INTERNATIONAL HYDROLOGICAL PROGRAMME

Transcription

1 Ki Distribution: limited IHP/Ic-XII/7 Paris, 1 July 1996 Original: English UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION INTERNATIONAL HYDROLOGICAL PROGRAMME Twelfth session of the Intergovernmental (Paris, September 1996) Council REPORT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MAJOR DECISIONS AND RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY THE ELEVENTH SESSION OF THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL COUNCIL OF THE IHP Item 7 of the Provisional Agenda This document presents a summary of actions concerning the Resolutions adopted at the eleventhth session of the Intergovernmental Council of the lhp. Action Required The Council may wish to carefully consider the actions taken so far on each resolution and make any further recommendations for action. SC-96/CONF.207/LD.9

2 IHPIIC-XIII7 Page 1 Resolution XI-l Fourth and Fifth Phases of the IHP Resolution XI-l is devoted to the execution of the fourth phase of IHP and to the preparation of Phase V. It invites donors and contributors to formalize their offers to IHP. In the reporting period the Flemish Community of Belgium has started discussions with the IHP Secretariat on the possible setting up of a Trust Fund to support hydrology related activities in Africa, Eastern Europe and the Palestinian territories. The formal agreement is currently being finalized. This Resolution also invited the Director-General to allocate appropriate funding and provide the requisite professional and General Service staff in order to ensure the global success of the programme. The professional staff situation has considerably improved by the integration of a P-5 as well as a P-3 at Headquarters. This is not the case yet with respect to the General Service staff at Headquarters. Concerning the funding of the Programme, in accordance with DG/Note/95/42, 20 percent of the funds approved by the 28th session of the General Conference of UNESCO has been deferred pending the availability of funds and the cashflow situation. As it is also stipulated in the above-said note of the Director-General that the work plan proposals must include:. activities approved by the General Conference from the Reserve for Draft Resolutions; l provisions for contracts with non-governmental organizations under framework agreements; l activities already approved in , and to be continued and implemented during ; l other high-priority activities including the specific projects addressed to the four priority target groups (women, youth, LDCs and Africa); l other items of an incompressible nature, including financial allocations to IBE, IIEP, UIE and programme costs for IOC and WHC. Similarly, the specific project on Women and Water Resource Supply and Use cannot be subject to any deferment. This meant a fi.&her reduction in the IHP budget. The budget figures are as follows:

3 Page 2 c/5 Approved Work Plan 1996/1997 Deferred % Reduction Apia 20,000 12,500 7, Beijing 38,000 23,000 15, Cairo 194, ,300 74, Jakarta 130,000 80,400 49, Montevideo 202, ,600 77, Nairobi 266, ,000 75, New Delhi 120,000 74,200 45, Venice 60,000 37,000 23, Regional Offices Headquarters 1,030, ,OOO 662, , ,056,OOO 569, ,655,OOO 1,718,OOO 937, In addition, the C/5 Approved foresees $140,000 for Co-operation for Development. In May 1996 the Director-General has re-deployed $200,000 for IHP, half of which has been decentralized to the Regional Offices. Resolution XI-2 Gender Neutral Terminology and Wording Resolution XI-2 directed the Secretariat to modify the Statutes and the Rules of Procedure of the Intergovernmental Council of the IHP in accordance with the rules of the gender neutral terminology. The 28th session of the General Conference of UNESCO has noted this Resolution and adopted the modification of the text of the Statutes accordingly. Likewise, the text of the Rules and Procedures of the Intergovernmental Council of IHP have been changed in accordance with the directive of the Resolution.

4 Page 3 Resolution XI-3 Women and Water Resources The Resolution requested that UNESCO and the Member States promote the participation of women in water resources programmes at all levels. The 28th session of the General Conference (October-November 1995) approved a special project on Women and water resources supply and use, to be implemented in the biennium in the Sub-Saharan region as part of the regular programme of IHP. The objective of the project is to improve the quality of life of women by facilitating their access to water resources through the development and extension of appropriate techniques with the full participation of women at community level. This project will contribute to the improvement of water resources surveying and management in semi-arid and arid zones. Two pilot projects will be launched in Mauritania and Mali in Resolution XI-4 UNESCODHP and WMO/OHP Co-operation Resolution XI-4 is devoted to the co-operation between IHP and the Operational Hydrology Programme of WMO. It requests UNESCO to continue and improve co-operation with OHP, as well as to arrange joint activities. Also, this Resolution requests UNESCO to encourage meetings of the IHP Bureau and the Advisory Working Group of CHy of WMO where appropriate as well as to strengthen the role of the Liaison Committee. The Liaison Committee held its seventeeth session in the meantime. The report of the meeting is available as IHP/Bur-XXIII/9. The IHP Bureau and the Advisory Working Group of the CHy are holding parallel sessions on March 1996 in Paris with joint consultative sessions foreseen. The Resolution also invites the Director-General of UNESCO to consult with the Secretary-General of WMO on means of further fostering appropriate linkages between IHP and OHP. The regular meetings of the Administrative Committee for Co-operation of the UN organizations provide appropriate framework to conduct consultations.

5 Page 4 Resolution XI-5 A Communication Strategy for the International Hydrological Programme This Resolution requested the Secretariat to prepare a communication strategy for IHP. The communication strategy has been elaborated during The IHP Information newletter has been restructured and renamed Waterway. Currently, plans are being laid for a regular Home Page on the World Wide Web (WWW) in both English and Spanish. The address is: and will contain IHP News, Water Calendar and IAHS Link. Document distribution has been decentralized, as a first step, to the Field Offices for all IHP publications. Amongst the IHP National Committees, so far only the IHP National Committee of The Netherlands distributes Waterway at a national level. The requested secondment of an additional communications expert to further develop the communication strategy has not yet materialized. Resolution XI-6 Establishment of a UNESCO International Center for Ecohydrological Research and Training This resolution calls for the establishment of a UNESCO International Center for Ecohydrological Research and Training at Valdai, Russian Federation (UICERT). Planning and securing international co-operation and commitments are underway. Implementation pending.

6 Page 5 Resolution XI-7 Radiological Aspects of Freshwater The resolution recommends that appropriate international organizations pay more attention in their programmes to the problems related to radiological contamination of water resources. UNESCO and IAEA have planned to prepare a book on Isotope Hydrology. The international conference on The impact of nuclear power plants and other radiationhazardous objects on the hydrological cycle and water resources will be held on May 1996 in Obninsk (Russia). n BB Resolution XI-S Development of Hydrology in Africa The resolution urges the Director-General to take appropriate measures to prepare and implement a programme for the long-term development of water sciences in Africa and in particular:. material support to the Association of African Hydrologists initiative;. stepping up education, training and information; l helping Member States to gain the use of computerized hydrology data bases; l seeing to the availability of funds for the revival of the activities of the hydrological institutions of African Member States. UNESCO is negotiating with the Flemish Community in Belgium, a funds-in-trust project whose main part is devoted to the implementation of the first three components of the above resolution. The project is expected to be developed during three successive years starting from n BB

7 Page 6 Resolution XI-9 UNESCO Co-ordination on Freshwater Issues Resolution XI-9 urges the Director-General of UNESCO to continue to pursue cooperation and co-ordination on freshwater issues among the environmental programmes of UNESCO. The co-ordination has been carried out both at the level of the various governing bodies and at the level of the Secretariat when preparing the programme and budget for the period. At the level of the Governing Bodies, the Chairpersons of the five international science programmes (IHP, MAB, IOC, IGCP and MOST) had met on 3 November 1995 to discuss matters on co-operation. The Joint Statement issued is available as IHP/IC-XIUInf.3. Resolution XI-10 Regional Hydrologist for UNESCO Office, Jakarta This Resolution urged the Director-General for the provision of a regional hydrologist in the Jakarta office in order to efficiently and successfully implement the project proposed under IHP-V. No action has been taken yet. The Acting Regional Hydrologist, Mr M. Hashizume, will retire in Mr M. Brussel, Dutch Associate Expert, will terminate his service in August 1996 with no guarantee of replacement. Resolution XI-1 1 Pacific Island Countries Applied Research Projects As a follow-up to the recommendations of the UNESCOKJNDDSMS/SOPAC sponsored Workshop entitled, Pacific Water Sector Planning, Research and Training in Honiara, Solomon Islands, June 1994, this resolution urged the Director-General of UNESCO to give favourable consideration to the allocation of seed funds for components of the three recommended pilot projects for the South Pacific H-5.1 programme. In March 1995 the Director-General allocated $89,500 towards the technical implementation of studies in groundwater recharge (Kiribati) and groundwater contamination (Tonga). Some of this funding is also being used for the socio-cultural aspects of the projects. All funding was decentralized to the Apia Field Office, but close liaison with Headquarters has continued. This project is also acting as a major pivot in IHP s contribution towards the recently-initiatied interdisciplinary coastal zones programme.

8 IHP/IC-X11/7 Page 7 Resolution XI-12 Caspian Sea Action -Plan The Resolution recommends that UNESCO associate itself with the Caspian Sea initiatives and promote intensive studies in the riparian countries; it also urges the Director- General to seek extra-budgetary funds to assist with the implementation of the programmes of the Caspian Sea. Following a Resolution (DR145) adopted at the 27th session of the General Conference, the International Hydrological Programme and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) organized a workshop on the Cause of the Caspian Sea level rise, held in UNESCO in May The meeting was attended by representatives from Russia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Iran and the WMO. Key papers were presented and discussed, and the participants came to the conclusion that there is an urgent need to develop a comprehensive research programme including studies of natural and anthropogenic processes in the Caspian Sea as a basis for the solution of the socio-economic and environmental problems of the region; specific activities were identified in this regard. At the 28th session of the General Conference (October-November 1995) four Draft Resolutions were presented by Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Iran in the framework of the above programme. The General Conference adopted these Draft Resolutions, with the allocation of US$60,000, which will enable the preparation of a project document for the comprehensive research programme, to be followed by the search of extra-budgetary funds for its implementation. In addition, two other activities will be initiated, related to the establishment of an information system and the development of training.