Newsletter No. 5

IGRAC will together with UNESCO and WEF convene a session "Groundwater and risk management: coping with water scarcity, climate change and emergency situations".

The session will address crucial groundwater management issues, illustrated by four interesting 'Local Actions'. Through a panel discussion it intends to yield improved shared views on risk management in relation to groundwater (download a session programme).

You are also welcome to visit the IGRAC booth (No.1706) at the World Water Expo.

Mexico 2006 4th World Water Forum

• IGRAC has started to develop a programme of National Meta-Information Systems on Water. By providing the meta information, the system aims to assist water professionals in finding and accessing reports, publications, maps, databases and other sources of required information. A pilot of the National Meta-Information System will be developed for the Republic of Yemen, as a joint effort of the National Water Resources Authority (NWRA) of Yemen and IGRAC, and with participation of DHV.
• IGRAC attended a roundtable on Protection and Sustainable Use of Transboundary Waters in South East Europe, held in Berlin in November 2005. The roundtable marked the second phase of the Petersberg Process, being a joint effort of the German Government and the World Bank. IGRAC will actively participate in the organisation of a proposed roundtable on transboundary groundwaters (to be held in 2007).
• On request of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, IGRAC contributed to the WATER session of the Workshop on "International Science and Technology Cooperation for Sustainable Development", held in November 2005 in South Africa. More than 100 participants from 31 countries attended this workshop organised jointly by the South African Government and the OECD (read further on the OECD site).
• IGRAC is supporting the UNESCO/OAS ISARM Americas in developing an atlas of Transboundary Aquifers of the Americas. IGRAC participated in the São Paulo workshop in November 2005 and since then is compiling and interpreting cartographic data on transboundary aquifers of the Americas.
• Invited by the organizing committee and sponsored by UNESCO, IGRAC's Jac van der Gun was a key-note speaker and a session chairman at the Third International Conference on Wadi Hydrology, held in Yemen in December 2005. The conference was attended by around 120 participants, mainly from North-African & Middle-East countries. Accordingly, it offered interesting presentations on water resources in arid countries and an excellent networking opportunity between the water sector specialists in the region and IGRAC.
• IGRAC joined the UNESCO-IHP Experts Group Meeting on "Transboundary Groundwaters" with the Special Rapporteur of the UN International Law Commission (ILC) in Tokyo in January 2006. The Expert Group reviewed and clarified the main technical and scientific issues required for further development of international agreements on transboundary groundwaters.