The 9th FRIEND-Water Global Conference was held from September 25 to 29, 2023 in Dakar, Senegal at the University Cheikh Anta Diop. About 150 academics, researchers, and students Scientists gathered in Dakar from across the subregion and around the world to share their knowledge, results, ideas and discussions about hydrological sciences. The scientific program included symposia, workshops, lectures and special events. Totally 131 presentations were made in 5 topics, which are: Ecohydrology, Climate change and water resources resilience, Bridging the data-knowledge gaps in hydrology, Spatial hydrology, and Large rivers management. The FRIEND IHP-IX workshop was held on September 28 for discussion on the future of the FRIEND-Water programme. Two training workshops, Early warning systems for hydrological extremes and hydrometry and Ecohydrology and vulnerability modelling, were organized on September 29 and September 30 to October 3, respectively.
FRIEND-Water (Flow Regime from International Experimental and Network Data) is an international collaborative network of experts of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (IHP). Established in 1985, it aims to generate new understanding about regional hydrology and multi-scale water cycle processes. FRIEND-Water is investigating long-term variations and changes in hydrological regimes to better understand the climate and river basin controls, as well as influence of humans on the spatial and temporal distribution of water. The FRIEND-Water initiative is currently structured in 8 regional groups: West and Central Africa, Europe, Mediterranean, Latin America and Caribbean, Southern Africa, Asia Pacific, Nile, Congo.
The FRIEND-Water programme complements and interacts with many national and international projects and initiatives: the Ecohydrology-IHP, the International Sediment Initiative (ISI), the International Drought Initiative (IDI), the International Floods Initiative (IFI), the Global Network on Water and Development Information for Arid Lands (GWADI), the WMO/GWP Integrated Drought Management Programme (IDMP), the World's Large Rivers Initiative (WLRI), among others.
The Global FRIEND conference takes place every 4 years with previous editions in Norway, Germany, Slovenia, South Africa, Cuba, Morocco, France and China.
Prof. Cheng Liu and Prof. Hongling Shi from the International Research and Training Center on Erosion and Sedimentation (IRTCES) and the ISI Secretariat attended the 9th FRIEND-Water Global Conference and made a presentation ‘The International Sediment Initiative (ISI) and its case studies on sediment management in river basins’. During the conference, they had discussions on ISI activities and future collaborations with Dr. Koen Verbist from UNESCO IHP Secretariat, Dr. Stephan Dietrich from the International Centre for Water Resources and Global Change, Dr. Eric Servat from the International Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Water Systems Dynamics (ICIREWARD), Prof. Mohamed Meddi of the 6th term Council member of WASER and other participants.
