NATIONAL REPORT ON IHP RELATED ACTIVITIES. Report Format 1. ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN IN THE PERIOD JUNE 2012 MAY 2014

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1 NATIONAL REPORT ON IHP RELATED ACTIVITIES Report Format 1. ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN IN THE PERIOD JUNE 2012 MAY Meetings of the IHP National Committee Decisions regarding the composition of the IHP National Committee The Belgian committee of IHP has been reactivated in December New internal rules of procedure have been designed and adopted ( Membership is regulated by new internal rules of procedure. Currently 116 members (physical persons and organizations) are on the IHP-BE member list. A Chair (Prof. Marnik VANCLOOSTER, UCL, Louvain-la-Neuve) and a Vice-Chair (Prof. W. BAUWENS, VUB, Brussels) have been elected by the General Assembly. A secretary, (Dr. C. GRAINDORGE, UCL, Louvain-la-Neuve) have been designated by the Chair Status of IHP-VII activities (including IHP-VIII activities if applicable) A new IHP-BE website was launched. This website is now the communication platform for all IHP-BE activities. The web site is available for the public at An intranet is available for internal members. A General Assembly meeting was organized in October The minutes of this meeting are available on the intranet of the committee. 1.2 Activities at national level in the framework of the IHP National/local scientific and technical meetings IHP-BE endorsed the following internal meetings: 06/06/2012, Brussels, Unesco-liaison office. IHP-BE launching event. The Flemish Commission for UNESCO and the Belgian French and German Speaking Commission for UNESCO joined forces to re-activate the Belgian International Hydrological Programme Committee (BE-IHP) after several years of inactivity. No less than 25 water experts from all over the country attended the opening session at the UNESCO Liaison Office in Brussels. This meeting took place in the presence of Ms Roudil, Director of the UNESCO Liaison Office, Professor Vervenne, President of the Flemish Commission for UNESCO and Honorary Rector of the KU Leuven and Mr Busquin, President of the Belgian French and German Speaking Commission for UNESCO and Minister of State. Professor Marnik Vanclooster has been elected as President of this Commission. Professor Willy Bauwens will be his Vice-President. In

2 their introductory speech, both Professors expressed their intention to make this Committee a very active, but also very inclusive Committee, with the participation of an as broad as possible range of stakeholders. 30/05/2013, Louvain-la-Neuve, UCL. Gestion des ressources en eau en Belgique : Enjeux climatiques et sociétaux IHP-BE organized an event on water management in Belgium: Facing climatic and societal challenges. The program is available at The program encompassed interventions of Prof. J.P. van Ypersele (UCL, vice-président GIEC), Prof. P. Goderniaux (Umons), le Prof. F. Rossillon (ULG) et Ir. M. Ruelle (SWDE, Direction) and was followed by a debate. 78 people participated to the symposium. The proceedings of the meeting are available on the intranet. 11/10/2013, Brussels. Topical meeting: Interuniversity cooperation of Belgian universities in the water domain. IHP-BE organized a topical meeting on interuniversity cooperation of Belgian universities in the water domain. The program is available at 48 people participated to the meeting. The meeting was followed by a meeting of the General Assembly of IHP-BE. Proceedings and minutes are available on the intranet. 19/3/2014, Louvain-la-Neuve. Festival international de l eau. IHP-BE actively participated to the international film festival on water. The full programme is available at The Chair of IHP-BE was president of the jury Collaboration with other national and international organizations and/or programmes Contacts were taken with the NHV (the Dutch Hydrological Organisation, Chair Gé van den Eertwegh) to jointly organize events in autumn Contacts were made with the Dutch National Committee of IHP (Prof. P. Van Der Zaag, UNESCO-IHE) to jointly organize events in autumn A proposal was made by the Fondation du dialogue Sud-Nord Méditerranée ( to organize an event on water policy and rural development in autumn A proposal was made to co-organize the Belgian Hydraulic Days in autumn Contacts were taken with ICE (International Centre for Eremology) with UNESCO Chair on Eremology (Prof. D. Gabriels), to organize an event on DESERTIFICATION AND LAND DEGRADATION. A water problem: scarcity or excess in spring Other initiatives.

3 Before the reactivation of IHP-BE at the end of 2012, Flanders developed already a Trust Fund (FUST) to support UNESCO s activities in the field of science. Information is available at Four significant projects were developed within the IHP framework: The UNESCO project «Capacity building and training on environmental training and management in Palestine» ( ), in collaboration with Al Azhar University in Gaza and a network of universities, ministries and NGO s in Palestine The FRIEND Nile FUST Project was initiated by UNESCO in March 1996 and aims at creating better understandings and quantification of the river Nile system to enhance the management of the Nile water resources and to improve the planning of water resources projects in the Nile Basin countries. The Framework Programme for Research, Education and Training in Water (FETWater) is a programme for effective cooperation in research, education, training and capacity building initiatives to achieve integrated water resource management in South Africa. Assessment of the Cazalac-UNESCO Flanders Phase II Final Report. 1.3 Educational and training courses Contribution to IHP courses. Nihil Organization of specific courses. Nihil Participation in IHP courses. Nihil. 1.4 Cooperation with the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education and/or international/regional water centres under the auspices of UNESCO Informal contacts were made with IHE staff members (Dr. N. Van Cauwenbergh, Dr. A. Van Griensven, Pr. P. Van der Zaag) and suggestions were made to improve capacity building programs for French speaking countries. This can be done by linking IHE activities with master programs on water resources in French (e.g. In 2014, F. Kilonzo successfully defended his PhD, entitled Assessing the impacts of environmental changes on the water resources of the upper Mara, Lake Victoria basin at UNESCO-IHE. The research was carried out under the joint supervision of UNESCO-IHE and the VUB. The PhD diploma was granted by the latter university. 1.5 Publications. Nihil 1.6 Participation in international scientific meetings Meetings hosted by the country. Nihil Participation in meetings abroad IHP-BE participated to UNESCO Strategic and High-Level Meeting on Water Security and Cooperation, September 2013, Nairobi, Kenya. A press release was published on (

4 globale-samenwerking-rond-water). Minutes are available at the intranet. Fifth Regional Consultation, UNECE Region, Groundwater governance. The Hague Institute for Global Justice, March The Hague, Netherlands. Minutes are available at the intranet. Regional Meeting Europe & North America, UNESCO IHP, Oslo, Norway, 21-22nd of October Minutes are available at the intranet. 1.7 Other activities at regional level Institutional relations/cooperation. Nihil Completed and ongoing scientific projects. See section FUTURE ACTIVITIES 2.1 Activities planned until December 2014 See section /10/2014. Co-organization of the Belgian Hydraulic Days. 6/11/2014. Co-organization Fondation du dialogue Sud-Nord Méditerranée ( on water policy and rural development. December Co-organization of event on water evapotranspiration with NVH, followed by General Assembly meeting. 2.2 Activities foreseen for See section Contacts were taken with ICE (International Centre for Eremology) with UNESCO Chair on Eremology (Prof. D. Gabriels), to organize an event on DESERTIFICATION AND LAND DEGRADATION. A water problem: scarcity or excess! in the spring of Activities envisaged in the long term Possibilities of future activities depend very much on available funds. Running activities of IHP-BE have so far been sponsored by - The Flemish Community, EWI. Support for participation of IHP Chair and Vice-Chair to IHP meetings. - UNESCO commission Belgium. Support for hosting launching event and conception of the web site. - FNRS. Support for participation of organizing scientific events (IHP-BE is considered as a contact group of FNRS). - UCL. Support for organization of scientific event related to climate change and water resources. In addition, project activities of Flemish members of IHP-BE have been supported by the Flemish Trust Funds (see section 1.2.3). For increasing the level of activities, a Unesco IHP-BE fund has been created. In the coming years, fund raising will be envisioned to develop activities with a larger impact. Such activities could be - Reinforcement of capacity building programs in water resources engineering and management, in particular in French speaking developing countries;

5 - Science and development programs for Belgian scientists.