Introduction
This report is to serve as the reply to the request dated 14 June 1996, Ref. No. SC/HYD/S846 (572/l 160.2) by IHP Secretariat. It follows the format suggested by IHP Secretariat and consists of two main parts. Part 1 deals with the activities undertaken in the period January 1995-August 1996 while part 2 briefly describes the activity programme for the period ending in 2001; efforts have been made to break down the activity programme into separate two-year periods.
1. Activities undertaken in the period January 1995-August 1996 1.1 Meetings of the IHP National Committee
1.1.1 Decisions regarding the composition of the IHP National Committee
Following UNESCO’s programme for the International Hydrological Decade (1965-1975), the Iranian National Committee for Hydrology was conceived and established to commence its activities in Iran. After the Islamic Revolution in Iran, The lranian IHP National Committee’s activities resumed in pursuit of the single article adopted on 29 June 1980 by the Revolutionary Council of the Islamic Republic of b-an. The present composition of the IHP NatCom follows the article adopted on 20 September 1987 by the Iranian Administration, which reaffu-med the Committee’s ongoing activities at that time. Members on the Committee are selected from among authorities and experts involved in educational, research, and administrative work in various governmental departments. Upon nomination by the concerned departments, the fourteen members selected receive appointment by the Minister of Culture and Higher Education for a two-year term of ofice. Presently, the Committee consists of the following members:
Affiliation
- Ministry of Energy
- Ministry of Culture and Higher Education - Ministry of Agriculture
- Ministry of Jihad-e-Sazandegi - Plan and Budget Organisation
(Division of Water Resources)
- Environmental Protection Organisation - Iranian Meteorological Organisation - Iranian National Commission for UNESCO
Number of members
The following list contains the major projects the lranian lHP NatCom has been actively involved in:
Project H-l -2
- Organising the Third National Seminar on River Engineering; Ahwaz, 1994.
- Organising the National Seminar on Erosion and Sedimentation; Noor, 1995.
Project H-2-l
- The Regional Conference on Climate Change, held in Tehran, May 1996 with support from UNESCO and W M O as well as more than 15 national organisations. Experts from 28 countries attended the event. The conference was opened by the First Vice-President of the I.R. of Iran. As the conference themes were of interest to different sectors, Ministers and Deputy Ministers from the relevant ministries attended and delivered speeches in their fields of concern to the conference.
Project H-2-2
- Efforts in the establishment of an Intergovernmental Committee on the Caspian Sea level change and its coastal protection; the draft for the Committee’s Constitution has been prepared and presented to the riparian states for its finalization in near future.
- Organising the Regional Symposium on the Caspian Sea level change; Ramsar (a coastal city in Iran), 1993.
Project H-4-2
- Organising the First National Seminar on Ice and Snow Hydrology; Urumia, 1994.
Project H-S-2
- Organising the International Symposium on Water Resources in Karst Formations with emphasis on arid and semi-arid zones; Shiraz, 1993.
- Organising the First National Conference on Groundwater Resources with emphasis on the management of groundwater resources in arid and semi-arid zones; Kerman, 1994.
- Organising two workshops on Karst Water Resources Exploration in 1994 & 1995.
- Organising the Regional Conference on Water Resources Management, WRM ‘95; Isfahan, 1995. The conference was opened by the keynote address made by Mr. Bijan Zangeneh, the Minister of Energy, and over 600 water resources managers, experts and scholars across the world, particularly those from the countries in the region participated in it. The conference was a success in that it could address water problems of concern to countries in the region. One of the key elements in lifting the problems emphasised by all participants was the enhancement of international and regional scientific and technical co-operation. This point received particular emphasis in the opening message of H. E. the President Hashemi Rafsanjani to the conference.
International keynote speakers at the conference were Prof. Daniel P. Lou&s from USA and Dr.
Andras Sziilliisi- Nagy, B-JP Secretary. Workshops, exhibitions and technical sightseeing tours were organised as complementary programmes to the conference.
- Setting up a working group to plan for a second conference on the issue to be held in IHP-V period.
Project M-3-3(a)
- Organising the National Conference on Water and Wastewater Management in Urban Areas;
Tehran, 1994.
I. I .3 Decisions regarding contribution to/participation in IHP-V
- Participation in the process of planning for IHP-V through examining the programme draft and reporting the Iranian IHP NatCom’s views to the UNESCO Secretariat in Paris and participating in the Eleventh session of Lntergovemmental Council.
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- Making decisions on projects recognised as appropriate for national interests to participate in/contribute to at national, regional and international levels. The list of projects includes 17 out of the 3 1 projects under
IHP-V:
Project 1.1: Application of methods of hydrological analysis using regional data sets Project 1.3: Hydrological interpretation of global change predictions
Project 2.1: Vegetation, land use and erosion processes Project 2.2: Sedimentation processes in reservoirs and deltas Project 3.1: Groundwater contamination inventory
Project 3.2: Monitoring strategies for detecting groundwater quality problems Project 3.4: Groundwater contamination due to urban development
Project 3.5: Agricultural threats to groundwater reseurces
Project 4.3: Non-structural measures for water management problems Project 5.2: Water resources assessment in arid and semiarid zones
Project 5.3: Water resources management for sustainable development in arid and semi-arid zones Project 5.4: Coping with water scarcity
Project 7.2: Surface and groundwater management in urban environment Project 8.1: Formal education at all levels
Project 8.2: Continuing education and professional training at all levels Project 8.3: Transfer of information and Technology
Project 8.4: Public awareness issues related to hydrology - Operational planning for participation in lHP-V programmes
The operational plan set forth for the participation of the Iranian RIP NatCom in IHP-V period 1996-200 includes the following three major parts:
I) General activities: These activities are such that -if properly implemented- will promote and strengthen the participation of the Iranian IHP NatCom in MP-V. Details on these activities are given in Table 1 (Future Activities).
II) Activities concerning resolutions: In the Eleventh session of the Intergovernmental Council, 12 resolutions were adopted addressing some issues on organising, managing and capacity-building for IHP activities. Three of the above-mentioned resolutions have been selected as appropriate for national interests.
The Iranian lHP NatCom intends to plan for the exploitation of the results obtained from activities undertaken by other states in implementing and actualising these resolutions and it also wishes to plan for a nation-wide programme of participation in actualising the three resolutions (Table 2).
III) Activities concerning IHP-V Projects: As listed above, 17 projects out of the 3 1 MP-V projects have been selected which will constitute the greatest portion of the Iranian lHP NatCom for the years 1996-2001.
This, of course, does not exclude involvement in other projects. It is rather to be interpreted as giving priority to the 17 projects listed above. If, however,‘a.ny member of the NatCom or their departments ever find any other one of the MP-V projects of interest to their organisations and/or to national interests, they may participate in them as required. In selecting the above projects, adequate consideration has been given to the objectives of projects as stated in the MP-V document and its operational guide provisioned in the document for its implementation. The activities have, thereupon, been organised at three national, regional and international levels.
To ensure effective and timely implementation of the activities adopted by the lranian II-IP NatCom, the following measures have been taken:
- Individuals/organisations have been made responsible for each activity.
- The financial needs for each project/activity have been estimated and the funding sources have been determined.
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- According to the above items, the details for each project/activity have been exploited and ratified by the Iranian IHP NatCom.
- IHP NatCom regularly reviews project progress reports and performance evaluation for each individual/organisation involved.
1.2 Activities at a national level in the framework of the IHP 1.2. I National/local scientific and technical meetings
- The National Seminar on Erosion and Sedimentation
This seminar was held on 13-16 May, 1995 based on the proposal by the Iranian IHP NatCom. The seminar . was organised by the Ministry of Jihad-e-Sazandegi with support from a number of national organisations.
More than 300 specialists from Iran, the Republic of Azerbaijan and India took part in the event and 33 papers were presented to the seminar. In parallel with the seminar, technical panel discussions and several workshops were offered on the Estimation and Measuring Techniques of Sediment Loads, River Engineering, Land Slide, GIS and DEM. A technical visit to various watershed management activities in the Province of Mazandaran was arranged for the last day of the meeting.
- Seminar on Ice and Snow Hydrology
Upon proposal by the Iranian IHP NatCom, Western Azarbaijan Regional Water Corp., with support from Water Resources Research Organisation, Iranian Meteorological Organisation, and Iranian Remote Sensing Centre organised the First Seminar on Ice and Snow Hydrology in January 1995, in the city of Urumia.
Twenty papers were presented to the Seminar by experts from Iran, Norway, Nepal and India during the three days of the seminar. A technical visit was also arranged for the last day to snow measurement stations in the region. One of the valuable results from this seminar was the suggestion for the establishment of an ice and snow research centre in Urumia, the implementation of which is presently underway.
In addition to the above meetings, there have been several national/local meetings which are not mentioned here due to shortage of space.
1.2.2 Participation in II-B’ Steering Committees/Working Groups
One of the candidates of the Iranian IHP NatCom has been nominated at the twenty-third meeting of the IHP Bureau as a member of the working group for project 7.2.
12.3 Research/applied projects supported or sponsored
The major role of the Iranian II-0 NatCom, with the composition described above, is to introduce II-IF’
programmes across the nation and encourage administrative organisations and research and scientific centres in Iran to participate in the formulation and implementation of relevant projects. Recent surveys show that over 100 research and applied projects are being carried out in Iran which are related to IHP programmes. Some of these projects are described below:
- Development of a National Water Data Network
As water resources planning and management for sustainable development would not be feasible without recourse to adequate hydrological information and data, Water Resources Research Organisation embarked on the development of a National Water Data Bank in 1993. A significant feature of this Data Bank is its compatibility with regional and international data banks. Future plans for this Data Bank include:
- developing a national water data network
- linkage to regional and international data banks such as GRDC - Watershed management
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The following are some of the projects conducted by the Ministry of Jihad-e-Sazandegi in watershed management:
- Establishing several erosion and sediment measuring stations across the country with collaboration from UNDP/FAO
- Monitoring soil erosion in Iran
- Planning a Watershed Management Institute in collaboration with ITC (The Netherlands)
- Surface and groundwater contamination investigations in fifteen provinces being conducted by Environmental Protection Organisation
I .2.4 Collaboration with other national and international organisations/programmes
- At the national level: As mentioned earlier, the composition of the Iranian IHP NatCom is such that all ministries’ and organisations’ contribution to and/or participation in IHP programmes is made feasible through active membership of their authorised representatives in the Committee. A vast collaboration, therefore, now holds between the Iranian IHP NatCom and national organisations and NGOs such as National Scientific Research Council (Water Research Commission), universities, Iranian Association of
Water Resources, and Iranian Hydraulic Association.
- International collaboration: In addition to efforts in maintaining relations with regional and international organisations such as IAH, ESCAP, WMO, UNEP, UNDP, WHO, IAHS, etc., the Committee’s efforts through the Ministry of Energy of the Islamic Republic of Iran over the past two years have been focused on the establishment of an intergovernmental committee for the Caspian Sea level change and its coastal protection. A draft constitution for the committee has been prepared and forwarded to the riparian states for examination. The establishment of this intergovernmental committee can promise better grounds for co- operation among these states on issues concerning the Caspian Sea.
1.2.5 Other initiatives
- The Iranian IHP NatCom has put forth the idea for the establishment of the Iranian Association of Water Resources and as a result of the Committee’s follow up the Association was established in January 1995.
The Association is a non-profit institution whose main tasks are as follows:
- Establishing and promoting scientific relations between and among scholars and researchers in the fields of water sciences and engineering at national, regional, and international levels
- Collaboration with administrative, research and scientific institutions in examining and revising plans as well as educational and research programmes
- Encouragement and remuneration of distinguished researchers and scholars in the field - Offering educational and research services
- Formation of working groups at national, regional, and international levels - Publication of scientific materials and research findings
The Society currently has 250 members who offer services in the three working groups of hydrology, water resources management, and environmental studies.
- A Speciality Committee on Erosion and Sedimentation has been established at the Ministry of Jihad-e- Sazandegi following IHP NatCom’s suggestion and support.
- Constant follow up for establishing the National Institute of Hydrology, defining its organisational standpoint, developing its constitution, and affiliating the Institute to the Ministry of Energy.
- Distribution of UNESCO application forms for post vacancies among qualified specialists, and evaluation of applicants, and setting up an archive of the details of specialists in the water industry for due use.
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1.3 Educational and training courses 1.3.1 Contribution to IHP courses
No international IHIP courses have been organised.
1.3.2 Organisation of scientific courses
- A one-week training course was held by Water Resources Research Organisation in April 1996 on Bedload Measurement on one of the rivers around Tehran. The course which was supported by UNESCO enjoyed the participation of two specialists from Koblenz Institute of Hydrology (Germany). Forty-six engineers and technicians from regional water boards and other related organisations across the nation took part in the course.
1.3.3 Participation in IHP courses
- Four staff members from research centres and institutes afftliated to the Ministry of Energy took part in the Sediment Technology postgraduate courses held in Ankara, Turkey in 1995 and ‘96. Another member was nominated to take part in the postgraduate course on Hydrology at the University of Roorkee, India in 1996.
I.4 Publications
- The Proceedings of the International Symposium on Karst Water Resources (Shiraz, 1993) published in hbo volumes, 966 pages, containing 57 papers by experts from 2 1 countries. The Proceedings is available at:
Symposium Secretariat,
Water Resources Research Organisation, P.O.Box 15875-358-1, Tehran, Iran.
- The Proceedings of the First Seminar on Ice and Snow Hydrology (Urumia, 1995) published in Farsi. It is available at:
Seminar Secretariat, Surface Water Division,
Water Resources Research Organisation, P.O.Box 15875-3584,Tehran, IRAN.
-The Abstracts of the National Seminar on Erosion and Sedimentation (Noor, 1995). The Proceedings is under publication. Further information can be obtained from:
Seminar Secretariat,
ilfinistry of Jihad-e-Sazandegi, Shahid Khiabanian Bldg.,
Jihad Sq., Dr. Fatemi St., Tehran, IFL4N.
- The Proceedings of the Regional Conference on Water Resources Management, WRM ‘95 (Isfahan, 1995), including 104 papers in 829 pages. The Proceedings is available at:
Conference Secretariat, Dept. of Civil Engrg.,
lsfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, IRAN.
- The Abstracts of the First Conference on Climate Change (Tehran, 1996), including 40 abstracts. The Proceedings is under publication. Further information can be obtained from:
Conference Secretariat,
P.O.Box 13 185-46 1, Tehran, IRAN.
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- Publication of a brochure introducing the constitution, objectives, and activities of the Iranian
IHP
NatCom as well as IHP Programmes (in Farsi).
1.5 Participation in international scientific meetings 1.5.1 Meetings hosted by Iran
IHP NatCom members actively participate in meetings held in Iran, I .5.2 Participation in meetings abroad
The information, brochures, call for papers, etc. of international meetings are regularly disseminated by the Iranian National Commission for UNESCO to universities, research centres and administrative departments.
Scholars and specialists from Iran have been attending these meetings.
1.6 Other activities at a regional level I .6. I Institutional relations/co-operation
- One of the most important endeavors by the Iranian IHP NatCom during the hvo-year period 1995-96 is the efforts put in the establishment of Regional Intergovernmental Councils. The Iranian IHP NatCom has gained support for the idea of Regional Intergovernmental Councils as subsidiary bodies of the IHP Intergovernmental Council at the eleventh session of the Intergovernmental Council and has worked on the resolution forwarded to the General Council of UNESCO in 1995 (Annex I).
- The Meeting of the IHP National Committees in South and Central Asia was held in Tehran, May 1996 at the initiative of the Iranian IHP NatCom. The delegates from IHP NatComs in the region unanimously approved the idea of establishing the IHP Regional Intergovernmental Councils. The recommendation concerning the issue is included in Annex II.
I .6.2 Completed and ongoing scientific projects
Climatic and hydrological similarities, transboundary water resources, water resources shortage and scarcity and the subsequent problems together with the cultural relationships existing among the nations in the region necessitate a mutual/multi-lateral collaboration to strengthen and promote hydrological activities at a regional level through closer relations among the lHP National Committees. Certain common activities aimed at achieving sustainable development in the nations in the region include:
- Evaluating the basic data collection network on hydrology, strengthening the network, and setting up a data exchange system;
- Studying climate change, time and space variation of hydrological regimes and recognising processes highly influencing these regimes Ksing regional data analysis;
- Collaborating in studies/investigations on water resources quality and quantity and offering necessary recommendations for environmental impact assessment of water projects;
- Providing appropriate conditions and facilities for conducting joint research projects on hydrology;
- Establishing and promoting relations and collaboration between and among research centres and researchers in the concerned countries;
- Studying and introducing methods of enhancing public awareness of water resources and their utilisation, conservation, and protection.
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2. Future Activities
As vtas mentioned earlier in 1.1.3, the activity programme of the Iranian IHP NatCom for the period 1996- 2001 has been adopted in three main parts. The details for each activity in the three parts are presented in Tables 1 through 3. The most salient of these activities are:
2.1 Activities foreseen until the December 1997
- A case study on watershed management to be carried out by the Ministry of Jihad-e-Sazandeg with collaboration from UNDP/FAO
- Organising annual workshops on land erosion by the Ministry of Jihad-e-Sazandegi - Organising a regional advanced training course on river-bed morphology
- Assessment of the national situation of groundwater contamination
- Trace studies and groundwater quality determination in a pilot study in desert areas in Iran - Investigation of groundwater contamination due to urban development in Tehran
- Follow-up of the establishment of the IHP Regional Intergovernmental Council - Collaboration in the preparation of the national water research programme
37 && Activities planned for 1998- 1999
- Holding of a regional seminar on agricultural threats to groundwater resources
- Holding of a regional seminar on agricultural threats to groundwater resources