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| The
16th Session of the IHP Intergovernmental Council |
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Date: 20-24 September, 2004
Venue: UNESCO H.Q. (Paris, France)
Participants: Dr. Tadahiko SAKAMOTO
Mr. Shigenobu TAZOU
Mr. Akira Terakawa
Mr. Daisuke KURIBAYASHI
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The 16th session of the IHP Intergovernmental Council
was held from September 20 to 24, 2004, at the UNESCO
H.Q. (Paris, France). (IHP stands for International Hydrological
Programme.)
At the conference, the future activities of IHP were discussed.
The establishment of a number of new UNESCO-IHP centers
was also taken up as a part of the reinforcement of relationships
among international organizations. On behalf of PWRI,
Dr. SAKAMOTO, Mr. TAZOU, Mr. TERAKAWA and Mr. KURIBAYASHI
attended the conference and introduced the establishment
project for the International Centre for Water Hazard
and Risk Management under the auspices of UNESCO (UNESCO-CHARM)
(tentative name), which is planned to be established inside
PWRI in autumn 2005, and organized various events to help
the delegates of the council understand more about the
center. |
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Presentation about UNESCO-CHARM
by Dr. SAKAMOTO
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I.
Presentation about UNESCO-CHARM by Dr. SAKAMOTO
At the beginning of the second day's session, Dr. SAKAMOTO
made a presentation about UNESCO-CHARM. (Chick here: PPT file) He explained the preparatory activities which have
been made so far, the planned activities of the center and
its future schedule.
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From the floor, we accepted
many supportive comments.
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After
his explanation, 25 countries and 2 international organizations
had made comments to support the establishment of the center.
Dr. SZOLLOSI-NAGY, (Director of Division of Water Science and
Deputy Assistant Director General for Natural Sciences, UNESCO)
and other participants commented that this was the first time
for them to see such overwhelmingly supportive reactions.
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Fumiko SAKAMOTO
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Reception hosted by PWRI
After the first day's session, Dr. SAKAMOTO, Chief Executive
of PWRI, hosted a reception party. At the entrance, Dr. SAKAMOTO
and his wife, Mrs. Fumiko SAKAMOTO, warmly welcomed the participants.
About 250 people participated in the reception and they were
satisfied with Japanese foods such as Sushi, Tempura and Japanese
sake. The reception was a great success.
One of the participants commented that this was the most impressive
reception he ever had in his 34-year-IHP activities.
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the reception hall |
Presentation about UNESCO-CHARM
by Mr. TERAKAWA |
Side Event
During a break time of the second day's session, we held
a side event to help the delegates know the outline of PWRI's
activities and the objectives of UNESCO-CHARM. In the event,
we made a video presentation about PWRI and Mr. TERAKAWA made
a presentation about UNESCO-CHARM (Chick here: PPT
file). Each participant was served lunch and listened
to the presentations in a relaxed manner. We gathered 80 participants
and held active discussions about the research activities
of the center and its staff recruitment. The 45 minutes allocated
to us for the side event including the 20-minute- presentation
passed too soon.
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Conversation between
Mr. MATSUURA, Director-General of UNESCO, and Dr. SAKAMOTO |
Conversation between Mr. MATSUURA, Director-General of UNESCO,
and Dr. SAKAMOTO
At the first day,
we visited Mr. Kouichirou MATSUURA, Director-General of UNESCO,
and had a conversation about UNESCO-CHARM among other things.
Mr. MATSUURA commented that they appointed 'WATER' as a priority
area in the science sector of UNESCO and made a commitment to
strongly support the establishment of UNESCO-CHARM.
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Adoption of resolution
On the final day, 21 resolutions were proposed and 6 were finally
adopted, including the establishment of UNESCO-CHARM. From now, we
are going to carry forward necessary procedures to get the approval
of the UNESCO Executive Committee in spring 2005 and get the final
and official approval from the 191 UNESCO member countries at the
General Conference scheduled in autumn 2005.
Lastly, we especially express our deepest gratitude to Mr. IMAMURA (from MLIT, Japan) and other Japanese staff members of UNESCO for helping us throughout the sessions.
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