ECOHYDROLOGY: ENGINEERING HARMONY FOR A SUSTAINABLE WORLD

Transcription

1 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization International Hydrological Programme IHP-VIII THEMATIC AREA 5 ECOHYDROLOGY: ENGINEERING HARMONY FOR A SUSTAINABLE WORLD ACTIVITIES AND OUTCOMES INTERNATIONAL HYDROLOGICAL PROGRAMME DIVISION OF WATER SCIENCES

2 THE CONTEXT Ecohydrology creates green solutions for increasing challenges in the sustainable management of water ecosystems. It combines hydrology, engineering and biota for water security, to enhance both water quality and quantity. The International Hydrological Programme (IHP-VIII) encourages Member States to adopt ecohydrological, solution-oriented best practices and solutions in natural resources master plans as an important component of the integrated water resources management approach. Best practices and solutions are currently applied in 20 sites in 15 countries around the globe, which form the growing Ecohydrology Demonstration Sites IHP Network. The Ecohydrology programme benefits from a Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) to guide the IHP Secretariat on strategic directions, new dimensions, activities, programme execution, and communication of scientific and practical advances. The SAC is composed of representatives of Category 2 Centres under the auspices of UNESCO (C2C), water-related UNESCO Chairs and Regional Focal Points: The European Regional Centre for Ecohydrology (ERCE, Poland) The International Centre for Coastal Ecohydrology (ICCE, Portugal) The African Regional Centre for Ecohydrology (ARCE, Ethiopia) The Asia Pacific Centre for Ecohydrology (APCE, Indonesia) The International Centre for Integrated Water Resource Management ICIWaRM, USA) The IHE-Delft Chair in Ecohydrology, the Netherlands The UNESCO Water Chair in Ecohydrology and Hydroinformatics, China The UNESCO Water Chair in Ecohydrology Water Ecosystem for Societies, Portugal The Focal point for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) Other activities in addressed the dissemination of the ecohydrology concept in Member States, in particular in Africa, but also in other regions. Means of choice were conferences, dedicated workshops and training courses and the participation of C2C and Chairs in international and regional events.

3 HIGHLIGHTS FROM KEY ACTIVITIES IHP S WORK ON ECOHYRDOLOGY UNDER THEME 5 COVERS FIVE DIFFERENT FOCAL AREAS: Hydrological dimension of a catchment identification of potential threats and opportunities for sustainable development Shaping of the catchment ecological structure for ecosystem potential enhancement biological productivity and biodiversity Ecohydrology system solution and ecological engineering for the enhancement of water and ecosystem resilience and ecosystem services Urban Ecohydrology storm water purification and retention in the city landscape, potential for improvement of health and quality of life Ecohydrological regulation for sustaining and restoring continental to coastal connectivity and ecosystem functioning NORTH AMERICA AND EUROPE The IHP Ecohydrology sessions at the the 5th Ecosummit 2016 (August-September 2016, Montpellier, France) showed that: (a) ecohydrology can provide innovative approaches, combining ecological engineering, ecosystems biotechnologies and solutions to support the implementation of SDG 6 (targets 6.5 and 6.6)¹; (b) ecohydrological processes and their application can help adapt urbanizing and urbanized areas to the challenges of growing populations, climate extremes and declining ecological potential. The IHP Ecohydrology network organized the sessions together with the C2Cs European Centre for Ecohydrology (ERCE, Poland), the International Center for Integrated Water Resources Management (ICIWaRM, USA), the IHE-Delft chair on Ecohydrology (Netherlands) and the African Regional Centre for Ecohydrology (ARCE, Ethiopia). The sessions comprised Ecohydrology, Biotechnology and Engineering for Sustainable Development Goals (participants: 30 women and 35 men) and Improving the urban water cycle through green infrastructures (20 women and 25 men), as well as the side event Integrating Sustainability Science around the hydrological cycle (8 women and 7 men). The International Symposium on Ecohydrology for the Circular Economy and Nature Based Solutions (Lodz, Poland, September 2017) brought together top experts from scientific institutions and international organizations, and provided an open floor for the discussion about integration of ecohydrological biotechnologies and systemic solutions with a circular economy development towards mitigation/adaptation to climate instability. Eighty participants (50% women) from 20 countries (all continents) attended the symposium. The participants agreed that every successful strategy must be founded with two elements: amplification of opportunities and elimination of risks. Circular Economy, the rising issue of our times, focuses on closing the loop approach, contributes to increasing resources productivity (and decreasing of disposals), energy use, and pollutants emission. To achieve the sustainability with adaptation to climate change it is necessary to implement the second element of the strategy, which is the enhancement of catchment carrying capacity (sustainability potential) with profound understanding of ecosystem processes and their dynamics. Ecohydrology, based on change from mechanistic to evolutionary approach, creates potential for the synergy effect between both Circular Economy and Nature-Based Solutions. ¹6.5 Implement integrated water resources management by 2030; 6.6 Protect and restore water-related ecosystems by 2020.

4 HIGHLIGHTS FROM KEY ACTIVITIES AFRICA IHP and the C2C International Centre for Coastal Ecohydrology (ICCE, Portugal) raised the awareness regarding the Ecohydrological methodology as innovative, low-energy and low-cost advanced science, using ecosystem processes and related biotechnologies. This was, for instance, the objective of the session on Ecohydrology for sustainability and water security in Africa, held during the 6th Edition of the Africa Water Week (May-June 2016, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania) and attended by 48 participants from several African countries (17 women and 31 men). The 2nd African International Symposium Ecohydrology for Water, Biodiversity, Ecosystem Services and Resilience for Africa in Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia (November 2016), adopted the country s Way Forward, which focuses on major strategic goals in Ecohydrology. Those include, inter alia, the application of integrated land use plans with ecohydrological solutions; capacity development and education; institutionalizing and mainstreaming ecohydrology in existing, local, national and regional institutions; as well as networking. The Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Electricity of Ethiopia and IHP organized the symposium together with ERCE, ICCE, UNESCO-IHE and ARCE. It was attended by 130 participants from 15 countries (20 women, 110 men; 8 African countries: Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, and Tunisia). The Advanced Training Course followed the symposium and trained 40 participants (10 women, 30 men) from the aforementioned African countries in Ecohydrology and Systemic Biotechnological Solutions for the Implementation of Sustainability in Africa. Following the inauguration of the first UNESCO Green Academy in Bahir Dar (Ethiopia 2016), UNESCO considers establishing others. The Academies guidelines (English: org/fileadmin/multimedia/field/addis-ababa/images/green.pdf) appeal to all generations to participate in maintaining rain-water harvesting, storage and utilization for biomass production/ food-production, waste-water recycling, application of renewable energy, and the establishment of Youth Clubs on science-education for girls and boys. LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN The International Conference on Ecohydrology for Security of Aquatic Ecosystems and Societies (Campos de Goytacazes, Brazil, March 2017) addressed the status of water resources and ecohydrological issues; environmental flows and ecological disasters; how socio-economic and regulating aspects are related and contribute to the Ecohydrology management principles. The 82 participants (38 women and 44 men) from 20 countries² adopted the declaration on Ecohydrology approach towards implementation of UN SDGs ( files/gcp/ecohydrology_conference_brazil_declaration.pdf.), jointly developed by the Universidade Estadual Norte Fluminense (Brazil), the UNESCO Chair in Ecohydrology (Portugal) and the IHP Secretariat. Three UNESCO Water Chairs, three C2C and IHE Delft attended. ²14 from LAC (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay) Ethiopia, France, Greece, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Portugal, Tunisia, and USA.

5 HIGHLIGHTS FROM KEY ACTIVITIES ASIA AND THE PACIFIC The international seminar on Ecohydrology Management of Putrajaya Lake and Wetland: Ecosystem Services Economic Assessment (Malaysia 2016) highlighted suitable tools and mechanisms for water pricing and tariffs to integrate water governance for sustainable water management. The 218 international experts (91 women, 127 men) shared their experience in analyzing basic economics and some important theoretical insights of water tariffs. The participants also discussed the main four intercorrelated principles of sustainable water pricing: full-cost recovery, economic efficiency, equity and administrative feasibility, and the trends and challenges of their actual implementation in the water pricing policy in Australia, Malaysia, Portugal, and the Philippines. The seminar was part of the dissemination process of the findings of the research on ecosystem services economic assessment, initiated by UNESCO Office Jakarta with the support of the Malaysia Fund in Trust (MFIT) and conducted by Perbadanan Putrajaya (Perbadanan Corporation), in collaboration with the company Eco Development Facilities Sendirian Berhad (EDFSB) and experts of the University Putra Malaysia (UPM) experts. A special session during the workshop discussed the local and national issues and experiences in the Philippines, including water pricing, governance and Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in Cebu and the Philippines; and water-related sustainability and resilience in a changing climate. It produced a set of recommendations on efficient water pricing for sustainability. Water C2C are developing modules on ecohydrology in IWRM curricula and comparative studies on the application of ecohydrology and IWRM in Asia and Africa. C2C involved are, among others, the Humid Tropics Centres Kuala Lumpur (HTCKL, Malaysia), the Regional Centre for Urban Water Management (RCUWM, Iran), the Asia Pacific Centre for Ecohydrology (APCE, Indonesia), the UNESCO water chair on Ecohydrology at the Capital Normal University (China), the Regional Centre on Integrated River Basin Management (RC-IRBM, Nigeria), and the UNESCO Chair on Water Resources from Khartoum, (Sudan) (mucp-mfit.org/knowledge-platform-onsouth-south-cooperation-for-water-security/).

6 ECOHYDROLOGY DEMONSTRATION SITES Since 2011, IHP promotes the establishment of Ecohydrology Demonstration Sites (EDS) around the world to apply Ecohydrology solutions at all scales. Each EDS aims to apply ecohydrology principles and solutions for social and environmental issues. An EDS is a longterm monitoring project dealing with issues such as erosion, algal blooms, nutrients cycle, urban floods, and anthropogenic activities, among others. It applies the most appropriate and cost-effective ecohydrological engineering solutions in order to enhance and optimize ecosystem services for society. To date 20 EDS were established in 15 countries around the globe. The EDS, their main characteristics and references (including related scientific papers, etc.) are synthesized in a Demosite Card. EXAMPLE OF DEMOSITE CARD

7 ECOHYDROLOGY WEB PLATFORM IHP designed the web-based Ecohydrology networking platform in 2015, together with the International Centre for Hydroinformatics (CIH) in Brazil. The platform provides access to the EDS information exchange network and the procedure of data sharing, making data on EDS available to all. It is also a portal to inform on ecohydrological events, conferences and seminars, funding opportunities for project proposals, and repository for the criteria, guidelines and online application to become an IHP Ecohydrology programme demonstration site. The web platform contains a Demosite Card for each site, a harmonized/normalised and simplified visualisation of the main characteristics, achievements and results obtained by each EBS, presented on a single page. The web platform ecohydrology-ihp.org was launched during the International Conference Ecohydrology 2015, September 2015 ( Lyon, France). As of October 2017, almost 4,000 demosite cards were downloaded from the web platform. DEMOSITE CARD DOWNLOAD (SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2017) ECOHYDROLOGY - SUCCESSES Overall, 1020 participants (396 women) attended the aforementioned events in the period More than 30 men and 10 women were trained in ecohydrology. The events and the brochure Ecohydrology as an integrative science from molecular to basin scale, distributed in 400 hardcopies from July 2016 to date, raised awareness and shared knowledge. The brochure, in English and Spanish, is available online: unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/002455/245512e.pdf (English). The Chinese version of the brochure will be available soon.

8 Photo Credits: Filipe Frazao / Shutterstock Kabacchi_juin 2010 (CC) Tateyama Kurobe / Flickr New York (CC) Malinda Rathnayake / Flickr Iguaçu National Park (CC) Deni William / Flickr INTERNATIONAL HYDROLOGICAL PROGRAMME UNESCO / DIVISION OF WATER SCIENCES 7, Place de Fontenoy Paris 07 SP France Tel: (+33) ihp@unesco.org SC-HYD-NOV17-TH5-E United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization International Hydrological Programme CLD