United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's Office in Nairobi, Kenya

Water Sciences (IHP)

Background

The International Hydrological Programme is UNESCO's international scientific cooperative programme in hydrology and water resources. The programme was established in 1975 as a result of the realization by both the international scientific community and governments that water resources are often some of the primary limiting factors for harmonious development in many regions and countries in the world. The programme is implemented in six-year phases, so as to identify emerging problems, alert decision makers, raise public awareness, and provide necessary resources.

The sixth phase IHP VI (2002-2007) has been defined as as Water interactions: systems at risk and social challenges. It is based on the fundamental principle that freshwater is as essential to sustainable development as it is to life and that water, beyond its geophysical, chemical, biological function in the hydrological cycle, has social, economic and environmental values that are inter-linked and mutually supportive.

UNESCO Nairobi Office performs functions and tasks regarding the implementation of IHP in Africa, with special ephasis on the following issues:

i. Human activities, in particular changes in land use and rapid urbanization further affects water resources by increasing the demand for water and at the same time contributing to water quality deterioration. In addition to the role that improving access to domestic water and sanitation plays, water's role as a resource for agriculture, energy and industry is essential for fighting poverty and hunger. Water scarcity, closely linked with desertification in arid and semi-arid regions, further affects the integrity of acquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and their biodiversity.

ii. Vulnerability analysis should help to understand the combined effects of different stresses acting upon regional water resources. The results of such analysis will provide the basis for identifying pathways towards integrated water resources management and hence sustainable use and equitable allocation of water.

iii. The trans-boundary nature of many of the African rivers and regional underground water resources calls for cooperative institutional solutions that should maximize the joint benefit of resources use.

Scientific capacity building is required to carry out interdisciplinary studies.

Main priorities

1. Education and training: postgraduate training programmes and development of regional centres of excellences in hydrological research and training

2. Focus on regional problems such as the arid and semi-arid countries groundwater hydrology and groundwater resources management.

3. Regional focus on integrated water resources management and understanding of water-health relationship (assessment of vulnerability and pollution of water throughout the region).

4. Involvement in new water partnerships and initiatives in Africa at political and technical levels (AMCOW, NEPAD, UN-Water Africa).

International Education in Applied Hydrology and Information Systems for Water Management 2002, Nairobi, Kenya


The Institute for Meteorological Training and Research (IMTR), in collaboration with the University of Nairobi (UoN) and the UNESCO-IHE Water Education Institute, Delft, The Netherlands, conducts a continuous training programme for professionals in water resources management, the only of its kind in Africa.

The IMTR was established in 1963 and in 1965 it was upgraded to status of World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) Regional Meteorological Training Centre (RMTC) for the Anglophone Africa

Other collaborating partners ate the Institute of Hydrology (IH), Wallingford, Great Britain; The European Organization for Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), Darmstadt, Germany; Siegen University Germany; Dar-es-laam University, Tanzania; Khartoum University, Sudan; UNESCO and WMO.