Spotlight TheWaterChannel.tv Interview Professor András Szöllösi

Transcription

magazine unesco-ihe
institute for water education
december 2009 – january 2010
Spotlight
TheWaterChannel.tv
Interview
Professor András Szöllösi-Nagy
Education
100th PhD degree
Resources
Poo
UPDATE UNESCO-IHE | DEC 2009 – JAN 2010 | 1
UPDATE-FINAL-vs030210.indd 1
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COLOPHON
contents
Editorial Board
András Szöllösi-Nagy
Joop de Schutter
Erwin Ploeger
Editorial Committee
Jan Herman Koster
Ann van Griensven
Henk Lubberding
Marco Schouten
Lindsay Beevers
SPOTLIGHT
4
TheWaterChannel.tv
COOPERATION
5
Guiding US investments in water
COLUMN
7
Biofuels
INTERVIEWS
8
Graphic Design
Peter Stroo
16 Annemieke Nijhof
Print
Prints & Proms/Rotterdam
19 Iris Frida Josch de Kosak
Editorial Contributions
Berta Fernández Álvarez, Cecilia Tamara Avellán, Jan Bartacek,
Maarten Blokland, Anne van Dam, Larry Elchuck, Abraham Mehari
Haile, Erick de Jong, Lenneke Knoop, Ewoud Kok, Laura Kwak,
Pieter de Laat, Piet Lens, Branislav Petrusevski, Christina Reed,
Bart Schultz, Maria Sorrentino, Klaas Schwartz, Assiyeh Tabatabai,
Stefan Uhlenbrook, Raymond Venneker, Zoran Vojinovic.
With special thanks to Richard A. Meganck, former Rector of
UNESCO-IHE.
HIGHLIGHT
21 St Maarten flood risks
EDUCATION
12 100th PhD degree
ALUMNI
18 Refresher Seminar Kenya
BACKGROUND
24 A pinch of salt
E-LEARNING
28 New eCampus
CAPACITY BUILDING
29 Iran
RESOURCES
30 Online Water Resources
32 Publications
Editor in Chief
Alida Pham
Sub-editor
Theresa Stanton
About the magazine
UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education produces a biennial magazine called UPDATE. We print 12,000 free copies per issue, which
is sent to our counterparts across the world. UPDATE features institutional information related to water education, research and capacity
building activities undertaken by UNESCO-IHE, alumni and partners.
We have tried to make this issue of UPDATE Magazine as eco-friendly
as possible. The paper, Cocoon Offset, is a high-quality uncoated offset paper. The range is produced using ecological technology at the
company’s Greenfield S.A.S. mill in France from 100%-recycled and
FSC-certified de-inked pulp. The plastic that is used to cover UPDATE
Magazine is made of environmentally biodegradable polymers by the
company A.V.I. B.V. in Volendam, the Netherlands.
About UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education
UNESCO-IHE is the largest international postgraduate water education institute in the world and the only institution in the UN system
authorised to confer accredited MSc degrees and promote PhDs. The
mission of UNESCO-IHE is to contribute to the education and training of professionals and to build the capacity of sector organisations,
knowledge centres and other institutions active in the fields of water,
the environment and infrastructure, in developing countries and countries in transition. Since 1957, the Institute has provided postgraduate education to over 14,500 water professionals from 162 countries, the vast majority from the developing world. Currently over 80
candidates are registered PhD fellows, and numerous research and
capacity building projects are carried out throughout the world.
Published by UNESCO-IHE
PO Box 3015
2601 DA Delft
The Netherlands
T+31 15 215 1715
F+31 15 212 2921
Einfo@unesco-ihe.org
I www.unesco-ihe.org
In UPDATE there is freedom of expression and opinion. Opinions need
to be expressed complete and clear content wise. It should also be
clear whose opinion the article represents. The Editorial Committee
reserves the right to refrain from publishing articles, editorial contributions and letters to the editor or to publish them in consultation with
the author.
The Editorial Committee encourages editorial contributions from
readers. The Column, Op-Ed, and Report from the Field sections are
intended to provide a platform for such contributions. Please note that
editorial sections are subject to change.
UPDATE Magazine is interested in hearing more from the institute’s alumni, especially about the projects they are currently
working on and the organisations they are attached to. Please
send your updates to the editor, Alida Pham at: a.pham@unescoihe.org.
Rajasthan’s rural revolution
Rajasthan, India - Women working on a rainwater harvesting project near the village of Paladi
Bhopatan. The women work digging channels
for underground aquafers to direct water if/
when it rains. The area has been suffering from
a severe drought for the last eight years.
Photo: Panos/Robert Wallis
2 | UPDATE UNESCO-IHE | DEC 2009 – JAN 2010
04-02-2010 09:42:44
12
4
100th PhD degree
TheWaterChannel.tv
30
8
Poo
Editorial
Adapting to Changes
Welcome to the first issue of UPDATE Magazine, the
first 32-page magazine produced by UNESCO-IHE
to keep you up-to-date with institutional information related to water education, research and capacity
building activities undertaken by UNESCO-IHE and
its alumni and partners.
“Redesigning a magazine and moving its information and ideas into a new form feels like building a
new home and moving,” was said by Mark Winz in
Folio, the Magazine for Magazine Management. Loyal
readers are familiar with former editions of UPDATE
that previously appeared in a newsletter format. The
reason we chose to redesign UPDATE, starting with
this December 2009 issue, is to commemorate and
celebrate a series of events: the arrival of our new
Rector, Professor András Szöllösi-Nagy, the celebration of our 100th PhD degree to be awarded in 2010
and a change in editorship among many other reasons.
We hope to have sufficiently shared with you that
this new design was driven by editorial concerns,
not by design alone. The Magazine now provides an
increased opportunity to share with you the institutional developments, thoughts and announcements
by the board and management, news from alumni
and partners and our perspectives on emerging issues in the water and development sector. Beyond
this, we aim to encourage global discussions on water
issues through relevant opinion pieces, provide inspiration, encourage public spirit amongst UNESCOIHE counterparts and offer an UPDATE where one
can read about water issues from a different perspective, thereby maintaining a vast and expanding network in the international water sector and beyond.
We very much welcome your input and hope you
enjoy reading this issue.
On behalf of the Editorial Committee,
Alida Pham
Editor in Chief
04-02-2010 09:42:46
spotlight | TheWaterChannel.tv
www.thewaterchannel.tv is an online video channel on water. Launched in early June, the
website received over 20,000 views in November alone, counting around 380 videos ranging from instructional videos to Public Service Announcements from various sources. The
footage is presented in different categories, including climate change, agriculture and sanitation & hygiene, among others. The website caters to a large audience, including educators, policy makers, high-school and university students, media professionals, companies
and organisations with an interest or active involvement in water issues. TheWaterChannel
is a collaboration between MetaMeta, UNESCO-IHE, Cap-Net and Nymphaea.
TheWaterChannel.tv makes a wide range of video material
available for a large public to create awareness and encourage debate. To this end, TheWaterChannel.tv team seeks various initiatives
with other organisations. Recently, a DVD with a collection of videos
from TheWaterChannel.tv was produced for educational purposes
to be used in the project: ‘Strengthening Ethiopian Universities in
Integrated River Basin Management Programme’ commissioned by
the Netherlands Organisation for International Cooperation in Higher
Education (NUFFIC). Possibilities to further develop such thematic
DVD productions for other organisations is currently being explored.
TheWaterChannel.tv
takes you on a multimedia tour around
the world of water
December Statistics
410 uploaded videos
24 categories
500 registered members
21,000 visitors (of whom over
10,000 unique visitors)
Most visits from: Mexico, The Netherlands,
United States, India and Canada
Theme sites Currently online is the www.thewaterandclimatechannel.org, a theme site developed as part of TheWaterChannel.
tv. The site shows the vital links between water and climate change
through videos and documents. In addition, the Arab Water
Council and TheWaterChannel.tv developed the thematic site
‘TheArabWaterChannel’. This online resource is meant to be a window
on water in the 22 countries that make up the Arab World. It aims to
support education and awareness raising activities on all levels with regard to water management in the region.
HetWaterK anaal , is a Dutch spinoff of TheWaterChannel.tv
and is a Dutch interactive platform for videos on water related topics in
and about The Netherlands. This Dutch version of the concept was developed in cooperation with TheWaterChannel.tv and will be launched
through the website in the coming month. TheWaterChannel team
encourages readers of UPDATE Magazine to upload quality visual material on water related topics to ensure it finds an audience. As a special
service, VHS tapes can be sent in for digitalisation and uploading.
¡
thewaterchannel@metameta.nl
W www.thewaterchannel.tv and subscribe to the newsletter.
SHORT NEWS | Waterpass Foundation
mou waterpass
foundation
UNESCO-IHE signed an MoU with the
Waterpass Foundation. This foundation
was newly established by Jan Stuit, the
former Chair of the Royal Bank of Scotland
in the Netherlands, with the aim to sponsor
UNESCO-IHE MSc fellowship extensions
to allow excellent UNESCO-IHE students
to write a publication or develop a business
proposal (i.e. for use in their home countries). The foundation pledged an initial
€23,000 and will raise more funds.
SHORT NEWS | Changes
board members
IHE Delft Foundation Board Wim Deetman, former Minister of
Education and Science was appointed UNESCO-IHE Foundation Board
member. Wim Kuijken, Secretary-General of Ministry of Transport,
Public Works and Water Management, was appointed UNESCO-IHE
Foundation Board member. Bert Keijts, former Director General
of the Directorate Public Works and Water in the Netherlands,
recently retired as member of the IHE Delft Foundation Board.
Governing Board The UNESCO-IHE Governing Board comprises
a total number of 13 representatives of ministries, universities and
the private sector, all appointed by the Director General of UNESCO.
Annika Söder, Assistant Director-General of the Food and Agricultural
Organization (FAO) was appointed UNESCO-IHE Governing Board
member in July 2009. John Verbakel, Vice president R&D Europe at
Unilever also joined UNESCO-IHE’s Governing Board since July 2009.
PAST EVENTS | UN KSIM
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Patricia Darvis, p.darvis@unesco-ihe
04-02-2010 09:42:46
cooperation | USAID
Guiding US Investments in Water
UNESCO-IHE recently initiated advisory and capacity-building activities directed at staff of
the US Agency for International
Development (USAID). UNESCOIHE is contributing to the development of a USAID Water Guide
to assist agency project officers
in water project design and implementation around the world.
These activities are an outgrowth
of UNESCO-IHE’s involvement
as a partner in the USAID Global
Water for Sustainability (GLOWS)
consortium, which is lead by
Florida International University
in Miami. In addition to its role
in the development of the Water
Guide, UNESCO-IHE is developing training modules for USAID
on Integrated Water Resources
Management and Climate Change
Adaptation and assisting in a
USAID-funded Public-Private
Partnership Iniciative in collaboration with the Confederation of
Indian Industries, USAID funding
is also providing partial support
for the thesis projects of three MSc
students working in East Africa.
Dr. Michael McClain, Director
of GLOWS and Head of the
Water Engineering Department
at UNESCO-IHE explains that
the lack of capacity and practical training are major obstacles to
the application of IWRM in many
areas of the world. “ While many
institutions and practitioners have
a general knowledge of IWRM as
articulated in international agreements and guidance documents,
few possess a detailed knowledge of the many resources in the
IWRM toolbox and how to apply
them,” he explains. “Practitioners
must be able to evaluate their own
management goals in an IWRM
framework and then design a stepwise strategy to accomplish these
goals.
The training modules that
GLOWS and UNESCO-IHE is
jointly developing will be customised for USAID project officers,
who are tasked with programming
an increasing water budget within
the agency.
Dr. Sharon Murray, Water
Resources Programme Manager
on the USAID Water Team, based
in Washington DC, visited the
Institute in June to learn more
about UNESCO-IHE programmes
and activities. She also briefed various departments about the work
that USAID is doing and new US
investments in water development. “Encouraging people in
USAID through supporting higher
education in developing countries,
resources and programmes that
exist is very important. Also, I can
imagine that linkages with US universities in capacity building and
development will be established as
one of the results of this partnership. There are parallel efforts in
mutually supporting each other in
the water sector,” Murray said.
UNESCO CENTRES | ICIWaRM
first unesco category 2 centre on
freshwater in the us
On Thursday 29 October 2009, the Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura,
signed with Major General Don T. Riley, Deputy Commanding General of the United
States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), an agreement establishing the UNESCO
International Centre for Integrated Water Resources Management (ICIWaRM) in
Alexandria, Virginia.
Also present at the signing ceremony was Dr Robert Pietrowsky, Director of the USACE
Institute of Water Resources and member of the UNESCO-IHE Governing Board, and Dr
Eugene Z. Stakhiv, Technical Director of UNESCO-ICIWaRM.
“Today, we establish the first category 2 centre in the US. It is a very important moment.
For UNESCO to expand its freshwater programme we need the involvement of the US
science community – we need its expertise, its creativity and its entrepreneurship,” the
Director-General said on signing the agreement. He went on to explain that ICIWaRM
would join a powerful global network of over 40 category 2 centres operating under the
The Global Water for Sustainability (GLOWS) programme is a consortium financed by the
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) working to increase social,
economic, and environmental benefits to people of the developing world. GLOWS works
on-the-ground to implement water supply, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services,
improve water management practices, and build local capacity.
The GLOWS Consortium is led by Florida International University and includes CARE,
WaterAid America, Winrock International, World Vision, and the World Wildlife Fund
(WWF). Together the partners possess skills and worldwide experience in water supply/
sanitation/hygiene, water productivity, and water resources management. UNESCO-IHE
is a training partner within the consortium.
GLOWS is the freshwater component of USAID’s Global Programme for Integrated
Management of Coastal and Freshwater Systems (IMCAFS), which also features
the Sustainable Coastal Communities and Ecosystems (SUCCESS) programme.
SUCCESS emphasises coastal resources, aquaculture, and fisheries management,
under the leadership of the University of Rhode Island’s Coastal Resources Center.
GLOWS Project Sites
Mara River Basin (Kenya/Tanzania) During the dry season, the Mara River is the
only source of water to the Mara-Serengeti ecoregion and its spectacular migration of
wildlife. GLOWS is supporting the governments of Kenya and Tanzania in integrated
water resources management to meet the water needs of developing human communities
while protecting water needed for Masai-Mara National Reserve and Serengeti National
Park. Project activities extend to Lake Victoria, and its artisanal fishing communities.
Pastaza River Basin (Ecuador/Peru) The Pastaza River Basin drains an
Andean subcatchment of the larger Amazon River Basin, in one of the world’s
most biologically and culturally diverse regions. The lives and livelihoods of basin residents are intimately linked to the ecosystem services provided by rivers,
especially water supply, wastewater assimilation, and fisheries. GLOWS is working with government agencies and local communities to protect freshwater ecosystem services and promote integrated management of water resources.
Wakal River Basin (India) A semi-arid, extremely seasonal climate characterises the Wakal River Basin in southern Rajasthan state, India. Groundwater
resources help sustain human communities in the basin, as do centuries-old rainwater harvesting techniques that facilitate storage of rainwater for use during dry
periods. GLOWS is supporting local efforts to increase awareness of integrated
water resources management as a means for promoting sustainable use of groundwater and appropriate implementation of rainwater harvesting techniques.
aegis of UNESCO, around half of which are in the field of freshwater. “Promoting more
sustainable freshwater management has been a top priority of my tenure at UNESCO. The
creation of this new centre will significantly bolster our implementing capacity in this area”,
Mr Matsuura underlined, stating that the new centre would notably increase support to developing countries, especially in Africa.
Major General Don T. Riley congratulated Mr Matsuura on his remarkable achievements
at UNESCO. “You can leave knowing that you have made a very big difference to the lives
of millions. And with the creation of this new centre, UNESCO will go on to help millions
more”, the Major General affirmed.
Dr Robert Pietrowsky underscored the importance the US attached to UNESCO’s work
in freshwater, noting that collaboration in this area had significantly expanded following
the country’s return to the Organisation in 2003. He referred to the new centre as an opportunity to further reinforce this partnership, explaining that good relations had already
been established between ICIWaRM and other UNESCO category 2 centres, as well as
UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education. The Director-General said that this outreach
was “a very good indicator of the centre’s future success”, adding that he very much looked
forward to hearing of ICIWaRM’s achievements.
W www.iwr.usace.army.mil/iciwarm
04-02-2010 09:42:46
FELLOWSHIPS | IWA/UNESCO-IHE
water supply and sanitation
fellowships launched
congress | Biological Wastegas Treatment
IWA President Dr David Garman and Professor Damir Brdjanovic of
UNESCO-IHE signed an agreement on IWA/UNESCO-IHE Water
Supply and Sanitation Fellowships at the first International Water
Association (IWA) Development Congress, held in Mexico City from
15 till 19 November 2009. The agreement is an important milestone
in the cooperation between IWA and UNESCO-IHE. Dr Garman invited
potential donors to contribute to the fund and set up a target of 50 fellowships for the next two years. Fellowships will be divided between the
three water supply and sanitation related specialisations at UNESCOIHE, namely Sanitary Engineering, Water Supply Engineering and Water
Services Management.
W www.iwahq.org
¡ Damir Brdjanovic, d.brdjanovic@unesco-ihe.org
AWARD | Keizo Obuchi
uruguayan wins fellowship
án from Uruguay with a Keizo
UNESCO awarded Cecilia Tamara Avell
tly used this fellowship to carry
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nge of scientific expertise.
excha
20 candidates worldwide to faciliate the
role in Uruguay and a trend
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ased herd sizes and the
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Also, increased irrigation activities
use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
sal systems of dairy farms have
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plants. This opens up the prospect of using
effluents of dairy farms.
the
systems and constructed wetlands to treat
NEWS | Capacity building in Addis Ababa
The city of Addis Ababa faces a number of challenges due to the vast expansion of the city, such as limited water resources and adequate practices in managing them. The Addis Ababa Water Supply and Sewerage
Authority (AAWSA) is trying to achieve its mission of good service delivery to its customers in the midst of these challenges.
A recent tailor-made training course conducted by UNESCO-IHE provided 23 AAWSA employees, from middle to senior level, with a new
skill-set to tackle water supply and sanitation issues. The training course
was held in collaboration with local partners Solomon Sisay in Ethiopia
and the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) in Uganda.
The AAWSA has already been able to implement its newly acquired
knowledge during a critical assessment which it made of a newly designed plan for waste-water treatment. In addition, AAWSA recently
recruited a number of junior engineers in response to the huge expectations from its customers and to help it cope with the daunting challenges
ahead. During part of the training programme in Ethiopia, opportunities
were created to include a short training course for the junior engineers.
Based on the huge demand for water and sanitation professionals in
the country, discussions are already underway concerning collaboration
with Addis Ababa University to strengthen its postgraduate studies.
¡
Biotechniques for A
The 3rd International Congress on Biotechniques for
Air Pollution Control was held at UNESCO-IHE end
September. Over 110 participants from universities and
industries discussed various innovative research aspects
of environmental chemistry, environmental engineering and bioprocess technology aimed at improving
waste gas treatment. The Congress was co-organised
by UNESCO-IHE and the Environmental Engineering
group of the University of La Coruña in Spain.
Please see the website for presentation downloads:
http://www.unesco-ihe.org/Biotechniques-for-Air-Pollution-Control
Copies of the proceedings will be available through the Taylor and Francis
UNESCO-IHE series.
¡
Piet Lens, p.lens@unesco-ihe.org
Kebreab Ghebremichael, k.ghebremichael@unesco-ihe.org
04-02-2010 09:42:47
Economic and public pressure
In recent years, energy and feedstock materials for the chemical
industry are in increasing demand.
With constraints relating to the
availability and use of oil, the
energy and chemical industry is
undergoing considerable changes.
The need to use cheaper and more
widely available feedstocks and to
develop sustainable and environmentally-friendly chemical processes is rapidly growing as a result
of economic and public pressure.
Becoming self-sufficient
Consequently, waste gas treatment has gradually been integrated into process design. Instead
of discharging their waste gases
into the atmosphere, industries
can opt to treat those effluents or,
alternatively, they can attempt to
become self-sufficient and recover
compounds from their own waste
streams or use (upgraded) waste
streams of neighbouring industries as raw material.
Recovering useful by-products
Sustainable gas treatment concepts are being developed and
can lead to the recovery of useful
by-products such as energy in the
form of biogas, hydrogen or electricity, and chemicals in the form
of fertilisers (ammonia, phosphates) or raw materials (elemental sulphur, sulphuric acid) among
others. Adding value to waste
gas by upgrading the recovered
compounds will only be a reality
if it is demonstrated that there is a
fundamental basis and a tangible
advantage in using these recovered compounds instead of buying
raw materials and feedstock.
COLUMN | Biofuels
A greener planet
requires a lot of water…
Biomass derived energy is a promising renewable
energy sources intended to satisfy the escalating global
energy demand and to limit greenhouse gas emissions. The advantages seem manifold: (i) security of
supply (renewable energy; can be produced locally),
(ii) usually lower net greenhouse gas emissions, (iii)
clean in respect to other emissions (sulfur, carbon
monoxide and particulates), (iv) well-suited for
transport uses, (v) less dependency on fossil fuel
from politically unstable regions, and (vi) support for
agriculture, in particular in many developing countries.
The International Energy Association (IEA) estimated
that in 2004 more than 13% of the total global energy
consumption came from renewable source, and I fully
agree that it is the right policy to increase this number
further in the years to come. Also a rapid increase in the
biomass derived energy is envisaged for the future, in
particular considering the recent discussions on carbon
trading and the preparations for the crucial Cimate
Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009.
This is still true even if large energy consumers like the
EU and USA are reconsidering their own biofuels policies, which were more pro-biofuel only two years ago.
r Air Pollution Control
Main Outcomes The Congress demonstrated that a growing number of young scien-
tists is becoming interested in the field of biological waste gas treatment. Moreover, scientific
groups as well as engineering companies from all over the world were present at the Congress.
Participants from 28 countries representing all continents (except Antarctica) came to Delft,
indicating that air pollution control has become a widespread concern with a global impact.
During the Congress, special attention was given to resource recovery. A lot of space was
available to showcase new developments in the field of biological waste gas treatment. The
majority of research presented focused primarily on engineering perspectives. Microbiology
and modelling were also addressed, but more attention could have been given to research in
these areas.
Legislation alone is insufficient It was noted that legislation in the field of waste gas
emission was not sufficient. This may hinder the development of new technologies, because
the polluting companies are not pushed to invest in waste gas treatment. This becomes even
more difficult in the case of diffuse and transboundary emissions.
Another outcome of the Congress was that the problem of waste gas production is often
closely related to waste water production or waste water treatment. These two problems
should be studied in combination with each other more often. The Dutch engineering consultancy company DHV, with their Moving Bed Trickling Filter, may serve as a good example of
this trend.
More interaction needed The biotechnologies used for waste gas treatment are often
very similar to those applied to waste water treatment. The two communities – the waste gas
treatment engineers and the waste water treatment engineers – should interact more intensely. This is valid even though the regulation of waste gas treatment processes is more difficult
to regulate than that of waste water treatment.
Finally, it was mentioned that research relating to greenhouse gases was not sufficiently
addressed at the congress. This is because biological processes are not so common in this application area. Moreover, people working in this field were not attending the conference. A
final recommendation would be to put more effort in attracting scientists working in the field
of greenhouse gases emission mitigation to present their work in future congresses. The next
conference will be held in 2011 in La Coruña, Spain.
The opportunities for farmers and forest owners in the
South to become energy farmers and “good guys” in
terms of climate change mitigation seem very promising! This is especially true because energy efficient
production of biofuels is best possible in sub-humid and
humid tropical regions, due to often suitable climate and
soils. Consequently, biomass production offers great
economic chances for developing countries located in
these regions. But there is also a downside, which make
some people speak of ‘Climate Colonialism’. They point
at the recent land grabbing in Africa and Latin America,
often through foreign companies and fuelled by lucrative
Northern subsidy schemes, which results in large monocultures in countries such as Ethiopia, Mozambique,
Peru and Tanzania. This has potentially huge impacts on
food security, but also on water and the environmental
integrity. The availability of water resources is key in
that respect. I would like to stress that there are many
unknowns in predicting the impacts of such land use
changes and a better understanding of the impacts on
the hydrological processes (i.e. evaporation fluxes, runoff generation mechanism, groundwater recharge) for
such interventions is definitely needed. Therefore, considering different temporal and spatial scales is essential.
Despite the many knowledge gaps, we know already
that forests (e.g. eucalyptus) and crops (e.g. sugar
cane) need a lot of water to grow, and an accurate
analysis of the environmental and societal impacts of
large-scale biomass production is essential to protect
water resources and to assure ecological integrity to
enable future sustainable development. Thus, water is
vital in this climate change mitigation measure, as it is in
many adaptation measures. This should not be forgotten
when setting the policies, and dividing the hopefully
big cake of the new Climate Change Adaptation fund.
Stefan Uhlenbrook
Professor of Hydrology
Water Engineering Department
¡
s.uhlenbrook@unesco-ihe.org
04-02-2010 09:42:48
interview | New Rector
Professor András Szöllösi-Nagy took up office as the Institute’s new Rector from mid-September.
He follows in the footsteps of Professor Richard Meganck who recently retired from his six-year
term as Rector of the Institute. Prior to his new appointment, Professor Szöllösi-Nagy was Director
of the Division of Water, Secretary of the International Hydrological Programme (IHP), and Deputy
Assistant Director-General of the Natural Sciences Sector of UNESCO. During his tenure, Professor
Szöllösi-Nagy was able to significantly reinforce UNESCO’s response capacities in the area of freshwater through a variety of actions. Due to a reinforced IHP, the establishment of UNESCO-IHE, 23
UNESCO Water Centres and the UN World Water Assessment Programme (UN WWAP), it grew to
become the largest, most widely known UN water programme in the world. He was also instrumental in setting up the new UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education in March 2003 and acted as a
key player in the integration of the Institute’s education and research programmes in UNESCO.
“The Institute has a dual
nature that makes it
intellectually powerful”
”It is good to be back in the world of academia. However, I must admit I never really left the academic world,” said Szöllösi-Nagy. “The
International Hydrological Programme of UNESCO (IHP), which
I served for 20 years and nine days as its Secretary, is a large-scale
global scientific programme so my relations with academia were
never really severed. I worked closely in this community over the
years. On the other hand, facilitating international water science diplomacy versus practising and teaching water science, are two very
different things. It is a very exciting change and I am looking forward to plunging into the UNESCO-IHE pool. Of course, first I have
to learn how to swim in this new pool. My first mission, therefore,
will be that of learning. First of all, what is the shape of the pool? Is
there enough water in it? How do people swim in it? How should I
swim in it and support the others?”
To be an insider
Szöllösi-Nagy has indicated that he would like to talk with everyone
at the Institute and learn from every single individual what she or he
is doing. “I want to understand in more detail how this magnificent
organisation works and how its people are shaping it. I want to understand how its scientific departments and support units are working, how they are interacting in the daily work in serving the basic
goals of the Institute. I hope it does not sound too immodest, but I
believe I already know a fair bit about the Institute. I taught there
some time ago and have stayed in regular contact with colleagues; I
also played a role in transforming it into a UNESCO Institute and, of
course, I have visited it quite often. I love the place immensely. But
of course it is one thing to be a visitor from outside, and quite another to be an insider. I am looking forward to interacting with my new
colleagues, learning more about their points of view and listening
to their proposals very carefully concerning potential improvements
and new strategical research directions.”
Consensual
“I will continue the outstanding work that Richard Meganck, my
predecessor, has started,” he adds. “I very much value what he has
done in a rather difficult period of transition. I would like to manage this Institute on a consensual basis and would like to work
with the Academic Board, the Management Team, the Personnel
Council and other bodies that could make a positive contribution.
It is needless to say that the Chairs of the Governing Board and the
UNESCO-IHE Foundation Board, both very experienced and outstanding politicians, will be my closest partners in setting overall
strategies and policies. I have already started working with them
and am looking forward to a very successful cooperation.”
Measured outflows
When asking the Rector why he got involved in the water business and what kept him so enthusiastic about it for such a long time,
given the many organisational challenges in this area, he explained:
“I was about 16 years old when I was working as an observer at
one of the UNESCO Experimental and Representative Catchment
Areas in Hungary during my summer vacation. This was during the
International Hydrological Decade, so we are talking about paleohydrology. My job was to carry out field experiments under different soil and slope conditions with a small cylindrical artificial rainfall
generator and measure how much the surface flow that comes out
through a tiny V notch is. Quite a simple job, actually. Of course, I
had no idea about hydrology, as I was much more interested in the
young local village ladies, but I got very angry that wherever I set up
my rainfall apparatus, the results were always very different. Even
when I relocated my equipment just one metre away and repeated
the experiment the measured outflows were always significantly
different. It was very frustrating.”
04-02-2010 09:42:49
04-02-2010 09:42:53
interview | New Rector
What happens to the rain?
“Gradually I got interested in the question: What happens to the
rain? Was it my fault that the results are so dramatically different or is there something intrinsically random in this entire process
from the rain through to the pore distribution of the soil particles?
What are the physical laws? Are there any, or is it just chaos? Or
perhaps both? From then on it was all very straightforward. After a
degree in Civil Engineering I became a hydrologist, wrote a couple
of theses, ranging from applied mathematics to systems science,
and started to passionately develop mathematical models for hydrological forecasting (to my greatest surprise some of them even
worked).
A big eye opener were the assignments in various developing countries. I realised the obvious: it is water that needs to be
fixed otherwise developing countries will never have the chance to
achieve what we today call sustainable development. This obvious
realisation made me join the United Nations as I also realised that
without international cooperation and development, assistance in
policy setting, education and building local water management and
science capacities in the third world, as it was called back in those
days, there was no possibility that a fair and equitable world could
ever be built. Serving that cause was the best achievement in my
professional life. Mind you, I still don’t know what happens to the
rain… So I am still challenged.”
Main focus areas
Szöllösi-Nagy also shared his views on the main focus areas in the
first biennium. “I would like to further strengthen the position of
UNESCO-IHE in water science and education in the international
scene with a principal regard to the needs of the developing countries. We have all the opportunities and potential to become a leading institute in the field. Talent is uniformly distributed but we have
to find it and help it blossom. Indeed, I believe that the uniqueness
of the Institute provides excellent initial conditions to achieve that.
I would like to grow our international networks and get the best of
the best involved in various activities of the Institute. I would like
to establish and strengthen mutually beneficial relations with the
lead water resources departments, both at universities and research
facilities all over the world, with a special regard for the needs of
the developing countries. I would like to attract leading scientists to
spend their sabbatical year at the Institute and to contribute to and
strengthen the academic life of the Institute.
Secondly, I would like to increase the impact of the Institute
both in terms of water education and science. I will work with my
colleagues towards an improved financial base. We receive such
unbelievably generous support from our host government and I
would like to see other governments from the ‘developed world’
following suit. We are open to any scrutiny that any government
wishes to make to identify how useful this institution is globally,
regionally and locally and how much we could serve their foreign
policy objectives in building water management capacities in developing countries. I will spare no efforts in convincing UNESCO’s
Member States that it is not only their moral obligation to support
UNESCO-IHE but that it is also a good investment from their side.
I believe we still have a great deal of room to mobilise UNESCO’s
Permanent Delegations, the UNESCO National Commissions, the
IHP National Committees, the IHP Secretariat in Paris, the Regional
Hydrologists at the UNESCO’s Regional and Field Offices and the
two dozen Category II water centres that are under the auspices of
UNESCO, to achieve our goals.
And thirdly, I would like to help my colleagues be successful. If
they are successful then I am successful. If any of them fails, I fail.”
Networks
With over 20 years of experience in the water sector at UNESCO
alone, Szöllösi-Nagy has a diverse skill-set to share which the
Institute. “Over the years I have been involved in various networks,
from professional NGOs through scientific journals and the international scientific community to global water policy organisations in various functions. I would like to bring those networks in
closer association with the Institute. And I would like to assist my
colleagues in taking lead roles in the various associations, journals,
forums, councils and boards in order to enhance our visibility, increase support and generate a great impact.
When it comes to science-based water policy advice, Member
States as well as potential donors and clients will turn to the
Institute for help and action. Also, I would like to have UNESCOIHE play a more important role in designing and implementing IHP.
There are already good practices, from urban water management
to water-related conflict resolution, but there is still considerable
room for improvement. I will work towards bringing the IHE and
IHP staff much closer together and to build closer relations with the
rest of the UN system and the Bretton Woods institutions through
UN-Water as well as through bilateral cooperation. I also think it is
important that we improve our collaboration with the headquarters
divisions in Paris. UNESCO has a great deal to offer which we need
to utilise much more. It is of paramount importance that members
of the Executive Board and the General Conference of UNESCO
are aware of the role of the Institute in the implementation of the
Organisation’s mandate. And I believe it is equally important that
our colleagues in Delft are aware of what those bodies are deciding
because those decisions are providing the framework for our work.
I will work on ensuring that the staff get to know the ‘big picture’.
Minimising hierarchy
Former staff members have described Szöllösi-Nagy as a visionary leader who is loyal, demanding, enthusiastic, hardworking and
generous; this is how UNESCO-IHP has become so well-known in
the water family and what has also kept them united behind him.
But most of the staff and students at UNESCO-IHE are curious
to know what he expects from them. “It was a great pleasure and
privilege to work with my former staff at UNESCO and serve them.
I worked in and with a wonderful team who were working openly
and democratically. Hierarchy was minimised within a quite hierarchical administration in order to increase efficiency and the delivery
of sound results.” He explains: “I saw my role as serving them and
not the other way around. I have an open-door policy, whereby
anyone can come in and see me. In my opinion, the relative success
of IHP was based on mutual trust. I would like to continue this approach at UNESCO-IHE as well.”
04-02-2010 09:42:54
Alumni are assets
The Rector also touched upon the importance of alumni. “Alumni
are real assets for us. They can mobilise additional support for the
Institute. Many of the thousands who graduated here earlier are in
lead positions now and could raise political support that could hopefully turn into financial support. Many of our alumni have become
extremely successful in business. I will approach and encourage
them to help us build a UNESCO-IHE Endowment Fund that could
support our scholarship programme. Anyone could pay into the endowment and withdraw funds at any given time. In the meantime,
the interest that the fund generates would help to finance scholarships.
Also, I believe alumni could help us a great deal in identifying young talent that could enroll in the Institute to do graduate
and post-graduate work. Alumni could also help identify potential
projects that we could implement at a later stage. I am confident that
by having alumni involved in the work of the Institute we will be
able to generate win-win situations that will help all of the parties
involved.”
Inaugural Address
On 5 November, Professor András Szöllösi-Nagy,
was formally installed as the new Rector of the
Institute after presenting his inaugural address entitled: “Learn from you errors - if you can! – reflections on the value of hydrological forecasting
models.” A native of Hungary, Szöllösi-Nagy holds
a Doctorate of Science in hydrology and stochastic
systems, a PhD in water sciences, and a Doctorem
Habilem in hydrology and water resources, the latter two from Budapest University of Technology.
Dr. Bart Schultz, the senior most member of the
Academic Board opened this special academic session by noting that the education and research objectives of the Institute will remain primordial – driving
both the production of quality science as well as the
development mandates of UNESCO-IHE. The formal address of the new Rector traced some of the
very interesting, if somewhat convoluted, history of hydrological modeling as well as presenting a
number of challenges relating to predicting extreme weather events such as floods and flood-related
damage. And he did this in his ‘normal’ style – discussing a serious scientific issue while employing a
degree of irreverent humor. It is also fair to note that while few will doubt the scientific nature of his
comments, he still manages to get into any number of arguments with well-meaning colleagues who
fail to grasp the connections to which he refers. After what can only be described as an engaging address, the former Rector Richard Meganck passed the academic authority of the Beadle and the staff
of the Institute to the care of the new Rector symbolising the transfer of both the authority and the
responsibility of the academic excellence of the Institute.
Flexibility
With increased flexibility in education a new reality, such as online
and short courses, virtual learning platforms and the introduction
of joint degrees with other institutes around the world, UNESCOIHE is also taking big steps in this direction. “I would like to expand
our activities in establishing more intensive relations with leading schools in the world. Joint degree programmes with prestigious universities is certainly one of the options we need to examine
more closely. I have already had some discussions in this regard with
some lead universities and have noted a great deal of interest. It goes
without saying that we must maintain the involvement and mainstreaming of universities in the developing countries in this process
as well. I would like to encourage flexibility in our educational offerings. More elective subjects and more choice will certainly help tailor the courses to specific needs. I am quite certain that an improved
guest lecturer scheme and an expanded sabbatical leave system, by
involving the best brains we can have access to, will help a great deal
in this regard as well. UNESCO-IHE should also function as a laboratory of ideas and of new innovative thinking to solve the major
water resources issues in the world today.”
Intellectually powerful
Szöllösi-Nagy continues: “I think the Institute has a dual nature that
makes it intellectually powerful. On the one hand, there is a link
with the developing world through many networks, including that
of the alumni, that brings in a constant flux of exciting issues that
require novel handling. These things are very real: real catchments,
real people and real issues to solve. I believe these issues stimulate
the discovery of entirely new approaches and fresh thinking. On the
other hand, the Institute, and UNESCO for that matter, has primary
access to the best minds of the world. If there is something untested,
something seemingly too complex to deal with, something we do
not know how to handle we can always have access to the best
professional advice and people. That is a tremendous asset that we
should keep alive by increased networking and expanding our relations further.”
Three intellectual giants
When asking the Rector who has been his greatest example, he
responds: “My role model is my late father who was a geographer
and a walking encyclopedia with an immense sense of humour and
an insatiable appetite for all the good things in life. I miss him a great
deal. My professional life was very strongly influenced by three
intellectual giants: Professor Jim Dooge, former Foreign Minister
of Ireland, Emeritus Professor of Hydrology in Dublin and also the
former President of ICSU. I consider him my grand master. I learned
systems hydrology from him. Once, he survived one of my early
presentations where I advocated that continuous models belonged
to the past and the future was for discrete models only. During the
discussion he declared: “hm, interesting idea but it’s junk, young
man”. Of course, he was right. I did not know it for many years but
Jim often acted as my guardian angel. Then, in my early twenties I
met the late Professor Vujica Yevjevich of Colorado State University
who had a tremendous influence on my way of thinking in terms of
stochastic processes. (Later on somebody told me that my greatest
achievement in hydrology is that I turned Stochastic Hydrology into
Sarcastic Hydrology by occasionally being perhaps a little bit too
critical with certain methodologies.) And finally, in my mid twenties I had the privilege of working at IIASA for some years. Professor
Howard Raiffa of Harvard was my boss. He was a charismatic, intellectual leader and the top gun in decision theory. He led us by example and with an eternal big smile, always encouraging and supporting new ideas.
Jekyll and Hyde
Szöllösi-Nagy is known by his closest friends as an infamous art collector. His significant other, Judith Nem’s, is an artist. In response
to the question how his love for art complements his professional
life, he responds: “Like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide. Art is my Mr. Hide
side. It is totally independent of my professional activities. When I
was young I trained to become a sculptor. But soon enough I recognised that I was not talented enough. I also recognised that as there
were already so many bad artists in my country that adding one
more would amount to a national catastrophe. So I gave up doing
art. I have not drawn a single line ever since, not even on Sundays.
But anything that is supressed in your childhood comes back later
in adulthood. This is probably why Judith, who is indeed a painter,
and I started to systematically collect contemporary art some twenty
years ago. The subject matter is very narrow, geometric abstract and
concrete art, but the collection became quite sizeable and international by now. In fact we even have paintings on the ceiling of our
house in Paris. It is not like the Kröller-Müller Collection – yet. But
we are getting there.
04-02-2010 09:42:55
education | PhD Programme
UNESCO-IHE to award it’s 100th PhD degree
Since its affiliation with UNESCO in 2003, the Institute has made huge
steps in further developing its scientific reputation and establishing a
solid academic environment. The NVAO accreditation constituted a first
step, but other elements are the sharp increase in the number of peer-reviewed publications, the appointment of additional scientific staff (PhD
and professor level), the acquisition and allocation of more funds to research and recently the membership of the SENSE Research School. This
resulted in a spectacular growth in the number of PhD fellows: from the
late nineties until 2003, the number was stable at around 50 registered
students. In 2003 the number started to grow steadily from 48 in 2003
to 89 in November 2009. When adding the number of staff members
doing a PhD, the current enrollment reaches 95.
Applications When looking at the number of PhD applications, a
peak can be observed in 2008. In that year the Institute kicked-off an
ambitious research programme sponsored by the Netherlands Ministry
for Development Cooperation. It was also the year in which the Institute
decided to allocate a larger portion of its base subsidy to co-funding of
research projects acquired through competitive calls. The Institute’s
strategy is to maintain this high volume of research activities in the years
to come.
Regional background A prerequisite to be admitted in the
UNESCO-IHE PhD programme is obviously the quality of the research
proposal. In practice, an important bottleneck is the availability of funding. Most of UNESCO-IHE’s students depend on sponsoring from national governments or multilateral agencies. Due to the international de-
velopment focus on Africa, and more in particular Sub-Saharan Africa,
a growing number of PhD students at UNESCO-IHE also originate from
that region.
Gender
Twenty six per cent of the registered students in 2009 are female. This is nearly the same as the overall Dutch average of 27% in the
science area. (Vereniging Samenwerkende Nederlandse Universiteiten,
VSNU)
Aver age dur ation The average duration of a PhD study at
UNESCO-IHE is 5.45 years including the time between the approval of
the thesis and the date of the public defense, and 5 years if this time is
excluded. This figure does not significantly deviate from the average of
universities in the host country, and also aligns with PhD programmes in
other countries. This is remarkable as the majority of PhD’s at UNESCOIHE are done in a sandwich format, and students are often claimed by
their employer for part of their time.
Number of promotions and distinctions Since the first
graduation in 1994, 93 researchers obtained a PhD degree through
UNESCO-IHE. The number of promotions is expected to reach 20 per
year by 2012. Out of the 93 successful promotions, six candidates received a PhD degree with cum laude. This is a remarkably high percentage, exceeding the average of regular universities.
¡
Erick de Jong, e.dejong@unesco-ihe.org
W www.unesco-ihe.org/Education/PhD-programme
Number of PhD promotions
of UNESCO-IHE
Number of PhD applications
and admitted students
13
125
11
10
Number
Number
100
75
7
25
Academically
admitted
0
2003/5
2004/8
2005/9
2006/10
2007/11
2008/12
Academic Years
2009/13
Total number
of applications
7
7
6
6
Finally
admited
50
5
6
5
3
2
2
2
1
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Academic Year
04-02-2010 09:42:59
peer review evaluation | Sense Visitation
The SENSE Research School for Socio-Economic and
Natural Sciences of the Environment is a joint venture
of the environmental research institutes of ten Dutch
universities. SENSE strives to be a high quality school
for researchers, where disciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches are being developed and taught
for the support of scientifically based and effective
environmental policies. UNESCO-IHE invited SENSE
Research School to conduct a peer review evaluation in order to obtain full participation and membership into the SENSE Research School. To this end, the
SENSE assessment committee looked at UNESCOIHE’s past performance (2003-2008) and future
potential.
SENSE Research School
welcomes UNESCO-IHE
SENSE Research School for
Socio-Economic and Natural
Sciences of the Environment is a
joint venture of the environmental research institutes of ten
Dutch universities. It promotes
an integrated understanding of
environmental change in terms
of the mechanisms that cause it
and the consequences that result
from it. To fulfil this mission,
the combined programmes of
research and education within
SENSE are aimed at the development and further improvement
of scientific concepts and
methods that are required for an
effective disciplinary and multidisciplinary understanding of
environmental change. Research
and education in SENSE are
dedicated to developing high
quality scientific results, which
may be applied to practically and
critically inform environmental policy perspectives.
The general result of the SENSE visitation is that: “The
UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education is highly
visible and well regarded internationally with very relevant research and societal evident high impact.”
The group concluded that UNESCO-IHE is an institute in transition and that the number and quality of
research and publications has increased considerably
in the timeframe under revision. Interdisciplinary research is well developed and the PhD fellows are very
enthusiastic about their training with frequent supervision and social integration with staff and participants
alike.
Set clear str ategic research priorities
international media
consultation on adaptation
strategies to water and
climate change
International journalists, experts and a number of other participants from more
than 35 countries took part in a 2-day seminar organised by the United Nations.
The seminar focussed on the role of the media and communicators and took
place at the end of September in Zaragoza, Spain. Conclusions from the meeting
point out that the role of the media and communicators as information multipliers is paramount to public advocacy and awareness-raising. The seminar was
organised by the United Nations Office to Support the International Decade
for Action ‘Water for Life’ 2005-2015 (UNO-IDfA) and brought together
around 50 opinion leaders, communicators, UN representatives, and experts
from Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America.
Ulrike Kelm, kelm@un.org
Conclusions
The Institute has an excellent
interdisciplinary PhD programme and many individual
staff members already comply with the membership
criteria. Thereby, SENSE welcomes UNESCO-IHE.
The SENSE Peer Review Committee is convinced that
the future prospects for the UNESCO-IHE Institute
for Water Education are very strong. The Institute is in
good shape and can build on its currently strong position to continue serving international water research
and water management.
Berta Fernández Álvarez,
b.fernandezalvarez@unesco-ihe.org
W www.sense.nl
¡
The Committee recommends that UNESCO-IHE develop a coherent research strategy with the appropriate incentives to increase scientific quality and productivity. The Institute should have a plan establishing
its medium-term and long-term research priorities. It
would be useful to define clear and transparent benchmarks for the quantity and quality of research, for
example the SENSE criteria, as well as to create incentives for research and high-level publications.
PUN MEDIA CONSULTATION | Climate Change
¡
Reconsider organisational structure
It was also suggested that UNESCO-IHE consider establishing a small external Academic Advisory Board
to provide guidance in strategic research issues and to
provide recommendations on appointments.
Although the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water
Education is organised along educational lines with
seemingly very efficient collaboration among the
core groups, it was recommended by the SENSE assessment committee that the Institute re-evaluates
its organisational structure of departments and core
groups, which is at this time geared towards the MSc
programmes rather than research.
In addition, the Committee pointed out that
UNESCO-IHE boosts the careers of many professionals as a consequence of its mandate for capacity building in developing countries and should therefore monitor these career improvements in order to measure
the societal impact and relevance of its research. The
added value behind this exercise is that the Institute’s
alumni can facilitate ways to access a supplementary
source of potential funding via their current employers.
SHORT NEWS | Collaboration with American water utility
grant for reverse
osmosis desalination
UNESCO-IHE will undertake research projects in reverse osmosis desalination in conjunction with The American Water Works
Company, the largest investor-owned U.S. water and waste-water utility company. The partnership has been made possible due to a grant
of USD 490,000 that was recently awarded to the company.
“This research project will use novel methods to measure organic carbon in sea
water that can cause plugging of the reverse osmosis membranes,” said Dr. Orren
Schneider, senior environmental engineer for American Water and principle investigator for this project. “The study will also use advanced techniques to measure
the surface charge of particles in sea water. Neutralization of this surface charge is
important for particle and organic carbon removal in the pre-treatment process.”
The American Water Works Company was founded in 1886, and has its
headquarters in Voorhees, N.J. The company employs more than 7,000
professionals who provide drinking water, waste-water and other related
services to approximately 15 million people in 32 states and Ontario, Canada.
W www.amwater.com
04-02-2010 09:42:59
COOPERATION | Armenia and Georgia partners
seeking to reinforce
the potentials
agreement | Research and capacity building
The State Agrarian University of Armenia (SAUA), the Georgian State
Agriculture University (GSAU) and UNESCO-IHE have agreed to continue
their collaboration on a number of joint education and capacity building activities and trainings through tailor-made courses, regular short courses and
refresher seminars. The bilateral Memorandum of Agreements was one of
the results of a succesful tailor-made training, held in 2008 and early 2009.
Project leader László Hayde explains: “The training has substantially contributed to the capacity building of university staff in Armenia’s and Georgia’s
water sector. Eventually this will contribute towards increased socio-economic
benefits from the available water resource base and their long-term sustainability through better educated professionals. The training provided a
promising opportunity for networking and sharing of information among
the professionals involved, fostering the collaborative approach for participatory water resource development and management at local levels.
Hayde continues: “The participants of the training are already showing interests in strengthening and furthering the newly established professional contacts
and collaborations which will only strengthen in the time ahead. The training also
helped local resource persons, in addition to the exchange of know-how, build up
closer contacts with each other and with the trainers from UNESCO-IHE, which
will in turn facilitate continuous exchange of ideas and advice. Furthermore,
this training has already stimulated communications with UNESCO-IHE
with regard to various capacity building opportunities in Netherlands as
well as for conceptualising and conducting joint research projects.”
Multilateral strategy At the end of the training, Professor Gela Javakhishvili,
Rector of the Georgian State Agricultural University (GSAU) and Professor
Daniel Petrosyan, Pro-Rector of the Armenian State Agrarian University (ASAU)
visited the Netherlands to discuss further cooperation possibilities, to determine
the long-term multilateral strategy for scientific cooperation development and
to work out the details of an agreement among the participating institutions.
“The collaboration between the State Agrarian University of Armenia
(SAUA) and UNESCO-IHE and its outcomes are essential for Armenian
specialists. They will get the unique opportunity of capacity building and
trainings in Europe as well as explore the innovative technologies currently
applied in the field of water resources management. In the production field
48 Water Users Associations and over 250,000 consumers of our Republic
will seek to reinforce the potentials of technological management.
The cooperation agreement will open prospects to carry out further joint
research based on the most sophisticated technologies in the field of sustainable
water resources management. The agreement will also develop opportunities
for masters and post-graduate participants, engaged in the agrarian educational programme of Armenia, to gain knowledge concerning the application of innovative technologies and methodologies,” Dr Petrosyan added.
¡
László Hayde, l.hayde@unesco-ihe.org
The International Spate Irrigation Network
(SpN) and UNESCO-IHE have signed a formal
Cooperation Agreement to jointly explore opportunities in research, projects and capacity building for the sustainable development and management of flood-based irrigation systems, water
and environmental resources management.
Spate Irrigation: le
understood and d
Over the past two years, the SpN has contributed as a co-funding
and professional partner in several projects and tailor-made training courses, including Spate Irrigation Improvement in Yemen,
an Options Paper on Spate Irrigation and Adaptation to Climate
Variability and Change, Global Guidelines for Spate Irrigation
Improvement, and Spate Irrigation Training in Ethiopia.
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the event http://switchwatersummit.wo
¡
Carol Howe, c.howe@unesco-ihe.org
sion of SpN is to promote an exchange of experiences through research and training courses with regard to the sustainable development and management of spate irrigation and other flood-based
irrigation systems (flood recession farming, flood plain irrigation,
inundation canals).
This is to improve food security in water-scarce areas as well as to
fulfill various environmental functions including preserving biodiversity, stabilizing river systems, mitigating flood peaks and recharging groundwater.
Unpredictable and unreliable Traditional flood-based ir-
rigation systems, which harness unpredictable, unreliable and often
destructive floodwater in ephemeral environments, have existed for
centuries as a major source of livelihoods for mainly economically
disadvantaged communities in arid and semi-arid regions of subSaharan Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Despite being among the oldest water resource management systems, they remain the least studied and least understood and documented. Most investments have been channelled into the perennial
irrigation systems because these were perceived as having relatively
reliable water sources, a higher sustainable return, and fewer risks
and uncertainties with regard to crop and livestock production.
04-02-2010 09:43:00
agreement | Flood Mitigation
n: least studied,
d documented
Improving food security With growing water variability and
scarcity in semi-arid and arid regions a reality, a renewed interest in
flood-based irrigation systems has emerged. Such systems are increasingly seen as practical solutions to supplement food production
and improve food security in areas where water is scarce and variable.
The political will to support these systems has been growing incrementally over the past decade and, accordingly, some substantial investments have been made.
Achieving a balance The success of these renewed initiatives
and investments will largely depend on identifying and implementing optimal approaches and techniques for the sustainable design and
management of flood-based systems to achieve a balance between
providing for human requirements and ensuring the holistic needs
of the river ecosystems and downstream water uses. The SpN and
UNESCO-IHE will jointly contribute to meeting these challenges
through the development of tailored scientific research projects and
demand-driven training courses.
¡
Abraham Mehari Haile, a.meharihaile@unesco-ihe.org
W www.spate-irrigation.org
What is Spate Irrigation? Spate irrigation is an ancient form of water harvesting and managing
unpredictable and sometimes-destructive flash floods for crop and livestock production. The
system is unique to semi-arid and arid areas where it has existed for over 70 centuries. Today,
spate irrigation is still the major source of livelihood for many poor communities in South Asia,
the Middle East and North Africa, whereas the area under spate irrigation is on the increase in the
Horn of Africa and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Despite being the oldest type of irrigation,
however, it is still the least studied, understood and documented.
Cooperation with
Viet Nam on
flood mitigation
Under the watchful eye of Tineke Huizinga, Vice Minister
for Transport, Public Works and Water Management in the
Netherlands and Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Thai Lai,
a cooperation agreement was signed on 5 October 2009,
between Viet Nam and the Netherlands to cooperate on improving flow forecasting of the Red River. A satellite-based
flow forecasting system developed by UNESCO-IHE and
EARS Earth Environment Monitoring will be used to generate relevant data.
The Red River, originating in China’s Yunnan province,
is about 1,200 kilometres long. Its main tributaries, the Lo
River, the Clear River and the Black River, contribute to its
large water volume, which averages 4,300 cubic metres per
second. Backed by the steep forested highlands, the downstream part, including Vietnamese capital Ha Noi, rises only
a few metres above sea level. The area is subject to frequent
flooding; at some places the high-water mark of floods is
fourteen metres above the surrounding countryside.
Although a variety of infrastructure works have been
carried out in the Vietnamese part of the Red River basin,
floods incur massive economic losses, estimated at five billion USD over the past 20 years. The most recent flood,
which occurred last year in November, covered an area of
2600 square kilometres and claimed 120 victims.
Sufficient and timely data from the entire basin are essential to take preventive measures and to warn local inhabitants about the flood risk. The new technology proposed,
uses near real-time satellite-derived rainfall and evaporation
data fields in combination with numerical weather predictions to drive a hydrological flow simulation and forecasting
model. Recently, a similar system has successfully been put
into operation for the Yellow River in China.
Operational implementation takes place at the National
Hydro-Meteorological Service of the Ministry of Natural
Resources and Environment. The cooperation also involves
the Water Resources University in Hanoi, and includes a
substantial capacity building component.
¡
Raymond Venneker, r. venneker@unesco-ihe.org
04-02-2010 09:43:02
interview | Dutch National Water Plan
UPDATE Magazine interviewed ANNEMIEKE NIJHOF, Director-General of Water
at the Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management about
the Dutch National Water Plan, its international scope, and her role in this process.
“The plan is the result of numerous discussions, consultations, and research studies
by many parties in the water sector. The ministry steered this process and shaped
the conditions under which the plan could be made. Under the supervision of the
State Secretary of Water, Tineke Huizenga, I was responsible for making it.”
The Directorate-General for Water Affairs
(DGW), headed by Director-General
Annemieke Nijhof, is responsible for arranging for and maintaining a sustainable
water system at socially acceptable costs,
guaranteeing vital functions in rural and
urban areas, including safety, the economy,
housing, agriculture, recreation and nature.
DGW favours a combined effort from
public and private parties in dealing with
national water-related issues. Societal
acceptability in terms of costs and benefits
determine what can, must and will happen.
DGW has developed its own long-term
vision, mapping out its water policy until far
into the 21st century. Its primary aims are
to ensure the sufficient availability of good
quality water and to provide protection
from, and anticipate, possible problems
related to floods and flooding.
The Ministry of Transport, Public Works
and Water Management is one of the
thirteen ministries that make up the Dutch
government. The Ministry consists of the
policy departments and executive departments, as well as the Directorate-General
for Water Affairs.
The first National Water Plan describes
all national water management activities
in the Netherlands for the 2009-2015
planning period. It also outlines the central
government’s longer-term ambitions in
sustainable and climate-resistant flood protection and defense, and freshwater supply.
Flood protection has our focus
Why was there a need for a water plan?
Mainly because of the changing climate in recent years,
the realisation gradually dawned on us that we had to rethink
our water-related policies in the Netherlands. The new Water
Law, an outcome of this, stipulates that every six years the
main elements of the national water policy need to be formulated in a plan.
Does the plan have a predecessor?
It follows the Fourth National Policy Document on Water
Management of 1998 and a number of other documents so,
in a sense, it is a continuation of existing practice but in a better, more comprehensive way.
What is new in the plan?
Ten years ago an integrated approach in the water sector
itself was a novelty, whereby aspects of safety, quality and
quantity were combined in one policy. However, the new
plan takes this one step further by involving spatial planning
aspects. The plan provides a legal framework for the spatial
consequences of water management strategies for different
areas such as the IJsselmeer lake and the North Sea coast.
How do people outside of the Netherlands
perceive this approach?
My experience is that internationally this approach is still
relatively undiscovered. Many people I meet consider the water sector to be one of many stakeholders in spatial planning
whereas we think that in most cases it should be given a more
central role.
We have brought this insight to Copenhagen where the
United Nations Climate Change Conference was held. Our
State Secretary of Water will state that taking short-term and
long-term water management requirements into consideration during spatial development is essential for a sustainable
and climate-resistant water system.
A considerable part of the water plan is about education
and communication. Why is this important?
For many Dutch citizens good water management is a given; they tend to forget that water management is something
they should not take for granted as it needs continuous efforts
and investments. Therefore a number of actions described in
the plan focus on raising awareness among the general public.
Furthermore, we want people to feel part of the policy
and process and that is what we have achieved with the water
plan: think along with us, because plans become better when
citizens are involved in the discussion. In addition, the many
projects that will be executed in the coming years might cause
inconvenience to our citizens, therefore we would like people
to understand why.
As far as education is concerned, we developed numerous study materials for all levels of the school system about
the future and past of water management. It is also of utmost
importance to stimulate interest among secondary school students to become water professionals as we will have 16,000
vacancies in 2012 when we execute our plans. Without the
inflow of sufficient qualified water professionals the ambitions of the water plan can never be achieved.
Does the water plan look beyond the Dutch borders?
Although the name is the National Water Plan, there is an
important international component. First of all, we cooperate intensively with neighbouring states, for example where
it concerns the North Sea and the rivers Rhine and Meuse.
Secondly, we noticed that apart from technological aspects,
there is a lot of foreign interest in how, politically, legally and
financially, we have set up our water management policies in
the Netherlands. Therefore we would like to share our experiences with governments and people who live under similar
circumstances elsewhere in the world. We studied a number
of low-lying delta areas and inventoried the cooperation
potential which resulted in the preference for cooperation
with five deltas; the Jakarta, Mekong, Ganges/Brahmaputra,
Incomati and the Nile delta. We are now trying to intensify
existing collaboration and start new initiatives through a
number of long-term cooperation agreements. These partnerships will have a special focus on climate adaptation and on
contributing towards achieving the Millennium Development
Goals.
04-02-2010 09:43:02
Illustratie © Bureau Stroming
The first National Water
Plan describes all national water management activities in the
Netherlands for the
2009-2015 planning
period. It also outlines
the central government’s
longer-term ambitions in
sustainable and climateresistant flood protection and defense and
freshwater supply.
Could you give examples of the Dutch water
sector learning from practices abroad?
We have been seeking help in China to find out
how strong the dykes along the largest lake in the
Netherlands, the IJsselmeer, should be. Since 2006, we
have been cooperating with our Chinese colleagues on
the Taihu Lake, monitoring the surge flow. This lake is
very similar to the IJsselmeer, although many typhoons
occur on the Taihu Lake. As a result, we can quickly
gain crucial knowledge about surges and storms on the
IJsselmeer. Another example is Indonesia, where many
natural hazards such as cyclonic storms occur. They
have a wealth of experience with human behaviour in
these situations which has helped them to better instruct
their citizens on how to act in these situations. The
Netherlands can learn from this.
Tomorrow’s water leaders study at UNESCOIHE, what message do you have for them?
I think good leadership means being authentic, having
your own story to tell. Furthermore, leadership entails
involving the people you work with by listening and
openly communicating to them. I believe in the concept
of value creation, meaning that in decision-making processes with every step you take you ask yourself whether
it contributes to the creation, or the destruction, of value.
Within this process it is important to aim for mutual
benefits by assessing views and weighing the interests
of all parties involved. I believe that this approach will
ultimately lead to finding the most cooperation, progress
and sustainable development.
Is the Netherlands preparing for the worst?
Although we still consider the Netherlands to be
a very safe delta area, we are thinking beyond what
needs to be done to prevent the country from floods.
Of course, flood protection has our main focus but since
we can never guarantee one hundred percent safety, we
study what-if scenarios and make strategies for these
situations.
Getting back to collaboration with other
delta areas, do you see a role for UNESCOIHE and its network of partners?
I think that the alumni of UNESCO-IHE in particular
can help us to build bridges between Dutch organizations
and their counterparts elsewhere in the world. When we
investigated the delta areas in search of cooperation opportunities, we talked with many UNESCO-IHE alumni.
I noticed the openness and friendliness of our discussions and, in particular, the keenness from both sides to
cooperate.
NEW INITIATIVES | Dutch Delta Design 2012
Tempting the world with water
Dutch Delta Design 2012 is a new ambitious project to position the Netherlands as a global
platform for water. The project was launched on 1 July 2009 and aims to share knowledge and
expertise between countries, thereby providing a means for the Dutch to strengthen their leading position on global water expertise in an international arena.
Dutch Delta Design 2012 or DDD2012 is located within the Netherlands Water
Partnership organization (NWP), an independent coordinator and information source for the
Dutch water sector. The DDD2012 board consists of NWP professionals, as well as experts
from other Dutch organisations, such as the Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and
Water Management. Currently, DDD2012 includes 30 project partners, ranging from governmental organizations, including Water Boards and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, to
private organizations, such as IBM Benelux and the Technical University of Delft.
Living in a Delta
The term ‘Delta’ in Dutch Delta Design 2012 refers to the Netherlands being a delta in which
several rivers, such as the Rhine and the Maas, come together before reaching the sea. Living
in a delta requires the Dutch to factor water into their everyday lives. Dutch Delta Design 2012
aims to show other countries in the world how this is done by providing best practices on creating a stable and safe water environment for its inhabitants.
W www.ddd2012.nl
04-02-2010 09:43:02
alumni | Regional Refresher Seminar
A Refresher Seminar entitled ‘The Ecology of Livelihoods in African Wetlands’
was held in Kenya at the end of August for UNESCO-IHE alumni in SubSaharan Africa. Thirty-three participants from 12 countries took part. The seminar was organised in close collaboration with the Department of Biological
Science of Egerton University and the Eastern Africa Water Association.
UNESCO-IHE organises
annual refresher seminars
in Europe, Africa, Asia,
Latin America and the
Middle East, primarily for
UNESCO-IHE alumni. The
seminars cover themes that
are of direct relevance and
importance to the region
and the participants. The
goal of these seminars is
to facilitate an exchange
of experiences between
alumni from different
countries facing similar
issues and problems in their
professional capacities,
strengthen relationships,
and to adapt and improve
the approaches and contents
of UNESCO-IHE courses on
the basis of the experiences
and practices of professionals working in developing
countries. Opportunities will
also be explored to establish
and strengthen local and
regional knowledge centres
that are part of regional and
global networks for capacity
building in water, environment and infrastructure.
The Ecology of
Livelihoods in
African Wetlands
PhD Research on The ‘Ecology of Livelihoods’ concept is based on the notion that ecology and livelihoods are
strongly linked. ‘Ecology’ in this case represents natural ecosystems (e.g. wetlands) with their biodiversity, water, nutrient and energy cycles. ‘Livelihoods’ represents the development of human societies.
Need for sustainability In Africa and elsewhere,
people’s livelihoods are often directly dependent on wetlands, notably through the provision of food, water and
biomass. Because of the human usage of wetlands for livelihoods, wetlands are under pressure and in many cases show
signs of degradation or decline. The relationship between
ecology and livelihoods is affected by a multitude of natural factors, such as climate change, for example, but also
by socio-economic and institutional influences. The large
number of activities in the wetlands (agriculture, fishing,
papyrus harvesting, livestock grazing) underscores the need
for sustainable management solutions for these wetlands.
Presentations
Professor Jude Mathooko, DeputyVice Chancellor for Research and Extension at Egerton
University, officially opened the seminar. He welcomed
the participants to Kenya and expressed his support for research projects and capacity building for the wetlands. This
was followed by a number of presentations about innovative research methods for wetlands: Bayesian Networks
by Dr. Julius Kipkemboi, SWAT modelling by Dr. Ann
van Griensven, and Environmental Water Allocation by
Professor Jay O’Keeffe.
A session on policy making for wetlands was chaired by Mr.
Paul Mafabi, Commissioner of the Wetlands Management
Department of the Ugandan Ministry of Water and
Environment. Other organisations present included the
Kenya Wildlife Service represented by Dr James Njogu, the
National Environmental Management Authority represented by Ms Miriam Wainaina, and WaterNet represented by
Dr. Innocent Nhapi.
Field visit
After introductions by UNESCO-IHE
alumna Dr. Margaret Abira of the Kenyan Water Resources
Management Authority and others, participants got their
feet wet in the papyrus wetlands during a field visit to the
Nyando Wetland in Kisumu, at the edge of Lake Victoria.
The trip was hosted by VIRED International, a Kisumubased non-governmental organisation. VIRED International
has been active in wetland conservation and sustainable
management projects in the Nyando wetlands for almost
ten years. Dr. J.B. Okeyo-Owuor, VIRED Director and native to the Nyando wetland, showed the participants around
his home area.
Follow-up actions As a follow-up activity to this
seminar, participants agreed to develop papers on case studies presented at the seminar. Input from the participants
will be used in the forthcoming publication entitled Ecology
of Livelihoods in African Wetlands. It is expected that this
publication will provide a focus for continued interaction
and collaboration with this group of wetland professionals
in the coming year.
¡
Anne van Dam, a.vandam@unesco-ihe.org
04-02-2010 09:43:03
interview | Iris Frida Josch de Kosak
“Through the Institute
I found a way to keep
myself updated on global
water issues”
UPDATE Magazine is
interested in hearing
more from the institute’s
alumni, especially about
the projects they are currently working on and
the organisations they
are attached to. Please
send your updates to the
editor, Alida Pham,
a.pham@unesco-ihe.
org.
UPDATE Magazine interviewed Iris Frida
Josch de Kosak, UNESCO-IHE Alumna.
Currently she is the National Manager of
Hydraulic Projects and Public Works for
the Under Secretary of Water Resources,
Secretary of Public Works in the Ministry
of Federal Planning Public Investments
and Services in Argentina. She holds a
Masters of Engineering degree in Rivers
and Navigation Works from UNESCO-IHE
1967 – 1968.
Which current projects are you
currently working on?
All the projects I work on are related to hydraulic works: you may find urban and rural
pluvial nets, flood control systems, hydropower
dams, irrigation dams, irrigation nets, drinking
water dams, margin sea and river protection,
among many others. I lead a group of 60 persons: 22 engineers, 5 lawyers, and technical
and administrative staff. Our actions are divided
into 4 stages: first, we supervise and approve
hydraulic projects (hydraulically, environmentally and economically). These hydraulic
projects are submitted by the provinces and/
or municipalities. Secondly, we programme the
feasibility of the construction of the reported
projects according to the general scheme of the
Ministry. Thirdly, we prepare the agreement
between the province or municipality and the
national government and, finally, we supervise
and pay the construction of the public work.
The theme of the course ‘The
Ecology of Livelihoods’ (or
ECOLIVE) is also the name
of a new interdisciplinary
research programme, funded
by the Directorate-General
for International Cooperation
(DGIS/UNESCO-IHE
Partnership Research Fund
(UPaRF). The programme is
the result of a joint collaboration between UNESCO-IHE,
the University of Amsterdam,
Egerton University and VIRED
International. ECOLIVE consists of three PhDs and one
post-doctoral researcher who
will investigate the hydrological, ecological and social aspects of papyrus wetlands used
for livelihoods support.
W www.unesco-ihe.org/theecology-of-livelihoods-ecolive
How do you feel Argentina should
address environmental issues,
concerning poor water and air quality,
deforestation and soil degradation?
The Argentine Republic has important legislation at the national level that addresses environmental issues. It even appointed a Secretariat
of Natural Resources in charge of water quality,
air quality, deforestation and soil degradation.
As we are a federal country the provinces
dictate their own regulations. In all cases, when
a municipality or a province asks the National
Government to finance an hydraulic public
work, the main pre-requisite of the project is to
have the provincial technical and environmental
approval.
In addition, it is vital to raise people’s awareness about the importance of preserving water
resources to address pressing threats to the
preservation of Argentina’s natural resources,
particularly its water resources.
Are you in touch with other IHE alumni,
professionally or privately? Did you make
friends at UNESCO-IHE who are still
friends or professional contacts today?
I am one of the founding members of the
Asociacion Argentina de Ex Alumnos de
Holanda (ACANEB), the Dutch alumni association in Argentina. This enables me to remain in
close contact with many professionals through
the different activities organised by ACANEB.
How did your time at UNESCO-IHE
contribute to your professional life?
The technical preparation I received at
UNESCO-IHE has been of great importance in
the development of my professional life because
in Delft I learned the modern ways of planning
and designing water resources projects, paying
attention to some new (for me) variables such as
sediment transport problems and environmental issues. Through the Institute I found a way to
keep myself updated on global water issues.
Of which achievement in your professional
career are you most proud?
I am very proud of two important concourses in the development of my professional career. In La Plata National University,
Engineering Faculty, where I was awarded the
place of Titular Professor of Fluvial Hydraulics
and when I was appointed National Manager
of Hydraulic Projects and Public Works in the
Under Secretary of Water Resources (Secretary
of Public Works, Ministry of Federal Planning
Public Investments and Services).
What role do you see yourself, or others in your
position, playing in promoting UNESCO-IHE?
As you have seen, my experience as a result
of my course at UNESCO-IHE was of great importance, because at the Institute I was exposed
to most of the topics I had to develop during my
professional career. Not only from a technical
point of view, but also from an organisational
perspective with regard to working groups active in the field of managing water resources.
In this respect, I am comitted to promoting
UNESCO-IHE as an Institute for research, education and capacity building. The only constraint
nowadays is that Argentina does not provide
many fellowship opportunities for students
interested in studying water management at
UNESCO-IHE.
04-02-2010 09:43:04
grants programme | Information Meeting on Water Education
“strengthening capacities is a tangible way
to address critical water issues”
The UNESCO Tertiary Water
Education Grants Programme
(UNESCO-TWEGP) is an activity to strengthen the capacities
of human resources working
on water issues in UNESCO
Member States. The UNESCOTWEGP accepts extrabudgetary
grants to support students in
MSc, PhD, Short and Online
courses on water issues at
the UNESCO-IHE Institute
for Water Education. These
capacity building efforts are
in support of the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs)
and within the framework of
the United Nations Decade
of Education for Sustainable
Development (DESD) and
the International Decade for
Action: Water for Life.
UNESCO-IHE presented its contributions to water education
to UNESCO Member States Delegates. The briefing was held
at the end of June during an Information Meeting on Water
Education at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France.
Marcio Barbosa, Deputy Director-General of UNESCO, addressed
the delegates by expressing his concerns for water issues around
the globe, stating the need for water education and highlighted
UNESCO’s cross-sectoral efforts over decades. Barbosa gave a comprehensive overview of the four pillars of UNESCO’s freshwater actions collaborating to deliver water education challenges: WWAP,
UNESCO-IHP, UNESCO-IHE and UNESCO water-related centres
and chairs. He stressed the importance of UNESCO-IHE as the largest postgraduate water education facility in the world and the only
institution in the UN system authorised to confer accredited degrees.
He asked permanent delegates to fully support UNESCO-IHE.
Cross-sectoral efforts András Szöllösi-Nagy, the then Director of
the Division of Water and Secretary of the International Hydrological
Programme of UNESCO, went into further detail explaining the various cross-sectoral efforts UNESCO is making in the fields of water
education and noted the critical need for adequately trained professionals in the water sector. In this context, he urged Member States
to further strengthen their commitment to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs).
SMAP Background
The Short and Medium-Term Priority
Environmental Action Programme
(SMAP) constitutes the environmental
component of the Euro Mediterranean
Partnership. It builds on the Barcelona
Declaration, which recognised the
importance of reconciling economic development with environmental protection, of
integrating environmental concerns into
the relevant aspects of economic policy,
and of mitigating any potential negative
environmental consequences.
SMAP sets five priorities for
national and donor interventions:
Integrated Water Management,
Integrated Waste Management,
Hot Spots (including polluted areas and threatened biodiversity zones),
Integrated Coastal Zone Management
and Combating Desertification.
Decade of Education for Sustainable Development Aline BoryAdams, Chief of the Coordination Team for the United Nations
Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD), further
highlighted how UNESCO is contributing to strengthen human
capacities to address water issues, noting the crucial role of education for the sustainable management of water resources. In particular, she showed how IHP, UNESCO-IHE, UNESCO-UNEVOC,
UNITWIN and UNESCO Chairs and the Associated Schools Network
of UNESCO (ASPnet), among others, are collaborating on water
education in the context of the DESD.
Strengthening capacities
During the meeting, UNESCO announced the UNESCO Tertiary Water Education Grants Programme,
a scheme whereby UNESCO Member States can support students in
MSc, PhD, Short- and Online Courses on water issues at UNESCOIHE. “Strengthening the capacities of human resources working
on water issues is a tangible way to address critical water issues in
the developing world,” Richard Meganck, the then UNESCO-IHE’s
Rector told the audience.
Student presentation Carmen Almeyda (29) from Peru, Jonas
Heita (27) from Namibia and Mohanasundar Radhakrishnan (28)
from India represented their fellow students at the Information
Meeting in Paris by giving a joint presentation on the water challenges in their respective countries and how studying at UNESCOIHE allows them to tackle these challenges.
project outcomes | ALAMIM Project
The Alexandria Lake
Maryut Integrated
Management project
The SMAP III EU-funded ‘Alexandria Lake Maryut
Integrated Management (ALAMIM) project’ was
recently concluded. UNESCO-IHE provided support
in the development of mathematical models of the
hydrodynamic and ecosystem dynamics in the lake.
04-02-2010 09:43:04
highlight | FLOOD MANAGEMENT
Addressing St. Maarten’s transboundary flood risks
UNESCO-IHE was recently commissioned to undertake a flood-modelling study of a transboundary catchment area on St. Maarten. In recent decades, this small
island in the Caribbean has incurred extensive tangible
damages, unprecedented losses and social disruption
due to tropical storms and hurricanes. St. Maarten covers an area of land that is 87 km²; 53 km² of which is
under the sovereignty of France, and 34 km² under
the sovereignty of the Netherlands. The Belle Plain/
Belvedere stormwater catchment area contains transboundary waterways, which have been managed separately by the two administrations.
Connecting two governments
The project
aims to connect the two governments in the process of
identifying the most suitable structural flood protection measures and to help them develop joint policies
and urbanization guidelines for this catchment area. So
far, the stormwater management practices have paid
little regard to the infrastructure and development policies of the neighbouring areas. During the past four years, UNESCO-IHE has been actively involved in various flood-modelling activities on the Dutch side of
the island. In May 2009, UNESCO-IHE was commissioned to undertake
a flood-modeling study of the Belle Plain/Belvedere area.
Measures for improvement
For this particular project a number of structural as well as nonstructural improvement measures will be evaluated
and compared. Some examples of such measures include: the amplification of the existing drainage network, the construction of detention ponds (in areas
such as parks, sport fields and other open space areas), the provision of designated overland flow paths,
the development of disaster management actions
and post-event recovery plans, and the development
of an automated real-time controlled flood warning
system. The project will also include the development of joint policies based on the delineation of
flood hazard areas, and raising public awareness and
capacity building in the area of flood management
and control. Final recommendations will be based
on the following activities: the sourcing of data and
local knowledge, field measurements, model building, model verification, and identifying sustainable
flood management strategies. In addition, tools will also be developed to
improve communications with stakeholders and involve them in the decision-making process. The project was scheduled to take approximately
twelve months and is expected to end in early 2010.
¡
Zoran Vojinovic z.vojinovic@unesco-ihe.org
In Alexandria, the ALAMIM work that began in 2006
was centred on Lake Maryut, a shallow closed lake,
not directly connected to the sea and located on the
Mediterranean coast of Egypt. The quality of the lake
is deteriorating due to anthropogenic pressures, such
as the discharge of domestic sewage and industrial and
agricultural wastewater. These pressures influence the
ecological state of the lake and result in the deterioration of environmental conditions.
e
t
Promoting Integr ated Management
The project aimed to promote a sounder and more
sustainable development pattern of the Coastal Zone
of Alexandria by promoting the integrated management of the Lake Maryut Zone and the adoption of a
participatory integrated development action plan for
this zone, encompassing environment protection, economic development and the needs and interests of all
stakeholders.
The action targets the Alexandria Governorate,
the Regional Bureau of the Egyptian Environmental
Affairs Agency (EEAA), local and national authorities,
local industries, local communities and NGOs, private
sector, investors, and visitors.
Integr ated Action Plan The main activities
included the actual drafting of the action plan, thereby
involving all stakeholders; the design and institutionalization of Lake Maryut Management and Monitoring
units at the Alexandria Governorate and at the regional bureau of EEAA; developing methodological,
technical and financial capacities and instruments for
implementation of the plan; and capacity building activities and public awareness programmes for local and
provincial authorities and stakeholders.
Predicting potential outcomes The models, developed by UNESCO-IHE, were calibrated to
existing conditions and were used to predict potential outcomes of different management scenarios that
eventually supported the development of the action
plan. The management scenarios were specified by
stakeholders and covered a wide range of future strategies for the lake.
During a final meeting in Alexandria at the offices
of the Governate, results of the project were officially
announced to the Governor. The models were handed
over to the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency
(Ministry of Environment) and the National Authority
for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences (NARSS),
where they will be installed for central use in the newly established management and monitoring unit.
Project Team The ALAMIM project included partners from the Centre for Environment and
Development for the Arab Region and Europe,
the Alexandria Governorate (CEDARE), the
Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (Ministry
of Environment) EEAA, the National Authority
for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences (NARSS),
Ville of Marseille, the Department of Housing and
Environment - Regional Government of Catalonia, the
Coastal Union (EUCC) and UNESCO-IHE.
W http://smap.ew.eea.europa.eu/fol120392/prj885304/
¡
Lindsay Beevers l.beevers@unesco-ihe.org
04-02-2010 09:43:05
graduation | Double Degree Master Programme
The first ten graduates produced a range of MSc theses
on various aspects of lowland
development and management:
First ten graduates in
Integrated Lowland
Development and
Management Planning
The first group of Indonesian students who graduated
from the Double Degree Master Programme on Integrated
Lowland Development and Management Planning (DDILDM) received their degree from Professor András
Szöllösi-Nagy, UNESCO-IHE’s new Rector, during the
awarding ceremony held at UNESCO-IHE on 15 October.
The ceremony was also attended by Professor Badia
Perizade, Rector of Sriwijaya University in Palembang,
Indonesia, Professor Dr. Kamaluddin, Director of the Post
Graduate Programme, Ir. Eddy Santana Putra, Mayor of
Palembang and UNESCO-IHE alumnus, and Margreeth de
Boer, Chair of the UNESCO-IHE Foundation Board.
The MSc programme is jointly organised by the
UNESCO-IHE Land and Water Development Core and
the Post Graduate School on Environment Management,
Integrated Lowland Development and Management
Planning of Sriwijaya University.
The programme is especially suited for government staff
at the Ministry, Provincial, District and Municipal level
who are involved in lowland development and management planning - both rural and urban - in Indonesia. The
programme will be conducted for several years to come
and is supported by the Indonesian National Development
Planning Agency BAPPENAS and the NUFFIC NESO
Indonesia.
Lowland areas
In Indonesia large lowland areas exist
along the coasts, in river floodplains and as inland depressions. Most of these lowlands are still in their natural state;
parts have been reclaimed, primarily for agricultural land
use. Urbanisation and industrialisation take place, especially
in the lowlands in densely populated areas.
Because of its population growth, the increase in the
standard of living, the need for food self-sufficiency, and
the ongoing urbanisation for which agricultural lands often
are taken out of exploitation, the Indonesian government
is putting a lot of effort into the future development of the
lowlands based on an integrated approach.
However, there is a substantial shortage of skilled staff
to manage the development of the required policies and
approaches, the resulting plans and planning and the actual
design, implementation, operation, maintenance and management of the required programmes and projects.
¡
Ms. Resza Dwi Artha
Water Management for Acid
Sulphate Soils in Lowland Areas. Case
Study in Patra Tani Muara Enim
Mr. Akbar Saefudin
Land and Water Evaluation of Lowland
Areas. Case Study: Lowlands in North
Eastern Muara Enim Region, Indonesia
Ms. Dewi Sartika*
Water Management Service Fee for
Optimal Operation and Maintenance
of Canal Systems in Tidal Lowlands.
Case Study Telang I, South Sumatra
Mr. Ahmad Fadilan
Regeneration Options for Peat Forest.
Case Study Marang Kepayang,
South Sumatera, Indonesia
Mr. Rahmadi*
The Effect of Climate Change and Land
Subsidence on Water Management
Zoning in Tidal Lowlands. Case
Study Telang I, South Sumatra
Ms. Wiwin Estiningrum
Impact of City Development
on Urban Drainage and Flood
Protection in Metro City
Mr. Taufik Syahzaeni
Urban Drainage and Flood
Protection in Tangerang City
Ms. R.A. Marlina Sylvia
Options for Water Management
and Flood Protection of Agropolitan
Gandus for Agricultural Development
Ms. Eka Gustini
Palembang Urban Drainage and
Flood Protection Development.
Case Study Jakabaring
Ms. Flora Prima Syntha
Optimizing Operation and
Maintenance for Urban Drainage
System. Case Study: Sub
Catchment Bendung Palembang
City, South Sumatera
*Ms. Dewi Sartika and Mr.
Rahmadi obtained their MSc
Degree with distinction.
Bart Schultz, b.schultz@unesco-ihe.org
PILOT PROJECT | EXACT-DUPC
chromium removal pilot in israel put into operation
A chromium removal plant in Holon, Tel Aviv in Israel, was officially put
into operation on 17 September by the Head of the Water Authority of
Israel, Professor Uri Shani and the Netherlands Ambassador in Israel
Michiel den Hond.
The design and construction of the pilot plant for the removal of chromium from contaminated groundwater is the result of joint cooperation
between UNESCO-IHE, the Water Authority of Israel, the Mekorot Water
Company and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, under the framework
of EXACT, the steering committee of the Multilateral Working Group on
Water Resources (MWGWR). The Multiculture Working Group on Water
Resources (MWGWR) aims to enhance cooperation on water-related issues
between the Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian core parties. The Netherlands
is a donor of the MWGWR and in 2002 UNESCO-IHE was asked to execute the 2.2 million euro project.
The design of the pilot plant is a spin-off of the UNESCO-IHE strategic research line on the removal of metals and is based on MSc and Post
Doctoral research studies conducted at both UNESCO-IHE and the Hebrew
University in Israel.
Recently, an MSc student from the Hebrew University was appointed to
continue the chromium research with the new pilot plant. The pilot will allow the field-testing of two chromium removal technologies, namely the reduction, coagulation (precipitation), filtration and reduction and adsorptive
chromium removal with Iron Oxide Coated Sands (IOCS).
Until 1985, the Holon-8 well produced approximately 1.5 Million m3
of drinking water annually. Thereafter, the well was taken out of production due to high levels of chromium. It is expected that the new pilot will
be instrumental in establishing an effective and affordable approach for the
treatment of chromium-contaminated water from the Holon-8 well.
After the pilot plant in Baq’a (Jordan) for the removal of iron from groundwater and the upgrade of the slow sand filters in Aqbat Jabr (near Jericho),
this is the third and final pilot plant to be completed within the EXACTDUPC project.
¡
Branislav Petrusevski, b.petrusevski@unesco-ihe.org
04-02-2010 09:43:06
events | UNESCO-IHE activities
The 2009 World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden from
16 to 22 August, themed ‘Accessing Water for the Common
Good’ had a special focus on Transboundary Waters. The 2009
WWW will be the first under a new three-year niche entitled
“Water: Responding to Global Change”. True to tradition,
UNESCO-IHE was also present through a variety of activities.
Stockholm World Water Week 2009
Water Footprint Network As one of the founding organisations
and as a member of the supervisory council UNESCO-IHE, represented
by Joop de Schutter, took active part in the Water Footprint Network
session ‘Water footprint: A new entry point for water policy and corporate water strategy?’. The session was organised by the Water Footprint
Network (WFN), World Business Council for Sustainable Development
(WBCSD), World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Swedish
Water House (SWH).
IWRM for Climate Change Adaptation UNESCO-IHE was
one of the convenors of the session ‘IWRM as a practical approach
to climate change adaptation’. During this session Erik de Ruyter
van Steveninck presented the training package ‘IWRM as a Tool for
Adaptation to Climate Change’.
Other activities during this session included case studies presented
by GWP, a presentation and interactive discussion on risk assessment
and a panel discussion on the usefulness of IWRM as a framework for
adaptation to climate change and the need for capacity building in this
area. A number of contacts were made to explore future cooperation
(IUCN, Wetlands International and WWF/Danube-Carpathian programme).
Cooperation as Conflict? UNESCO-IHE also actively con-
tributed to a workshop entitled ‘Cooperation as Conflict? Towards
Effective Transboundary Water Interaction’, convened by the King’s
College London Water Research Group (LWRG) and the Universities
Partnership on Transboundary Waters (UPTW), of which UNESCOIHE is an active member.
Pieter van der Zaag presented a paper together with Lynette de Silva
of Oregon State University on ‘Educational Strategies: An Integrative
Approach to Water Relations’. The focus of the presentation was on
the important role that knowledge institutes have in improving trans-
boundary water management, for example through capacity building efforts. The session emphasised the importance of analysing, understanding and dealing with tensions that may arise between countries that
cooperate on water, underscoring the relevance of training and education in transboundary issues.
Two PhD students at UNESCO-IHEs MAI Department were able
to contribute by presenting their work at the Water Week Conference.
David Love presented his paper entitled ‘Storing and Sharing Water
in Sand Rivers: A Water Balance Modelling Approach’. And Mr Shilp
Verma gave a keynote address ‘Securing India’s Water Future 2050: Can
Domestic Virtual Water Trade Play a Role?’
Advanced river flow management vital to facing climate
challenge Improved river flow management will be vital to pro-
tecting communities from the worst impacts of climate change and to
achieving international goals on poverty reduction, according to a new
report issued in Stockholm.
The report, developed in collaboration between major global institutions draws on the latest research and practices on environmental
flows and their significance. Partners include the Water Week organiser
the Stockholm International Water Institute, Swedish Water House,
UNESCO-IHE, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature
(IUCN), UNEP- DHI, Deltares and NGOs such as WWF, Conservation
International and The Nature Conservancy.
Securing Water for Ecosystems and Human Well-being
The Importance of Environmental Flows also finds that river flow management should be funded through appropriate valuation of the ecosystem services provided by healthy rivers to meet diverse environmental
and human needs. These include maintenance of groundwater levels,
flood and drought mitigation, and contributions to human livelihoods,
nutrition and health.
04-02-2010 09:43:06
background | Identifying absolute salinity
Rather than taste sea water to determine its salinity, oceanographers electrocute their samples
and measure how easy it is for the electricity to flow through the water. This measurement of conductivity accounts for the electrolytes from dissolved salts but misses other dissolved material in
seawater. Now, a more accurate way of identifying ‘Absolute Salinity’ has been devised and incorporated into a ‘Thermodynamic Equation of Seawater’. The new equation is set to become
the next oceanographic standard as of 2010, after becoming an industrial standard in 2008.
Any company interested in providing drinking water for desert
cities near the coast, for example, will use the new method of calculation in building sea water desalination plants. The thermodynamic equation will also make climate models even more accurate
than at present. Experts attending the 25th assembly of UNESCO’s
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) last June,
recommended that the entire oceanographic community adopt the
thermodynamic equation and the use of Absolute Salinity.
Inconsistencies
“I was not familiar with sea water 20 years
ago,” says Rainer Feistel of the Leibniz-Institut für Ostseeforschung
in Warnemünde (Germany). But the mathematician and physicist
had a good handle on energy conservation, thermodynamics and
the maths behind complex systems. In the late 1980s, after nearly a
decade in Berlin, Feistel moved back home to the Baltic Sea region
and started applying his skills to oceanography. The equations he
found himself navigating worked fine for the open ocean but developed inconsistencies in regions that were strongly influenced by river drainage, evaporation, precipitation or extremes in temperature.
“As you go to points where there are sensitivities, it’s a real
mess,” Feistel says. The Baltic Sea was one such region. “I was surprised,” he says. “There was a missing mathematical component,
a ‘Gibbs function’ which physicists had determined for all sorts of
various fluids, except apparently sea water.” Named after American
mathematician Josiah Willard Gibbs (1839–1903), the ‘Gibb’s
function’ defines a fluid in terms of its energy and heat transfer, or
thermodynamics.
Being able to measure salinity
is important, as salinity levels are
indicators of climate change.
What’s in a salt?
“In chemistry, any positive and negative
ion bound together is called a salt,” explains molecular geneticist
and chemosensation (taste and smell) expert Hiroaki Matsunami
of Duke University in the USA. In the ocean, salts dissolve into
free-floating negative and positive ions, also known as electrolytes.
These charged particles are what make it possible for electricity to
flow through water. The same ions that make up the salt used in
foods – sodium (Na+) and chloride (Cl –) – account for more than
86% by weight of the 11 major ions in the sea and are what gives
the ocean its salty taste. Dried, these ions form table salt and get
sprinkled over food. After chloride and sodium, the ocean’s next
most common ions are sulfate (SO42–) and magnesium (Mg2+).
For a century, oceanographers calculated salinity based primarily on
measurements of the most common salt ion: chlorine.
The shortfalls of the conductivity method
The conductivity method, or ‘Practical Salinity Scale,’ has been used
by marine scientists since 1978. UNESCO incorporated the scale
into the 1980 equations for calculating the density of seawater.
The conductivity method established in 1978 improved accuracy,
as it tracked all the ions in the sea and not just chloride. But calculating salinity from conductivity, as opposed to oldfashioned chemical
analysis, required sacrificing the definition of salinity. This is because conductivity measures only free-floating ions or electrolytes,
the same dissolved salts that are found in power drinks. In fact, any
nonconductive material, such as dissolved silicon dioxide and carbon dioxide, ‘is simply ignored’ when it comes to practical salinity,
Feistel says. The Baltic Sea is a prime example of seawater with an
unusual composition, far different from the North Atlantic standard.
It has electrolytes that conduct electricity but they are not the typical sodium chloride.
The vast rivers of Poland and Russia drain into the Baltic Sea,
bringing with them dissolved calcium carbonate (CaCO3) from the
limestone river beds. When CaCO3 dissolves, it dissociates into the
conductive ions Ca2+ and CO32–. These ions prefer to be bound
together but, if they can’t be, they will often bind to other molecules floating in sea water, changing the mass of the molecules and
wreaking havoc with conductivity measurements.
The switch to Absolute Salinity
Feistel’s re-evaluation
of the 1980s equations provided sea water with a ‘Gibbs function’.
The previous mathematical equations for determining the properties of sea water had not accounted for water’s ability to transfer
heat from warmer to cooler currents. Nor did the old equations set
a standard for comparing how difficult such a transfer of energy
might be, based on the water’s inherent pressure and volume.
The thermodynamic equation of seawater chews up all of the old
equations and spits out a neat new bundle of computer algorithms
that modellers crave. In 2010 for the first time, the algorithm for
measuring salinity will incorporate more than dissolved salt into the
conductivity conversion. Millero, who worked on the 1980 equation of sea water, and Feistel are helping to bring about the change.
They have been working with modeller Trevor McDougall of
the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research in Hobart
as part of an international team established in 2005 by the Scientific
Committee on Oceanic Research and the International Association
for the Physical Sciences of the Ocean. They are incorporating the
location of the conductivity measurements with chemical analysis
from those regions into the new Absolute Salinity calculation. The
team has also redefined how the properties of seawater are calculated using this new Absolute Salinity method and combining it with
the principles behind thermodynamics to form a single new thermodynamic equation for seawater.
Salinity levels are indicators of climate change
The fundamental properties of sea water – salinity, temperature and
pressure, along with the freezing and boiling points, heat capacity,
speed of sound and density – are intricately tied together. Being able
to measure salinity is important, as salinity levels are indicators of
04-02-2010 09:43:07
A pinch of salt
climate change. They indicate how much freshwater is evaporating
from the oceans. Parts of the Atlantic Ocean appear to be getting
saltier, for instance. One possible explanation could be that trapped
heat from higher atmospheric concentrations of CO2 is causing
more sea water to evaporate than before, leaving the salt behind.
Secondly, salinity levels affect water density. Density especially
determines whether a current rises towards the surface or sinks
towards the seafloor, as the denser the sea water, the deeper it will
sink. Density depends on temperature, pressure and the amount of
dissolved material in the water. Knowing the density of sea water is
crucial to monitoring the Earth’s climate.
Ocean conveyor belt
The ocean transports heat via currents collectively called the ocean conveyor belt in a process known
as thermohaline circulation. In the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans, cool
and salty waters sink to form deep water currents. Over thousands
of years, these currents travel around the world until they reach
areas of upwelling, which bring them to the surface. Once at the
surface, the sun-warmed, rain-freshened currents head back to the
poles where the formation of ice allows the cycle to continue. A
massive input of freshwater, such as from melting polar ice caps, can
prevent the surface water from sinking and slow down or even stop
the ocean conveyor belt, potentially causing great changes to the
Earth’s climate. “Every climate model worth its salt depends on our
ability to know if hot water goes up and cold water down, as well as
how far and how fast,” observes Keith Alverson, head of the Ocean
Observations and Services section of the .
Mixing centuries
Several factors influence ocean circulation patterns: wind, rain, seafloor topography, the conditions of
the surrounding water, as well as the moon and the rotation of the
Earth. Ocean circulation models include all of these factors and the
computer algorithms that generate the models take weeks to run.
Climate change models, which incorporate the ocean’s ability to
transport heat, take even longer.
“To see what model works best, what fits with the Earth’s climate record from the past then run the model forward a century or
two can take the best part of a year,” McDougall says. To incorporate nonelectrolytes into the equation for salinity then merge
the various other equations for different sea water properties into
one, McDougall’s team has relied on the theories of Josiah Gibbs.
They are mixing 19th century theory with 21st century computer
algorithms. Based on what they have run so far, McDougall estimates the new equation will show a 3% change in how the ocean
circulates heat from the equator to the poles. The other change he
is noticing is a 0.5°C difference in the surface temperature of the
equatorial Pacific Ocean in both the east and west.
Accur ate as possible Off the coast of Peru, trade winds
drive warm surface water away from the shore and cold, nutrientrich, deep water upwells to fill its place. The warm water pools
further to the west, warming the air above it and increasing precipitation over Indonesia. During El Niño years, the reduction in the
strength of the trade winds allows the warm, nutrient-consumed
water to stay closer to the Peruvian shore. The winds push the rain
only as far as the central Pacific and Indonesia experiences droughts.
The new thermodynamic equation for sea water allows models
to account better for changes in density and for heat transfer as a result of rain falling on the Earth’s surface. “The main reason to do this
work is to make these models as accurate as possible,” McDougall
concludes.
Adapted from: Reed, Christina (2009) A pinch of salt. A World of Science, vol
7, no 3, July. Accessible at: www.unesco.org/en/a-world-of-scienceWater
04-02-2010 09:43:08
staff changes
RETIREMENT | RICHARD MEGANCK
Au-revoir to former
Rector Richard Meganck
Recently appointed personnel
Giuliano di Baldassarre, Researcher/lecturer in Hydroinformatics HIKM
Selda Akbal, Secretary of Dept MAI
Iris Peereboom, Secretary of Director, OR
Pieter de Laat, Associate Professor of Land and Water Development WE
Durga Lal Shrestha, Post-Doc HIKM
Carlos Lopez Vazquez, Lecturer in Sanitary/Wastewater Engineering HIKM
Berta Fernandez Alvarez, Quality Manager, OD
Miroslav Marence, Associate Professor, WE
Richard Ashley, Professor of Flood Resilience, WE
Changed positions
Jan Willem Foppen, Associate Professor of Hydrology (formerly senior lecturer in
Hydrology)
Jan Herman Koster, Head of Department, Urban Water and Sanitation, UWS
Michael McClain, Head of Department, Water Engineering, WE
Departed staff
Pieter de Laat, Acting Head of Department WE
Jan Peter Buiteman, Senior Lecturer in Sanitary Engineering WE
Gary Amy, Professor of Urban Water Supply and Sanitation UWS,
Elise Steenbergen, Secretary of the Director, OD,
Vincent Becker, Producer Videoconferencing & Videos, CS ICT
Professor Richard Meganck, Rector of UNESCO-IHE, celebrated his official retirement early July with staff and students, after having served
a six-year period as the first Rector at the UNESCO-IHE Institute for
Water Education in Delft, the Netherlands after its transition from IHE
to UNESCO. “Retiring is different than being assigned to a new post in
a new country. There is a degree of permanence in verbalising those
words,” he said. From 1 January onwards Professor Meganck assumes
a one-day per week chair at his Alma Mater Oregon State University in
the water resources management group. “I already have two graduate
students and will teach a PhD-level seminar on international water policy
and institutions. And I know for a fact that my wife Janet will have me
quite occupied in our gardens and orchard and with our grandchild.”
IN MEMORIAM
dr. o.braadbaart (1960 - 2009)
On 5 June Dr. Okke Braadbaart passed
away
Okke Diederik Braadbaart
at the age of 49. Dr. Braadbaart worked
at UNESCO-IHE from September 1995
to February 2003. In his final years at the
Institute he was senior lecturer in Water
Services Management. Those of us who
worked with him remember him as a very
intelligent, industrious, friendly and witty colleague. In 2003, Dr. Braadbaart left to work for our sister institute IHS. Later, he worked for the WUR University. Since 2003,
however, he remained involved as guest lecturer and as a counterpart in the SWITCH Programme. Last year, Dr. Braadbaart
was diagnosed with a braintumor that proved incurable.
In his 8-year career at UNESCO-IHE, Okke worked in the
Sector and Utility Management Group, the predecessor of
the present Water Services Management Group. At that time
Okke’s background was quite unconventional with Master degrees in Economic Anthropology and in Sociology and a PhD in
Social Sciences, all from the University of Nijmegen. His PhD research was on the Indonesian engineering and textile industries.
His scientific work was mostly on the industrial performance of
utilities. He recently published on topics such as ‘benchmarking
of the Dutch water supply utilities’, ‘managerial autonomy within water utilities’ and ‘the Jakarta water concession contracts’.
Just before he fell ill, VITENS agreed to sponsor a Professorship
for him at Wageningen University.
Rijswijk, 16 maart 1960
Hoogland, 5 juni 2009
Jolien Zevalkink
Jonas, Lieke
Dr. Meganck continues: “Looking back at the years I spent at the Institute, I
have tried to dance in wooden shoes, ate more types of cheese than I knew
existed, listened to accordion music at a funeral and tested more than 30 different brands of beer. I have sat in the back of classrooms where, I admit that
I was lost in the technical nature of the subject. I have chaired 56 Academic
Board meetings and 116 Management Team meetings. Six Governing
Board meetings and about 14 Foundation Board meetings were held. I have
met participants from more than 120 nations and embarrassed my wife on
numerous occasions by wearing my cowboy outfit to many UNESCO-IHE
functions.
I have served beer and have had students admit that they were afraid to approach the bar for the first time to take a beer from their Rector. I have given
seven closing ceremony addresses and conferred more than 1000 Masters
degrees, and jointly conferred 49 PhD diplomas. It has been a life-changing
experience. I know that Delft and this Institute are part of me, part of my
DNA. I can only hope that I am part of Delft and UNESCO-IHE for the long
haul. As George Harrison of the Beatles said “Life is what happens while
you are busy making other plans. And life is what happened during these
past six years. But no one can deny the progress we have made as it can be
proven through fact, figures, and physical outputs. I will not repeat them
now, but you know them.”
Als een spin in het web van de wereld,
weefde hij met kennis, kunde en empathie
inspirerende, originele patronen,
waarbij hij altijd zijn hart volgde.
Like a spider in a worldwide web,
he wove knowledge, skill and empathy
into inspiring, original patterns,
always following his heart.
Mieke & Freek Braadbaart-Verheem
Wendy Braadbaart & Gerry
Oscar, Milou, Casper
Marijn Braadbaart & Sara
Isabel, Kai
Dinanda Zevalkink & Edwin
Nadia, Detlev
Ad & Ben Zevalkink-Sinke
Okke is thuis. Liever geen bezoek aan huis.
De crematie vindt plaats op woensdag 10 juni om 15.30 uur in aula 2
van Crematorium Amersfoort, Dodeweg 31 te Leusden.
Gelegenheid tot condoleren ter plekke.
Kinderen zijn ook welkom.
Correspondentieadres:
Hamseweg 52A, 3828 AE Hoogland, The Netherlands
04-02-2010 09:43:08
IN MEMORIAM
dr. m.m.a. shahin
(1932 - 2009)
Dr. Mamdouh Shahin passed away on
14 November 2009 at the age of 77,
some 12 years after his retirement as
Associate Professor in Water Resources
Engineering at IHE.
Dr. Shahin graduated from the Cairo
University in 1955 and obtained his
PhD degree from the same university
in 1959. Before joining IHE in 1972
he worked with the Cairo University,
the Ministry of Irrigation of Egypt and
in The Netherlands
with the Dienst
Zuiderzeewerken. He
is also an IHE alumnus,
since he participated in
two diploma courses
Dr. Shahin developed
an excellent scientific
career in the field of arid zone hydrology in particular related to Africa and the
Arab world. His book Hydrology of the
Nile Basin written in 1985 at the request
of Elsevier is considered the standard text
on this subject. He wrote more than 30
papers many of which have been published in internally refereed journals. He
continued publishing after his retirement.
His latest book appeared two years ago:
Water Resources and Hydrometeorology
of the Arab Region. His scientific qualities did not remain unnoticed. In 1989
he received the prestigious Arid Lands
Hydraulic Engineering Award from the
American Society of Civil Engineers.
For almost 25 years Dr. Shahin
lectured at IHE, but also at our sister
institute in Brussels and many other
places in the world. His favourite topic,
Statistical Hydrology was considered a
tough subject by many of the students,
because Dr. Shahin wanted the subject
to be fully understood. His lecture notes
appeared in the form of a book entitled
Statistical Analysis of Water Resources
Engineering, which triggered the start of
the IHE lecture note series.
For a quarter of a century Dr. Shahin
was the IHE representative in the field of
arid zone hydrology and water resources
in Africa. He will be remembered as an
expert in this field and a dedicated lecturer on many topics, but in particular on
Statistical Hydrology.
RETIREMENT | Pieter de Laat
“ The future is bright for the institute”
Dr. Pieter de Laat retired from UNESCO-IHE
in May 2009, after a tenure spanning 37 years
– a record for UNESCO-IHE. Dr de Laat was
involved in the Institute before a formal MSc
programme was established, before research
was a focus for the academic staff and even
prior to the full impact of working in a development context with field projects was fully
understood. Shortly before his retirement Dr.
De Laat gave a review of his distinguished career and we are happy to provide a few of his
insights into the three pillars of the Institute –
education, research and projects.
Education As a hydrologist Pieter’s entire
professional life was intimately linked with
the development of the programme on hydrology. From the beginning of this effort the
first courses had an international aspect “developed to train participants with different
backgrounds in the field of hydrology.” Early
courses were taught by renowned (guest) lecturers and as the curriculum was adapted to
the developments in the field of hydrology,
the list of courses expanded and so did the integrity of the programme through the “development of textbooks, teaching aids, curricula
and syllabi in hydrology.” Dr. de Laat’s early
experiences continued to impact the composition of the present hydrology specialisation as well as the lives of untold numbers of
other participants who were exposed to his
vast well of knowledge on all aspects of hydrological science and techniques. His activities in the education realm have not stopped
with retirement as he continues involvement
in the EXACT project and in lecturing at the
Institute.
Research From the time when IHE was
established until at least the mid-1980s,
research was not a focus for academic staff.
Education continued to be the core of the
Institute’s activities. Even in 1983 when
the Institute advertised for a Professor of
Hydrology, research activities were optional
as the position description referred only to “a
willingness and ability to carry out research.”
Pieter was somewhat of an exception in this
regard as he had research interests dating from
before he was hired at IHE in 1972, which
lead to his PhD degree on modelling unsaturated flow in 1980. Hydrological research,
particularly that undertaken by participants
was initiated with the first MSc in Hydrology
awarded in 1988. Since that time research
gradually increased in importance, largely
catalysed by the need that each MSc student
prepares a thesis. Even in the latter years of
his active career Dr. de Laat continued to see
an increase in the importance of research activities. Eight new Professors were hired in
the years after IHE joined UNESCO and specifically with the arrival of Dr. Uhlenbrook
in early 2005, hydrological research took on
new importance according to Dr. de Laat.
“Soon after his arrival, he developed a research strategy for the section and started to
attract funds for research, which has boosted
the scientific output of the core significantly.”
Projects “In the early 1980s IHE was
more or less forced to be involved in capacity building projects” according to Dr. de Laat.
These projects “were developed to set up
post-graduate education in the field of water at a local university or institution and to
train local staff up to PhD level.” Most of the
early project efforts involved placing staff in
the field for extended periods of time. Today
the Institute no longer uses that modality
but rather uses local staff as consultants to
projects that support both capacity building
activities as well as research activities of the
Institute. Dr. de Laat made numerous contributions to the capacity building projects.
He continues as the director of the EXACT
project, which aims at enhancing cooperation of countries in the Middle East on water
related issues.
As is obvious, Dr. Pieter de Laat has quite
literally seen it all – at least in terms of the
development of IHE and its transition as an
integral component of UNESCO. He claims
that the future is bright for the Institute and
we couldn’t agree more with this icon of hydrology in Holland who has impacted his discipline in the far corners of the globe.
04-02-2010 09:43:09
education | E-Learning
Moodle selected as new Virtual Learning Environment
New eCampus!
UNESCO-IHE is well underway in its goal to provide more and improved
e-learning services for it
in-house participants and
for our distant education
participants. The eLearning services are based on
the Moodle Platform and
will replace in due time
the current system LMS.
Moodle is the most popular open-source virtual
learning environment in
the world and is deployed
in over 56,000 sites, with
more than 750 sites in
the Netherlands alone.
From mid April 2009 till about February
2010, the Institute is undergoing a demonstrator phase of the transition to Moodle. The
phase involves the piloting of three ‘official’
demonstrator modules. The objective of the
demonstrator projects was to introduce and
demonstrate this VLE as UNESCO-IHE’s new
educational support environment for online
and face-to-face (blended learning) education,
as well as to support project collaboration. In
2010, it is anticipated that faculty will move existing online and blended learning courses over
to Moodle.
The focus of the initial phase of the implementation plan is to develop, test, demonstrate and
learn from the demonstrator courses, through
which the institution acknowledges and shows
its commitment to its strategic objectives: a)
education and research in (global) partnerships, b) flexible educational offerings, and
c) new pedagogical approaches and methods. The courses/faculty initially selected to
participate in the demonstrator phase included
the modules of the Groupwork St. Maarten,
the Limnology and Wetland Ecosystems and
Wetlands Management. A growing number of
staff is trained in the use and didactical features
of Moodle.
Dr. Larry Elchuck from Dr.Tech and Associates
Learning Designers in Canada, was working
at the Institute as the Project Manager for the
Moodle Implementation initiative. “UNESCOIHE faculty are enthusiastic about the enhanced
learning opportunities, that Moodle offers,
for both their online learning options and their
face-to-face MSc programmes,” Dr. Elchuck
said. The project was guided by a Steering
Committee and Programme Consultative
Group, with Mr. Carel Keuls acting as the internal Project Coordinator. “Learning about water
and its various dynamics needs an interactive
learning system and an active learning approach from teachers ánd participants. Moodle
enables and supports these needs perfectly,”
says Keuls in addition. Two permanent parttime positions (Moodle eLearning Advisor and
Moodle Trainer) will be advertised early in the
new year to sustain the momentum of the pilot project. The system itself will be managed
by our IT staff. To augment the three official
demonstrator modules, as many as 8 unofficial
modules and project environments have also
started; and another twenty are slated to begin
in the new year.
¡
Carel Keuls, c.keuls@unesco-ihe.org
04-02-2010 09:43:14
capacity building | Iran
Due to the success of the Training and Capacity Building Programme for the
Water and Wastewater Sector of Iran (TCBWI) , the project has been extended
by another six months and is expected to conclude mid 2010. The project output will increase by 50 percent, whereby 34 additional courses will be deliverd
in Iran and the number of study tour particiants will increase from 260 to 390.
3500 Iranian water professionals
trained through capacity building project
Currently, sixty companies are
responsible for the provision of water
and wastewater services to the Iranian
people. Evenly spread over Iran’s
thirty provinces, each province has
one urban and one rural water and
wastewater company. All water and
wastewater companies are supervised
by the Ministry of Energy, under the
secretariat of the National Water and
Wastewater Engineering Company
(NWWEC).
The water and wastewater
sector in Iran is facing a multitude of
problems. Almost everyone in urban
Iran has access to safe potable water
(98%), while in rural areas about
61% of the population has access.
However, the coverage of wastewater
services is substantially lower. In rural
areas there is practically no provision
of wastewater services (0.5%), while
in urban areas 20% has access to
wastewater services.
In particular the ongoing population growth provides a substantial
challenge to contain or even increase
coverage rates. The government of
Iran has acknowledged this and has
embarked on an ambitious plan to
improve the water and wastewater
provision in the coming years.
In urban areas more than 11
million people need to be connected
to a wastewater system in the next 5
years. In rural areas about 5 million
people will need access to water
services in the coming 5 years, and
another million need to be connected
to a rural wastewater system.
By the end of the project, UNESCO-IHE in collaboration with the Power and Water University of
Technology in Tehran, Iran, will have trained around
3500 Iranian professionals in water and wastewater
technologies, planning and management through the
TCBWI . The training that commenced in 2008, is
aimed at building the knowledge and skills required to
face the many andincreasing challenges in the water
sector in Iran. Focusing particularly on the provision
of sanitation to rural communities, the application of
emerging, innovative water and wastewater technologies and improving the performance of conventional
systems, the programme =will also improve general
and financial management of water and wastewater
companies.
Tr aining progr amme The programme consists
of a series some 64 different training courses, some of
which are conducted twice, bringing the total number
of courses to 104. In addition, 24 study tours for
technical and financial specialists and general managers, as well as a number of workshops are executed.
The 1-week training courses are held at the PWUT
campus in Tehran, by international and Iranian experts
from UNESCO-IHE, Vitens, Evides, SWO, PWUT,
University of Tehran, Sharif University of Technology,
Amirkabir University of Technology, and other experts working in the field. The 10-day study tours are
held in Western Europe, and consist of technical visits
to Dutch, German, French, Belgian and Luxemburg
water and wastewater companies. By June 2010 the
programme will be concluded with an Expert Group
Meeting on Continuous Human Resources development for the Iranian water and sanitation sector, which
aims to set the agenda for a more structural cap building approach.
Main goals and policies
“Trained human
resources are considered as one of the main advantages of every organisation and as a modern management tool it needs to receive special care. The new
methods of training human forces at the moment of
employment while increasing staff efficiency, causes
the organisation to advance as well. In our country,
trained employees in the water and wastewater sector has become one of our main goals and policies. As
this project is the largest training and capacity building project that has ever been presented within the
Ministry of Energy, and welcomed significantly on the
part of the participants, it is expected that, its results
be seen clearly in the promoting of the service quality
to the customers,” Mr Namjoo said. He is the former
Chairman of the National Water and Wastewater
Engineering Company (NWWEC) and has recently
been appointed Minister of Energy in Iran. During one
of the study tours conducted at the end of last year, he
was one of the visiting officials. The NWWEC secretariat, under the Ministry of Energy, supervises all
water and wastewater companies in Iran.
Iranian water professionals visiting a drinking
water treatment plant on field visit in France.
Scientific and pr actical revenue During
the project, the managers and engineers were trained
and exposed to European practices and experiences.
Mr. Namjoo said that holding the training courses and
also participating in the different courses in Europe,
meanwhile visiting the dynamic and active leading
companies in the water and wastewater sector worldwide, brought very scientific and practical revenue for
the experts and the managers of the water and wastewater sector in Iran. “However, b ased on the current
situation within the country and the status of water
and wastewater sector in Iran, which is at a starting
point, I recommend including a series of training essentials in the programme, whereby the content is
translated into local actions, giving practical translations to the staff working in this sector,” he added.
¡
Jan Herman Koster, j.koster@unesco-ihe.org
04-02-2010 09:43:15
online water resources | At your fingertips
The internet has become an increasingly important source of information. A diverse range of online resources on water, infrastructure and the environment can provide useful tools for water professionals and others interested in water-related teaching materials, scientific research findings, the sharing of
best (and worst) practices from the field, and much more. In this issue of UPDATE Magazine we would
like to share three online resources with you. Send an email to the editor at a.pham@unesco-ihe.org if you
wish to share any of the websites, blogs, twitter streams, networks or communities with our readers.
Online Water Resources
The HEC-RAS Blog is a collection of tips,
tricks, experiences and general help related to
the hydraulic software program HEC-RAS.
HEC-RAS stands for Hydrologic Engineering
Centers River Analysis System. There are
many users of this specialized software around
the world, several of whom are undoubtedly
UNESCO-IHE alumni. Unfortunately, there is
very little technical support to help users work
with the program. Through the blog, the author Chris Goodell - UNESCO-IHE alumnus
of the Hydraulic Engineering Class of 2000
- aims to share his experiences and expertise
using the HEC-RAS software with other users.
It is an open source platform to share and exchange information. Suggestions for topics and
any tips, tricks and commentary about HECRAS are more than welcome on the blog.
W www.rasmodel.com
The India Water Portal is an open, in-
clusive, web-based knowledge and social platform for exchanging knowledge, experiences
and ideas on water issues in India. The portal
intends to share water management knowledge amongst practitioners and the general
public. It aims to draw on the rich experience
of water-sector experts, package their knowledge and add value to it through technology,
and then disseminate it to a larger audience.
The ultimate objective of the portal is to address equity and sustainability issues in the
water sector. Arghyam - a non-profit trust
that works in the area of water - coordinates
the India Water Portal. They see the knowledge asymmetry amongst stakeholders of the
water sector as a critical factor hampering the
sustainable management of India’s water resources. The portal seeks to address this asymmetry by sharing best practices, advocating
sustainable approaches, bringing transparency
to public data and information, and by spreading awareness.
Circle of Blue is an international network
of leading journalists, scientists and communications design experts that reports and
presents the information necessary to respond
to the global freshwater crisis. It is a non-profit
affiliate of the internationally recognized water, climate and policy think tank, the Pacific
Institute. Circle of Blue makes the complexities
of the global freshwater crisis relevant and personal. Circle of Blue reports and collects information and data, and presents it in coherent,
accessible and connected forms. The website
provides a highly visible forum for response,
and through communications design, extends
awareness into action. In most cases, the solutions to solve the global freshwater crisis exist.
What is lacking is the awareness and will to
respond. Circle of Blue’s reporting captures the
heart through exceptional fact-based storytelling, making water issues personal and relevant
while providing a hub for data visualisation,
aggregation, and integration.
W
www.circleofblue.org
W www.indiawaterportal.org
RESOURCES | Sanitation
Poo
‘Poo’ is a comic book about sanitation. The author, Sourabh Phadke, is a school teacher
in India who teaches ecology to pre-primary children. With this publication, he hopes
to focus more attention and dialogue on the issue of sanitation. He explains: “The topic
of sanitation deserves all the attention it can get since current paradigms beautifully
demonstrate a focus on misplaced priorities. It is only when we discuss the problem that
we can begin solving it. Some of us have the luxury of labeling poo-related discussions
as ‘yucky’, ‘juvenile’, ‘crass’ or even a ‘waste’ of time. The fact is that there needs to
be a discussion on sanitation. One larger than ever before. Because there are billions
without access to basic sanitation facilities. And that is no toilet humour.”
‘Poo’ is freely available for downloading in English, Hindi and Marathi. A blank version
of the comic book is also downloadable and can be translated into any language.
¡
soar.hub@gmail.com
W www.sourabh.tk
04-02-2010 09:43:16
education | COURSE INFORMATION
Innovative learning at the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education equips professionals with the research, managerial and technical skills needed to deal with challenges in the fields of water, the environment and infrastructure in their countries. For the latest information on the above courses, including content, dates, duration and tuition fees, please see our website: www.unesco-ihe.org/education.
Master Programmes
MSc in Environmental Science
- Environmental Science & Technology
- Environmental Planning & Management Limnology and Wetland Ecosystems
- Water Quality Management
MSc in Municipal Water and Infrastructure
- Sanitary Engineering
- Urban Water Engineering and Management
- Water Supply Engineering
MSc in Water Management
- Water Quality Management
- Water Services Management
- Water Resources Management
- Water Conflict Management
MSc in Water Science and Engineering
- Hydrology and Water Resources
- Hydraulic Engineering and River Basin Development
- Hydraulic Engineering - Coastal Engineering and Port Development
- Hydraulic Engineering - Land & Water Development
- Hydroinformatics - Modelling and Information Systems for Water Management
Joint Programmes
UNESCO-IHE has several joint MSc programmes, developed together with partner
institutions. Please see below our current joint programmes:
-Hydroinformatics and Coastal Engineering programme, in collaboration with Hohai
University in China
-Limnology and Wetland Ecosystems specialisation, iIn collaboration with the Austrian
Academy of Sciences Institute for Limnology, Mondsee and Egerton University in Kenya
-Lowland Development, in collaboration with the University of Sriwijaya in Indonesia
-Urban Water Engineering and Development, in collaboration with Asian Institute of
Technology in Thailand
-Water Conflict Management specialisation, in collaboration with the University of
Dundee in the UK and the UNESCO programme Potential Conflict to Cooperation
Potential (PCCP)
Online Courses
Service Oriented Management of Irrigation Systems .................... 15 January - 15 May
Flood Modelling for Management ................................................. 1 March - 10 May
Policy and Management in Developing Countries* ......................... 1 March - 21 June
Wetland Management ................................................................. 1 March - 28 June
Water Quality Assessment* ......................................................... 1 March - 30 June
Sanitation-related Urban Groundwater Pollution ................................ 1 March - 1 July
Ecological Sanitation ....................................................................... 1 March - 2 July
Integrated Coastal Zone Management .............................................. 1 March - 2 July
Integrated River Basin Management ................................................. 1 March - 2 July
Water & Environmental Law and Policy . ........................................... 1 April - 14 July
Water and Climate Change ............................................... 30 August - 26 November
Public Private Partnerships ............................................ 1 September - 17 December
Solid Waste Management ............................................. 1 September - 31 December
Cleaner Production and the Water Cycle ......................... 1 September - 31 December
Constructed Wetlands for Wastewater Treatment ............ 1 September - 31 December
Water Transport and Distribution I ......................... 6 September - 25 February 2011
Short Courses
Coastal Systems ............................................................................. 11 – 29 January
Coastal and Port Structures I ............................................................ 8 – 26 February
Conventional Surface Water Treatment............................................. 8 – 26 February
Water Quality Assessment............................................................... 8 – 26 February
Coastal and Port Structures II ...............................................................1 – 19 March
Constructed Wetlands for Wastewater Treatment...................................1 – 19 March
Environmental Engineering..................................................................1 – 19 March
Environmental Policy Making...............................................................1 – 19 March
Groundwater Resources and Treatment.................................................1 – 19 March
Negotiation and Mediation for Water Conflict Management ....................1 – 19 March
Advanced Water Treatment Technology.................................................. 6 – 23 April
Environmental Monitoring and Modelling................................................ 6 – 23 April
Environmental Planning and Implementation............................................ 6 – 23 April
Financial Management of Water Organisations......................................... 6 – 23 April
Groundwater Exploration and Monitoring............................................... 6 – 23 April
Hydrological Data Collection and Processing ........................................... 6 – 23 April
Integrated Asset Management Systems ................................................... 6 – 23 April
Nanotechnology for Water Technology* ................................................ 6 – 23 April
River Basin Modelling........................................................................... 6 – 23 April
Service Oriented Management of Irrigation Systems................................. 6 – 23 April
Sustainable Wastewater Treatment and Reuse.......................................... 6 – 23 April
Water Resources Planning..................................................................... 6 – 23 April
International Port Seminar...................................................................12 – 29 April
Integrated Coastal Zone Management...................................................19 – 29 April
Cleaner Production and the Water Cycle.........................................26 April – 14 May
Tracer Hydrology and Flow System Analysis....................................26 April – 14 May
Urban Flood Modelling and Disaster Management...........................26 April – 14 May
Water and Environmental Law and Institutions.................................26 April – 14 May
Water Transport and Distribution I.................................................26 April – 14 May
Modelling of Activated Sludge Wastewater Treatment................................3 – 14 May
Applied Groundwater Modelling....................................................... 14 June – 2 July
Aquatic Ecosystems: Processes and Applications.................................. 14 June – 2 July
Environmental Systems Modelling..................................................... 14 June – 2 July
Flood Risk Management ................................................................. 14 June – 2 July
Industrial Wastewater Treatment and Residuals .................................. 14 June – 2 July
Managing Water Organisations ....................................................... 14 June – 2 July
Urban Water Systems Modelling ...................................................... 14 June – 2 July
Water Treatment Processes and Plants .............................................. 14 June – 2 July
Decentralised Water Supply and Sanitation . ............................................. 5 – 23 July
Public-Private Partnerships in the Water Sector ......................................... 5 – 23 July
Solid Waste Management and Engineering ............................................... 5 – 23 July
Water Transport and Distribution II . ........................................................ 5 – 23 July
Watershed and River Basin Management ................................................. 5 – 23 July
Remediation and Handling of Contaminated Sediments* ...... 30 August – 3 September
Climate Change in Integrated Water Management .......................... 6 – 17 September
Spate Irrigation and Water Management under Drought and Water Scarcity .6 – 17 Sept
Morphological Modeling using Delft3D* .................................... 13 – 17 September
Sustainable Sanitation* ............................................................. 13 – 17 September
World History of Water Management* . ...................................... 13 – 17 September
Soil and Water Assessment Tool* ............................................... 20 – 24 September
Membranes in Drinking & Industrial Water Treatment* ......................... 4 – 8 October
GIS Modelling SWAT .................................................................. 1 – 12 November
GIS and Remote Sensing ............................................................... 1 – 12 November
04-02-2010 09:43:16
resources | Publications
proved Water Management has been set up in four parts and 17
oduction and overview of progress and challenges in knowledge and
ater sector. The second part presents different tools and techniques
n knowledge and capacity development in response to the prevailing
r. The third part presents a number of cases that cover capacity
he water resources and water services sectors, including experiences
and on developing gender equity. The fourth part concludes the book
monitoring and evaluation of knowledge and capacity development
sion of the collection of chapters first introduced at the Fifth World
Turkey, from 16–22 March 2009, in support of the various sessions
ucation, Knowledge and Capacity Development Strategies”.
capacity development for improved water management
UNESCO-IHE and UNW-DPC, is a compilation of existing expert
capacity development. It discusses how knowledge and capacity
o improved, effective water management, with a digest of lessons
techniques, applications and evaluation. Topics presented range from
community knowledge management and the running of training-ofexamples from Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe. The authors
sentative group of prominent practitioners, capacity developers and
ater-related capacity development.
capacity
development
for improved
water management
UNESCO-IHE Editors
M.W. Blokland
G.J. Alaerts
J.M. Kaspersma
UNW-DPC Editor
M. Hare
Capacity Development for
Improved Water Management
M.Blokland, G.Alaerts,
J.Kaspersma, M.Hare (eds.)
Taylor & Francis Group
ISBN 978-0-415-57398-6
This publication is a compilation of
expert knowledge on water-related
capacity development. Jointly edited
by UNESCO-IHE and UNW-DPC, it
discusses how knowledge and capacity
development can contribute to improved, effective water management,
with a digest of lessons learned in the
areas of tools and techniques, applications and evaluation. Topics presented
range from e-learning and networking,
to community knowledge management
and the running of training-of-trainers
courses, and includes examples from
Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe.
The authors represent a diverse and
representative group of prominent
practitioners, capacity developers and
academics within the field of waterrelated capacity development.
This book is an expanded version
of the collection of chapters first introduced at the Fifth World Water Forum
held in Istanbul, Turkey, from 16–22
March 2009, in support of the various sessions organized under the topic
“Education, Knowledge and Capacity
Development Strategies”.
Dissertations
Full text versions of most of the
UNESCO-IHE PhD dissertations are
available through NARCIS. NARCIS
provides access to 163,228 full-text
publications and research output from all
Dutch universities, KNAW, NWO and a
number of scientific institutes
www.narcis.info/repositories/repository/UNESCO/Language/nl/
Alternatively you can also purchase
the dissertations from CRC Press /
Balkema, Taylor & Francis Group
www.crcpress.com
The New Presence of China in Africa
Meine Pieter van Dijk
Amsterdam University Press
ISBN 978-9089-641366
This book analyses China’s growing
range of activities in Africa, especially in the sub-Saharan region. The
three most important instruments
China has at its disposal in Africa are
development aid, investments and
trade policy. The Chinese government,
which believes the Western development aid model has failed, is looking
for new forms of aid and development
in Africa. China’s economic success
can partly be ascribed to the huge
availability of cheap labour, which is
primarily employed in export-oriented
industries. China is looking for the required raw materials in Africa, and for
new markets.
Investments are being made on a
large scale in Africa by Chinese stateowned firms and private companies,
particularly in the oil-producing countries (Angola, Nigeria and Sudan)
and countries that are rich in minerals
(Zambia). A review of China’s aid for
and investment in Africa, and the trade
policy it is conducting, is analysed and
compared with that of Europe and the
United States.
The concluding chapter considers
whether corporate social responsibility
(CSR) can be expected from Chinese
companies - and if this is desirable and to what extent the Chinese model
in Africa can act as an example – or not
– for the West and for Africa.
Innovative Practices in the African
Water Supply and Sanitation Sector
Marco Schouten, Edwin Hes
& Zvikomborero Hoko
SUN PReSS
ISBN 978-1-920109-96-7
Africa continues to struggle to make
progress in supplying water and sanitation to its people. Often the challenges can feel overwhelming and the
looming threats of climate change,
increased urbanization and expansion of urban slums make action all the
more urgent.
Innovative practices in the African
Water Supply and Sanitation Sector is
a must read for practitioners who are
interested in getting started on the
path towards more sustainable water
management. It is a rich collection of
practical African case studies covering innovative ways to approach such
diverse topics as financing, capacity
building, community ownership and
management through to water loss
reduction and health risk prioritisation
provide a variety of entry points for
governments and NGOs to take action.
Donors should take notice, as replication and upscaling of local initiatives
such as those presented are the way
to success for water and sanitation in
Africa.
Water: A Way of Life
Lidya Schelwald-van der Kley
and Linda Reijerkerk
Taylor & Francis Group
ISBN 978-0-415-55104-5
How can water management projects
be made more successful and sustainable? Why is it that large infrastructural water works often encounter
opposition? Is it perhaps, among other
things, the lack of attention for the cultural context?
The reader is taken on a water
journey through time and across the
world’s continents. Along the way, we
discover the past and present ways in
which different cultures around the
world, both traditional and modern,
view and manage water in response to
their own respective environment.
As beliefs and values are at the
heart of every culture, the views of the
world’s major religions about water
and its use are also highlighted.
PhD Student
Thesis
ISBN number
Mr. Marco Schouten
Netherlands
Strategy and Performance of Water Supply and Sanitation Providers: Effects of Two Decades of NeoLiberalism
978-0-415-55129-8
Mr. Giles Lesser
New Zealand
An approach to medium-term coastal morphological modelling
978-0-415-55668-2
Mr. Carlos Lopez Vazquez
Mexico
The competition between polyphosphate-accumulating organisms and glycogen-accumulating organisms:
Temperature effects and modelling
978-0-415-55896-9
Ms. Hong Li
China
Spatial pattern dynamics in aquatic ecosystem modelling
978-0-415-55897-6
Mr. Gerald Corzo Perez
Colombia
Hybrid models for hydrological forecasting: integration of data-driven and conceptual modelling techniques.
978-0-415-56597-4
Mr. Durga Lal Shrestha
Nepal
Uncertainty analysis in rainfall-runoff modelling: Application of machine learning techniques
978-0-415-56598-1
Ms. Aya Lamei
Egypt
A Technical-Economic Model for Integrated Water Resources Management in Tourism Dependent Arid
Coastal Regions; the Case of Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt
978-0-415-55898-3
Mr. Richard Buamah
Ghana
Adsorptive Removal of Manganese, Arsenic and Iron from Groundwater
978-0-415-57379-5
Mr. Schalk-Jan van Andel
Netherlands
Anticipatory Water Management: Using ensemble weather forecasts for critical events
978-0-415-57380-1
Ms. Dima Nazer
Palestine
From Water Scarcity to Sustainable Water Use in the West Bank, Palestine
978-0-415-57381-8
Mr. Nahm-Chung
Korea
Eco-hydraulic Modelling of Eutrophication for Reservoir Management
978-0-415-57382-5
04-02-2010 09:43:17

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