Flood Management Initiatives

ICHARM ICHARM is a UNESCO-World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) initiative in association with the United Nations University (UNU), the United Nations Inter-Agency Secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN-ISDR), UN/ISDR Platform for the Promotion of Early Warning (PPEW), and the International Association of Hydrological Sciences. It is aimed at minimizing loss of life and reducing damage caused by floods. The secretariat is based at the UNESCO Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management (CHARM) hosted by the Public Works Research Institute in Tsukuba, Japan.

ICAHRM is promoting Research, Training and Information Networking activities, focusing on issues and problems related to water hazard and risk management. These activities build on the significant achievements of the Public Works Research Institute, an independent administrative agency of the former Japanese Ministry of Construction, in solving diversified water management problems, including flood control, water resources and quality management of public waters and river ecology among others. ICHARM is developing the three activities in an integrated manner. For instance, it is capitalizing on its research results to build capacity of researchers and professionals mainly from developing countries. The information networking builds upon the human network arising from the training activities. This boosts the mutual flow of information, enabling the research and capacity building to be better targeted. In other words, ICHARM works collaboratively on its research, training and information networking.

The Risk Management Research Team works on

• World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) • Flood mitigation policy in the Changjiang River • System modeling approaches for assessment of interaction between social changes and water cycle • Development of a database for hydrological model evaluation • Research on the methodology of estimation on coefficient of discharge on the spot

The Hydrologic Engineering Research Team works on

• Hydraulic research for improvement of observation accuracy of flood discharge • Developing comprehensive hydrologic models for river basins • Water and material cycle in urbanizing river catchments • Development of low flow management support system • Hydrological prediction in ungauged basins • Model development for the prediction of water-resource change due to natural variation and human modification in the Asia monsoon region

For more information please visit the ICHARM site: http://www.icharm.pwri.go.jp/

International Flood Initiative

International Flood Initiative is an initiative of UNESCO aimed at minimizing loss of life and reducing damage caused by floods.

Quoting from the IFI web site: “The International Flood Initiative is a response to the increasing number of water related disasters, deaths and widespread damage to goods and assets. Since 1992, the yearly number of water-related disasters has risen from slightly over 50 to more than 150. They claim about 25,000 lives and affect over 500 million others annually, and cost the world economy more than $60 billion, (up from about $10 billion in 1950). And this does not include the cost of damage to cultural assets and natural resources.

“Experts attribute the increase to rapid population growth, the concentration of population and property in urban areas and the higher value of assets. Climate change and global warming are exacerbating the situation, and, according to UNESCO’s International Hydrological Programme, are likely to increase the frequency of water-related disasters.

“At the same time, floods are naturally occurring phenomena, which contribute to the biodiversity and sustainability of ecosystems and to many human activities.

“The International Flood Initiative will promote an integrated approach to flood management to maximize the long-term benefits of floods and to minimize the hardship, loss of life and damage to goods and assets that result from floods. To achieve this, it will focus on research, training, information networking, promoting good governance and providing technical assistance.

For more information please visit the following site: http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=24689&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

Associated Programme on Flood Management

This programme is joint initiative of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the Global Water Partnership (GWP) to promote the concept of Integrated Flood Management (IFM) as a new approach to flood management.

For more information please visit the site: http://www.apfm.info/