The 31st IHP Regional Steering Committee Meeting for Asia and the Pacific was held during October 29-30, 2024 in Seoul, Republic of Korea. Representatives from 14 countries from Asia and the Pacific participated in the meeting. Prof. LIU Cheng, Prof. SHI Hongling and Dr. ZHAO Ying from IRTCES attended the meeting online and reported updates of the Center.
The region of Asia-Pacific has played significant roles in implementing UNESCO’s water programmes through International Hydrological Decade (1965-1974) and continued through Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (IHP) from 1975 to the present. The programmes contribute to achieving the targets of SDGs and those of other water-related goals in the region. The remarkable development in Asia and the Pacific to deliver IHP programmes is the establishment of the Regional Steering Committee (RSC-AP) in 1993. Since then, it has been crucial in shaping UNESCO’s water programmes to address water problems such as water scarcity, water-related disasters, and water education at a regional level.
The objectives of the RSC-AP main meeting and side meetings are to report, evaluate, and share knowledge and information on various activities carried out within the framework of IHP in different actors of the UNESCO Water Family in the Asia-Pacific region. During the 31st Session of the RSC-AP held on October 30, Prof. LIU Cheng from IRTCES made a presentation online, summarizing and reviewing a series of water-related activities organized and carried out under the UNESCO IHP-IX Strategic Plan (2022-2029), through which contributing to the 5 Priority Areas of the IHP-IX, and sharing China's concepts, experiences, and solutions in water conservancy and sediment management to the world. At the same time, the Center’s future activity plans and opportunities were introduced, expressing IRTCES’s willingness to exchange and share China's wisdom and experience in water and sediment management, as well as soil and water conservation, with countries in the Asia-Pacific region, to make greater contributions to the IHP-IX.
