1 Whose water is it anyway? Andras Szöllösi-Nagy Deputy Assistant Director- General for Natural Sciences Secretary, International Hydrological Programme UNESCO

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3 CRITICAL PROBLEMS Too much or too little water –Floods –Droughts Poor distribution –Famine Poor quality –Health hazard Poor management –Competition –Conflicts

4 LOOMING WATER CRISES

5 NEEDS, USES AND DEMANDS Water and the Environment Water for Food Security Water for Human Health Water and Industry Water and Energy

6 THE NATURE OF WATER Surface water / soil moisture / groundwater Quantity and quality Variation in space and time / reliability Long-term trends Extreme events

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9 RAISING AWARENESS

10 PERTINENT QUESTIONS How much have we advanced the awareness of humans (including politicians)? In what directions should we go to further advance the awareness of people?

11 The challenge we all have How to put water in the minds of people?

12 What happened over the past 10 years? 1992 –ICWE (Dublin) Four Dublin Principles –UNCED (Rio de Janeiro) Agenda 21, Chapter 18 No convention nor binding agreement on water UN CSD set up

13 What happened over the past 10 years? 1994 –CSD Commissions The first UN Comprehensive Assessment of the World Water Resources

14 What happened over the past 10 years? 1997 –1st World Water Forum (Marrakech) –UN GA Special Session 19 (Rio +5) “…water will become a major limiting factor in socio- economic development…” –UN GA 51 Adoption of the UN Convention on the Law of the Non- Navigational Uses of Transboundary Water Courses

15 What happened over the past 10 years? 1998 –WWC launches a global project Vision for Water for the 21st Century 1999 –UN ACC/Sub-Committee on Water Resources Proposes the regular production of the World Water Development Report (WWDR)

16 What happened over the past 10 years? 2000 –2nd World Water Forum, The Hague Presentation of the World Water Vision UNESCO launching the UN system-wide World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education: idea launched

17 What happened over the past 10 years? UNGA : Millenium Development Goals Poverty eradication Water supply and sanitation

The State of The World’s Freshwater Resources World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP)

The Challenge Areas Protecting Human Health Securing the Food Supply Water and Ecosystems Water and Industry Water and Energy Valuing Water Managing Risks Sharing Water Governing Water Wisely Cities

World Attention March 2001, Mr. Kofi Annan announced that “as a system-wide programme, the WWAP brings worldwide attention to the critical, but often overlooked, role of water within human development.” March 2002, Mr. Annan assured the world that “The organizations of the United Nations system are preparing the first edition of the World Water Development Report.”

21 OUR GOAL IS TO Prepare the most comprehensive, up-to-date overview of the state of water based on indicators Advise countries to take appropriate decisions based on authoritative reporting Create a sustainable exercise in reporting progress Continue building a durable UN system-wide collaboration Build capacities to better monitor progress

PERTINENT QUESTIONS

From Potential Conflict to Co-operation Potential Water for Peace a contribution to World Water Assessment Programme

Purpose: To tip the balance in favour of co-operation potential away from potential conflicts in order to enhance water security

12 December 2001 UNESCO and GCI join forces to avert water conflicts

28 Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development A very difficult negotiation process WEHAB Water came out very strongly –Water supply and sanitation goals –IWRM –Global water cycle research –Water assessment –UN Water –Decade on Education for Sustainable Development

29 What happened over the past 10 years? 2003 : 3rd World Water Forum WWDR released –Make WWAP a global water monitoring facility Global groundwater inventory released –Strengthen global hydrological research and monitoring UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education opens –Establish water education programmes at all levels Ministerial meeting held –Institutionalize it as an intergovernmental follow-up action mechanism to agree on commitments and as a review process –Water Cooperation Facility announced

30 Yet, some issues still hotly debated remained: Privatization / pricing The dam controvery Cui prodest?

31 Parallel history : advances in scientific awareness Water recognized as a complex global science issue Need for interdisciplinarity recognized If the answer is APPLY MORE TECHNOLOGY, what was the question? Hydrological observation systems slowly deteriorating  build WHYCOS Couple atmospheric-hydrological-ecological processes

32 International Year of Freshwater

33 Water Interactions : Systems at Risk and Social Challenges Plan for the International Hydrological Programme of UNESCO - Phase VI ( )

34 IHP VI ( ) Examples of Interactions –Surface water and groundwater –Atmospheric and terrestrial part of hydrologic circle –Freshwater and salt water –Global watershed and river reach scales –Water bodies, terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems –Water and society –Science and policy –Water and civilization

35 IHP VI ( ) Theme 1 (T1)Global Changes and Water Resources Theme 2 (T2)Integrated Watershed and Aquifer Dynamics Theme 3 (T3)Land Habitat Hydrology Theme 4 (T4)Water and Society Theme 5 (T5)Water Education and Training Two cross-cutting programme components (CCPCs): FRIEND (Flow Regimes from International Experimental and Network Data) and HELP (Hydrology for the Environment, Life and Policy) have been identified which, through their operational concept, interact with all themes.

36 Interlinkages of IHP-VI, HELP and FRIEND T 5 T1 T2 T3 T4 JIIHP ISI IFP Associated Programmes UNESCO Chairs in Water UNESCO Institutes / Centers UNESCO -IHE Institute for Water Education

Flow Regimes from International Experimental and Network Data An International Collaborative Study in Regional Hydrology An International Collaborative Study in Regional Hydrology

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To deliver social, economic and environmental benefit to stakeholders through sustainable and appropriate use of water by directing hydrological science towards improved integrated catchment management basins Hydrology for the Environment, Life and Policy (HELP) Compiled from Mike Bonell, Jim Shuttleworth and Jim Wallace... Real people Real catchments Real answers HELP

... “ Paradigm Lock ” Real people Real catchments Real answers HELP Isolated by legal and professional precedence ……based on outdated knowledge and technology Process hydrology Water managers and stakeholders ideasresearch understandingimplementation output design Isolated by lack of proven utility Accepted practices

42 RAISE AWARENESS, KNOWLEDGE AND PARTICIPATION AT ALL LEVELS

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44 UNESCO Water Portal