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 Environment and Sustainable Development
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ESD Project
Agrodiversity
Drylands
Basin Water
Hazard Risk
Hydrosphere
GLEAM
Innovative
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GEIC
ZEF

 Management of Basin Water Cycle for Sustainable Water
 Resources Development
2004-2008

Mekong basin, Kothmale Basin (Sri Lanka), Chao Phraya Basin (Thailand), Agno River Basin (Philippines)


 
Background, Objectives and Expected Outcomes

Both the population growth and the increase of per capita water consumption lead to overexploitation of the finite fresh water resources that may have undesirable consequences like land subsidence, water-quality deterioration, etc., as the components of the natural water cycle are disturbed without consideration to their interactions and the fragile balance among them that has been achieved though long periods of interactions.Therefore, as adopted by WSSD action plan item 23, understanding basin water cycle is of utmost importance for the sustainable water resources development and integrated water management. Understanding water cycle means clarifying its present state as well as being able to predict its future state affected by the human interventions such as land use change and urbanization.

The program consists of three phases: (1) Setting up of distributed hydrological models in selected watersheds Incorporating reservoir operations and other water management options, (2) Coupling to short and long term climatic forecasts to develop appropriate policy scenarios, and (3) Dissemination over Internet targeting practitioners and policy makers. Implementation has started in 4 Asian countries with educational and governmental partner institutions, building on past work and existing networks and supported by different partnerships as below.

 

 

Partners

 

- Mekong basin studies supported by CREST program of the Japan Science and Technology Corporation;
- Kothmale Basin (Sri Lanka) supported by the PUB initiative of the International
Association of Hydrological Science;
- Chao Phraya Basin (Thailand) in association with Asian Institute of Technology;
- Agno River Basin (Philippines) with University of Philippines.

  Focal point Dr. Srikantha Herath Dr. Akiyuki Kawasaki Sidat Atapattu
  More details WM3: Water Modeling, Monitoring & Managing
 



26 June 2007

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