1. ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN IN THE PERIOD SEPTEMBER 1996 - MAY 1998 1.1 Meetings of the IHP National Committee
1.1.1 Decisions regarding the composition of the National Committee
Since 1996 the Italian National Committee co-ordinates the Italian contribution to IHP of UNESCO.
The National Committee consists of research leaders from the main research institutes and universities which are active in the field of hydrology and water-resources management. Since 1996 the Italian National Committee has met five times in order to consult directors of concerned ministeries, responsible for national and international water policy and science and education policy, with the objective of discussing policy headlines, progress and bottlenecks of programme execution and potential common activities. The composition of the National Committee is given in the Annex.
1.1.2 Status of IHP-IV activities
1.1.3 Decisions regarding contribution to/participation in MP-V
The Italian contribution to the implementation of the fifth phase of the International Hydrological Programme (1996-2001) is focused on some projects considered priorities and of particular interest among the 3 1 projects inserted in the general document and grouped into eight general themes. Italian co-operation in the IHP framework involves:
. national activities, following the general scientific research programmes and with the partnership of the Italian hydrological community;
. individual activities carried out by experts in UNESCO Working Groups constituted for the implementation of various IHP projects;
l development of international activities for transfer of knowledge and information in a co-ordinated way.
The projects in which the Italian community is directly involved are:
l Vegetation, land use and erosion urocesses (Proiect 2.1);
l Sedimentation processes in reservoirs and deltas (Project 2.2);
l Groundwater contamination inventory (Project 3.1);
l Groundwater contamination due to urban development (Proiect 3.4);
l Agricultural threats to groundwater resources (Proiect 3.5);
l Non-structural measures for water management problems (Proiect 4.3).
Furthermore, Italy is also interested in:
l Proiect 1 .I - Application of methods of hydrological analysis using regional data sets - Flow Regimes from International Experiment and Network Data Sets).
UNESCO-IHP has invited the Italian scientific community to attend the activities of projects:
l 2.3. and 2.4 on Ecohydrological processes, and in the subproject on “Urban Development and freshwater resources management in coastal regions”.
1.2 Activities at a national level in the framework of the MP 1.2.1 National/local scientific and technical meetings
The Italian contribution consisted in the organization, in co-operation with the National Group for Prevention of Hydrogeological Hazards (GNDCI) and the Archivio di Stat0 (National Archives), of two workshops:
l FromJlooded areas tojlooding areas, organized in Rome, 17 December 1997.
l The Tiber risks: river models in history, organized in Rome, 23 April 1998.
1.2.2 Participation in IHP Steering Committees/Working Groups
The projects in which the Italian community is directly involved in Working Groups are:
Vegetation, land use and erosion nrocesses (Proiect 2.1): The Italian representative is Prof.
B. Sirangelo of Calabria University. He is a member of the specific UNESCO/IHP working group, and takes part in the review activity of the current state-of-the-art relating to topics of main interest in the project.
Sedimentation processes in reservoirs and deltas (Proiect 2.2): the Italian representative is Prof. G. Di Silvio of Padua University, member of the specific UNESCO/IHP working group. A monograph on catastrophic floods and on debris flow is in progress; furthermore, many activities in support of organization of workshops, training courses and technical documentation are carried out.
Groundwater contamination inventory (Proiect 3.1): the Italian representative is Dr Giuliano of the National Research Council (CNR); as a direct contribution to IHP, and in co-operation with the National Group for Prevention of Hydrogeological Hazards (GNDCI), an inventory of the quality of groundwater resources destined to potable uses is in progress.
Groundwater contamination due to urban development (Project 3.4): the Italian representative is Prof. Civita of the Turin Polytechnic, member of the specific UNESCO/IHP working group. At the moment he is collaborating with the other members of the working group in order to prepare a state-.
of-the-art report on the subject of the project.
Agricultural threats to groundwater resources (Proiect 3.5): for this project Italy declared its high interest both to the Secretariat and to ROSTE Venice. ROSTE Venice represents the agency that will carry out the project, on the basis of the wide availability of know-how and previous experience in the topics of the project. The project, however, due to budgetary constraints, was not implemented in
1997. For this project we have again communicated our proposal of co-operation.
Non-structural measures for water management problems (Proiect 4.3): the Italian contribution, due to the delay of UNESCO-IHP in starting activities on the project, consisted in organizing, in co-operation with the National Group for Prevention of Hydrogeological Hazards (GNDCI) and the Archivio di Stato (National Archives), two workshops (see item 1.2.1.).
Furthermore, Italy is interested also in Proiect 1.1 - Application of methods of hydrological analysis using regional data sets - Flow Regimes from International Experiment and Network Data Sets), with Prof. P. Versace (of Calabria University) who is involved in the activities of the FRIEND-AMHY Group, related to many studies of the hydrological processes in the Alpine and Mediterranean environment.
UNESCO-IHP has invited the Italian scientific community to attend the activities of projects 2.3. and 2.4 on Ecohydrological processes, with Prof. M. Braioni (of Padua University), that is appointed the Italian “focal point”; and in the subproject on “Urban development and freshwater resources management in coastal regions”, where Prof. G. Barrocu (of Cagliari University) is nominated Italian expert in the implementation committee of the IHP project.
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1.2.3 Research/applied projects supported or sponsored
Another relevant activity is the proposal (from Prof. I. Becchi of Florence University) of constitution of a museum of flood phenomena in Florence.
1.2.4 Collaboration with other national and international organizations/programmes
Italian hydrologists collaborate with countless international organizations and programmes. Some of the organizations include the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and others (e.g. IAHS, ICID, WHO, UNEP).
1.2.5 Other initiatives
1.3 Educational and training courses
Italy has a variety of university courses both at masters level and at PhD level in hydrology and hydrogeology.
1.3.1 Contribution to MP courses 1.3.2 Organization of specific courses 1.3.3 Participation in IHP courses 1.4 Publications
1.5 Participation in international scientific meetings 1.5.1 Meetings hosted by the country
See item 1.2.1.
1.5.2 Participation in meetings abroad
1.6 Other activities at regional level 1.6.1 Institutional relations/co-operation
1.6.2 Completed and ongoing scientific projects
2. FUTURE ACTIVITIES
2.1 Activities foreseen until December 1999
In addition to research in progress about the IHP, it is also scheduled for spring of 1999 to hold an exhibition on “The Rome River Behaviour in History”. This exhibition will be organized, in co-operation with the National Group for Prevention of Hydrogeological Hazards (GNDCI) and the Archivio di Stato (National Archives). Videos, CDs and many other multimedia products will be produced and some original documents, related to many hysterical floods in the past, will be showed.
2.2 Activities planned for 2000-2001
It is programmed for the year 2000 to institute a particular kind of museum (the flood phenomena museum in Florence). This exhibition will be focused on the flooding problems of the city of Florence and will be built so as to be of satisfaction not only to the general public, such as tourists and scholars,
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but also of use to specialists such as scientists. The museum space is arranged around a hybrid model, hydraulic and mathematical, of the city, particularly designed to simulate the flooding through the city and allow the calibration of more sophisticated models. On the sidelines of this special workshop a lot of documentation will be prepared to illustrate the geomorphological and historical aspects of the flooding as well as the modem aids of real time monitoring systems to control the catchment hydrological behaviour, and of virtual reality that can allow people to feel the flooding experience.
2.3 Activities envisaged in the long term Not yet foreseen.
ANNEX
Italian National Committee for UNESCO-MP (May 1998)
Prof. Vincenzo Cotecchia
Ministry of Civil Protection and University of Rome “Roma Tre”
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Defence - Geographical Institute Ministry of Defence - Meteorological Service Ministry of Defence - Hydrographical Institute of the Navy
Ministry of University and Scientific Research Secretary of Italian Committee for UNESCO University of Padova and International Centre of Hydrology “Din0 Tonini”
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