recommending that an analysis of the survey be presented and discussed at the 22nd IHP Council to further improve the communication and cooperation of the National Committees’ network and with the UNESCO Water Family. 4.4 Report on the follow-up to the audit of the Natural Sciences Sector 101. An Audit of the Natural Sciences Sector was conducted by the Internal Oversight Service (IOS) team that ended in July 2015. The audit examined the activities of the Sector to provide assurance that the Sector plans, monitors and reports on its programmes and projects are in accordance with UNESCO’s guidelines and policies, sectorial priorities, as well as the guidelines mandated by the various related governing bodies. 102. The audit results revealed that the financial and administrative controls in the Sector were generally in place and effective however there are challenges relating to programme prioritization, accountability for programme delivery, decentralization to field offices, engagement with institutes and RP staff cost recovery for the management of extrabudgetary projects. 103. More importantly, the audit found that programme priorities in the Sector, as set by the Board, like water, became diluted with the increased allocation from the Regular Programme budget to lower priority Expected Results and called for greater focus on higher priority Expected Results, as defined by the Executive Board, in the programme planning and resource allocation process. It further cautioned on enhancing decentralization of activities to field offices, as the roll out of the new field structure in Africa has led to the loss of the leadership and coordination role which was performed earlier by the Nairobi office. It further recommends that a review of the statutes, governance mechanisms and financial and administrative arrangements across the two Natural Sciences Sector Category I Institutes, which includes UNESCO-IHE, along the lines of the review conducted by the Education Sector in 2013, can help rationalise the roles, authorities and processes in these institutes. Finally, the report found that the current portfolio of 49 Category II Institutes (36 in Water) needs revisiting as a large number of these agreements have expired and the activities of many institutes are not aligned with the sectoral priorities. 104. It is to be noted that the Natural Science Sector with the support of the Water Science Division has started a round of in-depth negotiations for the renewal of the agreement for UNESCO-IHE (ongoing currently) in order to address the concerns of the audit and that as of October 2015 has initiated coordination of UNESCO Category II Centers (C2Cs) and Chairs in water. 4.5 Cooperation with other UNESCO programmes 105. UNESCO-IHP in collaboration with MAB Programme organized the Exhibition “Mountains: early warning systems for climate change”, which was opened by Director General during the 37th General Conference of UNESCO. The exhibition was also shown at the Cité Universitaire de Paris, France, during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21) in December 2015. 106. IHP collaborated with MAB, Education, Communication and Information and External Relations Sectors to organize an outreach event Raising Awareness of Climate Change: Key Findings of the IPCC 5th ‘Assessment Report’ on 7th December during the COP-21. IHP and


MAB are co-organizing a joint session during the International Conference on Mountains in the Anthropocene from 1-4 March 2016, in Kunming, China. 107. IHP and MAB are finalizing a joint publication Mountain Ecosystem Services and Climate Change – A Global Overview of Potential Threats and Strategies for Adaptation. Under the IHP-LAC Water and Culture Regional Programme and the LINKS Programme, technical cooperation was provided for preliminary work lead by indigenous representatives of Latin America with a special emphasis on Colombia and other Andean countries to propose to the Organisation a new international nomination for sites: the Spiritual Reserves of Humanity. 108. UNESCO’s Almaty Office will further support the follow-up activities on the Project of the 3rd Pamir’s High Elevation International Geophysical Expedition (HEIGE), facilitated by UNESCO within the framework of its IGCP and IHP programmes. 109. In collaborating with Policy and Capacity Building Section’s SIDS platform and as a contribution to the UNESCO Climate Change and SIDS Platforms, IHP launched a set of publications on the role of groundwater in climate change mitigation and adaptation, one of them with special focus given to SIDS.

110. As members of the “Worldwide Hydrogeological Mapping and Assessment Project (WHYMAP) Consortium” IHP and IGCP continued their cooperation for the preparation of the “World Karst Aquifer Map” (WOKAM-WHYMAP) – first draft of which is already available.

111. IHP continues its cooperation with the IOC in the execution of projects in the Global Environment Facility’s International Waters (IW) focal area, with the completion in 2015 of the “Transboundary Waters Assessment Programme” components on transboundary aquifers (IHP), large marine ecosystems and open oceans (IOC) as well as the approval of the forthcoming project “Strengthening IW Portfolio Delivery and Impact” to be executed jointly by IHP and IOC.

Programme implementation

Documents

Transcript of Programme implementation