ICHARM participated UNESCO's international conference and organized a side event

UNESCO held a hybrid international conference, “Climate Risk, Vulnerability and Resilience Building,” at its headquarters in Paris, France, from April 19 to 21. Taking advantage of this opportunity where climate change experts gathered from around the world, ICHARM organized a side event, “Cross-cutting Research on Hydrological Systems, Rivers, Climate Risk and Water-Food-Energy Nexus,” on the 19th.

Executive Director KOIKE Toshio participated in a panel session on "Science-Policy Discussion Panel: Bridging the gap between science and the different scales of decision making for climate risk management" on the 19th and made a speech on the integrated knowledge system and other topics. Researcher KAKINUMA Daiki gave a presentation on the development of a real-time flash flood prediction system using data assimilation for small and medium-sized rivers during “Technical session 3: State of the art: Tools for flood monitoring - Part 1" on the afternoon of the 19th. Senior Researcher MIYAMOTO Mamoru delivered a presentation on the development of an integrated system and multilayered governance for flood resilience enhancement during the "Technical session 1: Innovative participatory approaches, tools and methodologies supporting citizen science" on the afternoon of May 20.

During the conference, the ICHARM researchers exchanged views on cutting-edge research and development in various countries with other researchers, gaining insights into international trends and needs in science and technology. They were particularly impressed by the significant advancements in remote sensing technology using satellites, which holds great potential to contribute to future research activities at ICHARM.

＜Report on the side event＞
Taking advantage of the opportunity where climate change experts gathered from around the world, ICHARM organized a side event, “Cross-cutting Research on Hydrological Systems, Rivers, Climate Risk and Water-Food-Energy Nexus,” on the 19th.

The following declarations have been issued in recent years to raise worldwide awareness about the frequent occurrence of global water problems:

• Bonn Declaration (High-level Ministerial Meeting on SDG 6, July 2021)
• Kumamoto Declaration and Chairman's Statement (Asia-Pacific Water Summit, April 2022)
• Co-Chair Declaration on Water for Climate, Resilience and Environment (the UN Water Conference, March 2023)

In order to implement these statements effectively, it is essential to encourage cross-disciplinary collaboration, link advanced science and technology with individual actions, and train skilled individuals who can lead their implementation. For these purposes, ICHARM hosted the side event to provide an opportunity where the representatives of the UNESCO category-2 centers (C2C) came together to discuss strategies and plans to put the statements into practice under the framework of the 9th UNESCO Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme for the 2022-2029 period (UNESCO IHP-IX). UNESCO IHP has set up three cross-cutting thematic working groups to execute their plans, and ICHARM Executive Director KOIKE Toshio currently chairs the group that focuses on "hydrological systems, rivers, climate risk and water-food-energy nexus."

At the beginning of the side event, the executive director explained the purpose of the event, and the participants viewed a video of the chairman's statement that Mr. Csaba Kolosi, the president of the United Nations General Assembly, delivered at the UN Water Conference on March 24. Then, the following five C2C representatives gave presentations on their respective themes:

	1.	Toshio KOIKE, ICHARM: Scientific research and innovation
	2.	Eddy Moors, IHE Delft: Water Education in the Fourth Industrial Revolution including Sustainability
	3.	Luna Bharati, International Centre for Water Resources and Global Change （ICWRGC）, Bridging the data-knowledge gap
	4.	Will Logan, International Center on Integrated Water Resources Management （ICIWaRM）: Integrated water resources management under conditions of global change
	5.	John Rowan, Centre for Water Law, Policy & Science (CWLPS): Water Governance based on science for mitigation, adaptation, and resilience

Following the presentations, the participants engaged in a discussion moderated by Dr. Abou Amani, the director of the Division of Water Sciences, UNESCO. They reached an agreement that the five C2C would work together on a research project aimed at addressing water issues in Africa, with the goal of promoting cross-sectoral and integrated multilateral collaboration.