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World Meteorological OrganizationCOMMISSION FOR HYDROLOGYFifteenth SessionRome, Italy, 7 to 13 December 2016

CHy-15/Doc. 2Submitted by:

Chairperson8.XII.2016

APPROVED

AGENDA ITEM 2: REPORT ON THE HYDROLOGY AND WATER RESOURCES PROGRAMME

SUMMARY

DECISIONS/ACTIONS REQUIRED:

Request CHy-15 to review, revise and adopt the draft text for inclusion in the general summary.

CONTENT OF DOCUMENT:

The Table of Contents is available only electronically as a Document Map*.DRAFT TEXT TO BE INCLUDED IN THE GENERAL SUMMARY

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CHy-15/Doc. 2, DRAFT 1APPROVED, p. 2

2. REPORT ON THE HYDROLOGY AND WATER RESOURCES PROGRAMME

2.1 Report by the president of the Commission

2.1.1 The Commission noted the report of the president of the Commission for Hydrology, Mr Harry Lins (USA) included in the Annex 1, and commended him on the progress achieved by the Commission during the past intersessional period. The Commission discussed the future directions proposed by the president and … thanked him for his leadership and dedication to the success of the Commission.

2.2 Reports by the Advisory Working Group members

2.2.1 The Commission noted the reports of the Advisory Working Group (AWG) members (see CHy-15/INF. 2.2 Annex 2) and expressed appreciation for the contribution that they had made to the coordination and delivery of the activities of the Commission with the assistance of OPACHEs during the past intersessional period. The following AWG members (or their representative) presented their reports:

(a) Vice-president of CHy - Zhiyu Liu (China);(b) Water, Climate and Risk Management - Jan Danhelka (Czech Republic);(c) Data Operations and Management - Tony Boston (Australia);(d) Invited expert responsible for WHOS development - Silvano Pecora (Italy);(e) Hydrological Forecasting and Prediction - Yuri Simonov (Russian Federation),

Johnson M. Maina (Kenya);(f) Water Resources Assessment - Sung Kim (Republic of Korea); Antonio Cardoso Neto

(Brazil); (g) Quality Management Framework - Hydrology - J.F. Cantin (Canada).

2.3 Report of the Secretary-General

2.3.1 The Commission noted the report of the Secretary-General on the activities undertaken in the framework of the HWRP, included in CHy-15/INF. 2.3Annex 3, and recognized the progress achieved by the joint efforts of the Commission, through its Advisory Working Group, and the WMO Secretariat during the past intersessional period.

2.4 Regional activities to the HWRP

2.4.1 The Commission noted the report of the activities undertaken through the regional associations in relation to the HWRP included in Annex 4. The Commission was also informed of the process by which the Commission ensured that the needs of the regional associations were incorporated into the work programme of the Commission, discussed in CHy-15/Doc. 7.

2.4.2 The Commission noted the overall benefits that had derived from all regional associations maintaining their working groups related to hydrology and water resources and from the inclusion of the Regional Hydrological Advisors in the Management Groups of regional associations.

__________

Annexes: 41


ANNEX 1

REPORT BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE COMMISSION

Introduction

1. The fourteenth intersessional period of the Commission for Hydrology (November 2012 to December 2016) has been unusually eventful, productive, and transformative. It has been a time during which water and the work of CHy have become more recognized as critical elements of the mission of WMO. The Commission’s participation in the priority activities of WMO (e.g., WIGOS/WIS, GFCS, DRR, etc.) has enhanced the reputation of its technical, administrative, and leadership capabilities throughout the Organization. Its active engagement with the regional associations on a broad array of technical support and capacity development issues has made it a model for other Commissions to follow. By almost every measure, the Commission for Hydrology’s ability to support the work and priorities of both the National Hydrological Services and WMO Programmes other than HWRP is stronger and more durable than at any time in recent memory. Significantly, several new opportunities have arisen, unforeseen at CHy-14, that enable dramatically improved capabilities and services for members as we enter the fifteenth intersessional period and beyond. It is from this perspective that I present the following report of CHy’s accomplishments during the fourteenth intersessional period along with an explanation of the factors affecting the activities being proposed for the fifteenth intersessional period.

2. The programme of work adopted by CHy-14 focused on five thematic priorities: Quality Management Framework – Hydrology; Data Operations and Management; Water Resources Assessment; Hydrological Forecasting and Prediction; and Water, Climate and Risk Management. The accomplishments in each of these areas have been significant and, in many cases, have far exceeded what was requested by CHy-14. Details of these accomplishments are documented in other parts of the CHy-15 report and will not be repeated here. There is one point regarding accomplishments that I will make, however, because it does not appear in any of the individual thematic reports. The success that CHy has enjoyed during the fourteenth intersessional period is largely the result of the outstanding technical and personal qualities of its Advisory Working Group members and several closely affiliated experts. These individuals not only met the requirements of their respective terms of reference, but also distinguished themselves with their technical and leadership contributions to numerous WMO task teams and working groups. It has been gratifying for me to hear from other technical commission presidents, as well as from senior managers within the WMO Secretariat, that the quality of input from the CHy AWG members and experts has been instrumental to the success of several critical WMO priorities. Clearly, CHy-14 did an excellent job in vetting and selecting its Advisory Working Group and I thank and congratulate the Commission and each AWG member for their respective efforts and contributions.

3. The remainder of this report will address three topics. Firstly, the CHy response and contributions to WMO’s role and activities on key issues at country to global levels through the decision-making bodies and mechanisms within WMO such as Congress, the Executive Council and the Meetings of Presidents of Technical Commissions. Secondly, it will describe the basis for and thinking behind the Advisory Working Group’s recommendations for CHy’s future direction, work and activities. Finally, it will address emerging challenges that affect global water resources issues and how CHy and WMO should respond to these challenges. Other aspects of the Commission’s work carried out within WMO will be addressed in several of the other reports.


WMO Congress, Executive Council, and Presidents of Technical Commission Meetings

4. During the seventeenth session of Congress (Cg-17) in 2015, I reported on the alignment of CHy activities with WMO priorities. Particular focus was given to how the ongoing work within our Quality Management Framework – Hydrology, and Data Operations and Management thematic areas were directly supporting the implementation of WIGOS and WIS; how our Hydrological Forecasting and Prediction, Water Resources Assessment, and Water, Climate and Risk Assessment themes supported WMO’s Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) efforts; and how a very broad suit of nearly all of our thematic activities supported the Global Framework for Climate Services. These linkages were also highlighted and reinforced at Executive Council (EC) and Presidents of Technical Commission (PTC) meetings.

5. CHy’s support for WIGOS and WIS is manifest in our activities associated with ensuring data quality and the use of standards, in our project to assess the performance and uncertainty of flow measurement instruments and techniques, and in our production of guidance materials and training. Perhaps of more significance, however, has been the establishment of the WMO Hydrological Observing System (WHOS), which is the centerpiece of the CHy contribution to WIGOS. WHOS is conceived as a portal to facilitate access to already available on-line real-time and historical data, drawing from the water information systems of countries around the world that make their data freely and openly available, including HYCOS projects. An initial phase of WHOS has already been implemented. At this session, the Commission is being presented with a vision of a second phase of WHOS that will facilitate a fully WIS compliant services-oriented framework linking hydrologic data providers and users through a hydrologic information system enabling data registration, data discovery, and data access. This element is a realization of what CHy-14 aimed to achieve with its resolution to evaluate WaterML-2.0, and is a validation of the success of that process. In four short years, we have gone from virtually no engagement with WIGOS and WIS to being one of their premier components.

6. Our efforts in Disaster Risk Reduction have continued to advance steadily and to be recognized by others within WMO. The Flood Forecasting Initiative Advisory Group (FFI-AG), established by Congress in 2011 (Resolution 15 (Cg-XVI)), held its first two meetings during the period. The first one focused on the development of a workplan containing nine broad activities. At the second meeting, the Group concluded that the initial workplan was too ambitious and lacked focus. It then sharpened and simplified the workplan around four tractable tasks for the period 2016-2019: (1) ensure that all major demonstration projects and components, including but not limited to FFGS, CIFDP, SWFDP, include the requirements/best practices for effective and sustainable flood forecasting in their design and implementation; (2) ensure guidance material is available for NMHSs and for donors, NGOs, and other organizations working to strengthen flood forecasting capabilities in national services; (3) facilitate the development of an inventory of existing training programmes and related reference materials across the entire spectrum of training needs for end-to-end (E2E) systems for flood forecasting, identifying weaknesses/gaps, and recommending development of additional materials to overcome weaknesses/fill gaps; and (4) ensure access to guidance material and trainings through the IFM HelpDesk.

7. In addition to the progress made in the Flood Forecasting Initiative, including expanded applications of the Flash Flood Guidance System (FFGS), one of our Advisory Working Group members became Co-chairperson of the Coastal Inundation Forecasting Demonstration Project (CIFDP). This has significantly enhanced the recognition of CHy activities related to coastal flooding and made the Commission a full and recognizable partner in this highly visible project. It has also given us an important capability to influence the direction of CIFDP priorities.

8. One final aspect of the CHy programme having relevance to the DRR priority has been its efforts in Water Resources Assessment. After many years of work, a draft of the Manual on Water Resources Assessment has been completed and should be published in 2017. The contents of this report, in addition to providing NHSs with distinct guidance on how to assess their water resources situation at varying temporal scales, will also provide tools for


gaining insight into flood and drought risk at shorter time scales (daily to weekly). In a related development, CHy-15 will discuss an interesting proposal to take the activities in this area to a more global and dynamic level. The proposed initiative, a WMO global hydrological status and outlook system, aims to develop a worldwide operational system, at monthly timescales that is capable of providing: (1) an indication of current global hydrological conditions (including river flow, groundwater level, and soil moisture); (2) an appraisal of where this status departs significantly from ‘normal’; and (3) an assessment of where conditions are likely to get worse over coming weeks and months. Such a system is not currently available and would provide unique and invaluable information to government organizations responsible for disaster risk reduction and water management, as well as regional and international aid agencies.

9. The third major WMO priority that CHy supported in a significant way was the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS). In 2014, the GFCS Implementation Plan was published wherein five critical components (pillars) were identified: capacity development; research, modeling and prediction, observations and monitoring, climate services information system, and a user interface platform. Notably, nearly all of our thematic areas as well as many of our focused activities support one or more of the GFCS pillars. In capacity development, for example, our Strategy for Education and Training in HWR, WHOS, WHYCOS, the new Global Hydrometry Support Facility, the Flood Forecasting Initiative, Seasonal Hydrological Prediction, the APFM and IDMP, and QMF-Hydrology are all providing results that materially enhance the ability of NMHSs to meet GFCS objectives. Similarly, in each of the other four pillars, multiple CHy programmes are supporting climate services efforts. Thus, CHy is providing one of the broadest suites of support to GFCS among technical commissions.

Rationale for AWG recommendations to CHy-15

10. During the course of the fourteenth intersessional period, the Commission received an unusual number of requests for involvement in specialized teams, panels and groups, many of which were established by Executive Council. This placed a large burden on the members of the Advisory Working Group because it diverted their time and attention away from many of the tasks they were specifically charged by CHy-14 to address. This was particularly true for the AWG members responsible for QMF-Hydrology; Hydrological Forecasting and Prediction; Water, Climate and Risk Management; and Data Operations and Management. AWG members, therefore, expended considerable effort to meet the workload imposed by these new demands while also fulfilling their respective terms of reference. Their service went way beyond what was originally anticipated when they became AWG members and I have been humbled by their commitment and dedication, as well as grateful to their respective NHSs for supporting them with the time necessary to meet and exceed the requirements of the various assignments. The Commission has benefited considerably by their hard work.

11. In light of these additional demands, which are likely to continue through the fifteenth intersessional period, the AWG engaged in a thoughtful discussion during its Third Session earlier this year as to how to be most effective in meeting these increased demands. It considered the existing structure of the Commission and agreed that, while generally effective, it suffered from some practical inefficiencies. While reiterating the demonstrable value of organizing Commission activities under a single working group, as opposed to multiple working groups, it noted the inefficiency in how thematic activities were currently assigned to the various AWG members, as well as in having four separate OPACHES wherein overlapping expertise existed.

12. To address these issues, the AWG recommended that the size of the AWG, with a president, vice-president, and seven members, be maintained at its current level. However, it recommended merging the four existing OPACHES into one, which would provide a more efficient compilation. In reality, the existing OPACHE database is searchable by Theme, Region, Country, and Name. Merging the four thematic OPACHES into a single expert listing would eliminate redundancy and, by adding a keyword search taken from the information requested on the OPACHE application form, would significantly enhance its overall utility to AWG members. The other comment made by the AWG was to have the OPACHE database updated

http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/hwrp/chy/chy14/chy14-awg3.php

http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/hwrp/chy/chy14/chy14-awg3.php


regularly because many of the entries that were on it during the fourteenth intersessional period contained obsolete information.

13. The AWG further proposed organizing its activities under three generic themes: Coordination and Implementation Support, addressed by the president of CHy, the vice-president of CHy, and an AWG Member covering the role of “Project Facilitator”; Measurement, Monitoring and Infosystems addressed by three AWG members; and Hydrological Applications, Products and Services addressed by three AWG members. The AWG strongly recommended that CHy-15 limit the workload assigned to each of these three groups to less than six activity areas, to ensure that the identified priorities are accomplished.

14. Finally, the AWG recommended that there be two additional organizing elements. The first would be a grouping of activities to be supported by the Secretariat, with the support of experts from the OPACHE that would not require the direct involvement of AWG members. The second would be a grouping of activities that in light of limited resources would be implemented only if one or more Members volunteered to lead their implementation. Often at Commission sessions, a proposal is received for the AWG to address an issue having limited scope or applicability. Although the AWG attempts to address all the requests submitted by Members, there are always more requests made than can realistically be accomplished during an intersessional period. Tasks that are requested by a single Member or that have limited applicability tend to have a lower priority than tasks serving a large number of Members and, as a result, often never get undertaken or completed. To rectify this problem, the AWG suggested that it might be possible to address such requests if the requesting Member were willing to take a leading role in their implementation, with some assistance provided by the Secretariat.

Emerging challenges affecting Global Water Resources and the CHy response

15. Of all the environmental challenges affecting Members and their respective National Services, none are so consequential as those associated with the availability of a safe and secure supply of water. No society can function, must less thrive and prosper, in the absence of a water resources base that is both clean and reliable. Recognizing this, one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations in 2015 is to ensure access to clean water and sanitation. Water scarcity, poor water quality and inadequate sanitation negatively impact food security, livelihood choices and educational opportunities for poor families across the world. This goal is to be met through eight “target” achievements. Although none specifically focuses on monitoring, most implicitly require monitoring and data accessibility in order to be achieved. One goal in particular, integrated water resources management at all levels, including through transboundary cooperation, is clearly dependent upon operational hydrological services. CHy, through its constituent NHSs should seek opportunities to demonstrate how operational hydrology and data sharing can effectively contribute to national and regional efforts aimed at reducing the number of people suffering from water scarcity and inadequate sanitation.

16. Furthermore, with respect to integrated water resources management practices, it is worth noting that you can’t manage what you don’t monitor, so the starting point for the sound management of a resource is, of course, the measurement, quantification and assessment of that resource. In terms of freshwater resources, WMO through its Members and their National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) are in the forefront of water measurement and are, therefore, a vital primary contributor to water resources management. Moreover, the contribution of groundwater to freshwater resources availability is enormous even though it is, however, a lesser priority in the operations of most NMHSs. CHy should promote the monitoring and assessment of groundwater by encouraging NMHSs to forge relationships with agencies that monitor and assess groundwater resources (where another agency is responsible for monitoring groundwater) to enable a total assessment of water resources in basins and aquifers at the country level and eventual integration to the regional level. At the WMO level, CHy should endeavor to improve the existing cooperation and collaboration with the International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre (IGRAC).


17. The implementation of the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) is an important contribution to providing solutions to the climate-related water challenges that underpin many of our operational monitoring activities. The provision of effective climate services requires more access to, and availability of, integrated data. This calls for countries to regard water data as a common-good commodity to be exchanged freely for the benefit of mankind. In so doing, CHy should champion the free access to and exchange of hydrological data and products and be actively involved in identifying and providing the water-related climate services within the GFCS. In essence, CHy needs to promote and highlight the essential value of hydrological services as a complement to the WMO efforts at providing effective climate services.

18. An issue that arose at Cg-17 and has subsequently been taken up by the Executive Council and the Presidents of Technical Commissions Meetings relates to “Big Data”. The term is generally thought of as referring to data sets that are so large or complex that traditional data processing applications are inadequate to deal with them. Challenges include analysis, capture, data curation, quality assurance and control, search, sharing, storage, transfer, visualization, querying, updating and information privacy. Many in the WMO community, particularly those engaged in meteorological and climatological modelling, have been confronting the problems associated with large volumes of data for years, and have developed strategies for addressing these problems. Now, however, many NMHSs within WMO are looking into the broader issue of “crowd sourced” data. Crowdsourcing can be defined in many ways, but WMO is specifically interested in it in the context of non-standard or non-traditional monitoring activities. These would include ingesting observations from private citizens, community or educational groups, and involve data measured using non-standard instruments. CHy is approaching this issue with considerable and understandable caution because measurement quality is essential to the credibility of our operations. However, an important component of the new WMO Global Hydrometry Support Facility is an “Innovation Hub” that is designed to explore the applicability of non-standard equipment that is relatively inexpensive and easy to deploy and operate. CHy has the opportunity to assume a leadership role in this new aspect of big data, and should do so through careful analysis and intercomparisons of traditional observing systems, and the data derived from them, with the new non-standard instruments, and the data that are derived from them. The goal should be to identify the potential applicability of non-standard inexpensive solutions and their fit-for-purpose character.

19. WMO needs to expand and enhance its role in UN-Water and other global initiatives to ensure better harnessing and management of water resources for sustainable development, disaster risk reduction, and economic development. Furthermore, WMO should exercise an even greater responsibility in ensuring inter-generational equity in water resources availability by raising the profile of, and understanding that water is the single most important environmental issue to the health and economic well-being of all humanity. In so doing, it would bequeath to the next and subsequent generations water resources in sufficient quantity and quality to sustain life prosperously on this planet.

20. Finally, WMO has sought to become more efficient and effective in the way it conducts all aspects of its business, and one element of this effort has been to reduce the length of constituent body sessions. In 2000, CHy-XI lasted ten days. This was shortened to nine days in 2004, eight days in 2008 and 2012, and this year we’re down to six days. As a result, the time available for discussion during CHy sessions has decreased to the point where an alternative mechanism was needed to ensure that Members were able to comment on both documents and critical issues. The approach taken by CHy to address this situation has been to establish an online pre-session discussion platform that provides the WMO hydrological community (Permanent Representatives, Hydrological Advisors, CHy members, OPACHE members) a means of providing their inputs to some of the documents to be presented at CHy-15. In essence, it is a virtual session on emerging topics of relevance to Commission members that is intended to be open and informal.

21. This concept was actually piloted in the months leading up to CHy-XIII, but garnered no meaningful response. It was again tried prior to CHy-14 and, although it was advertised better, still received very little response. This time, however, knowing the constrained


interactions in a six day session, the Advisory Working Group, in conjunction with the Secretariat, made a concerted effort to develop and promote the use of an effective pre-session discussion platform. I’m very pleased to report that the third time appears to have been the charm because, for the first time prior to any WMO constituent body session, CHy has demonstrated that a substantive pre-session discussion can be achieved. We have learned much about what is required to be successful in managing such a virtual forum and I have every expectation that this process will find increasing use by other Commissions, the Executive Council, and possibly even Congress. I am grateful to the members of the Advisory Working Group, the Secretariat, and to the CHy members who so thoughtfully and substantively contributed to making this mechanism a success.

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ANNEX 2

[Copied from CHy-15/INF 2.2]

REPORT BY THE ADVISORY WORKING GROUP (AWG) MEMBERS

1. The terms of reference of the AWG members for the period 2013-2016 were approved by CHy-14 in Annex II to Resolution 7 (CHy-14). The following sections describe the progress achieved by each AWG member, while the proposed future directions in each area are treated in the documents of the session.

Vice-president of CHy (submitted by Zhiyu Liu)

2. As regards Mr Liu’s duties in technology transfer and capacity-building, the communities of practice of instructors in stream gauging and MCH have been activated. The communities on Uncertainty Analysis (UA) in flow measurement and DL delivery are under preparation. Training materials have been developed for the Manuals on Flood Forecasting and Warning, Low Flow Estimation and Prediction. The training material on the WMO Manual on Stream Gauging has been translated into Spanish, French and Russian. The WMO Manual on Flood Forecasting and Warning has been translated into Chinese by the China Bureau of Hydrology with the authorization of WMO, and will be published before CHy-15.

3. Seven distance-learning basic courses in hydrology have been delivered in collaboration with COMET and a local WMO Regional Training Centre (RTC), e.g. India National Water Academy, in the case of Asia and the Institute for Meteorological Training and Research (IMTR) of Kenya for Africa.

4. With respect to his responsibility to coordinate the editing and production of publications prepared on behalf of CHy, following the classification for publications and the peer review process approved by CHy-14, the following documents have been published, as appropriate, as part of QMF-H:

(a) Guidelines for Hydrological Data Rescue (WMO-No. 1146, 2014)

(b) Note on Stationarity and Non-stationarity published on the CHy website.

5. Other documents currently undergoing the peer review process include the Manual on Water Resources Assessment (WRA), Technical Reports on Hydrologic network design, Design flow under changing environment, and Use of RCMs in strategic hydrological management.

6. As regards the updating of the Hydrological Information Referral Service (INFOHYDRO), since CHy-14 two calls for new submissions and updating of previous submissions were issued. The response has been modestly encouraging and the system has now updated information for 53 countries.

7. Regarding the promotion of data rescue and protection activities in NMHSs, the Guidelines for Hydrological Data Rescue have been uploaded on the HWR webpage and also distributed at the RA I-16 session and RA I WGH session-11. Provision of software for digitization of rainfall charts in data archive to the Kenya Meteorological Service has been done to support their data rescue activity.

8. During the intersessional period, Mr Liu assisted the president of the Commission by, among other things:

(a) Attending two meetings of WMO RA II WG on Hydrological Services representing CHy (Seoul, 2014 and Gyeongju, 2015 in Korea). The vice-president introduced the activities of CHy and reiterated the need for continuing an enhanced cooperation between CHy and the RA II WGHS;


(b) Attending the APEC Climate Symposium in Nanjing, China, 2014. The vice-president gave a keynote speech on Priority Activities of CHy, focusing on activities within the theme area of Water, Climate and Risk Management;

(c) Participated in the Round Table on Flood Control organized by GWP in Zhengzhou, China, in 2014. The vice-president presented case studies related to flood control under climate change in the downstream portion of the river, flood resources management of the river basin, and strategies of promoting floodplain economic development;

(d) Mr Liu continued to represent CHy on the EC Panel on Education and Training. He was elected as a new member of the EC Panel of Experts on Education and Training from 2016 to 2019. His participation in the Panel’s discussions and activities ensures that the views of CHy are reflected and incorporated in the Panel’s decisions and recommendations.

9. Finally, as regards the guidance, advice and training in regards to the spatial estimation of rainfall and other hydrological parameters, including the use of remote sensing, Mr Liu attended the Weather Radar and Hydrology International Symposium (Washington, DC, 2014). The vice-president prepared a report on recent advances in weather radar research and applications in QPE/QPF and hydrologic flood prediction. In addition, HWR is collaborating with the WMO Space Programme to promote the use of satellite data and products in HWR through sponsorship of participants to relevant workshops.

Member responsible for thematic area Water, Climate and Risk Management (submitted by Jan Danhelka)

10. The Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) had been established shortly before CHy-14 and became one of the strategic priorities of the WMO Strategic Plan for 2016-2019. During the fourteenth intersessional period of CHy, GFCS realized its first phase and entered its second implementation phase. Water was identified as one of original priority areas of GFCS and CHy contributed to the development of the water exemplar of GFCS as a scoping document for its first implementation phase. The Operational Resource Plan (ORP) for the second implementation phase has been developed by a Task Team that included representation from CHy. ORP included a section on the water priority area, developed by CHy in cooperation with other stakeholders. There are three implementation activities proposed in the water domain: Integrated Flood and Drought Management Helpdesks support; dialogs and mechanisms for climate services in water services sensitive regions; and preparation of flood, drought, and water resources management projects.

11. Regional Climate Outlook Forums (RCOFs) were established to deliver regional consensual climate forecast. Recently an increasing recognition of a need of users’ feedback from the hydrological community represented by NHSs has been recognized. In response, several RCOFs established “water user forums” that take place back-to-back with annual RCOFs meetings. CHy supported the South Asia Water User Forum in 2015 and 2016, in order to stimulate and promote discussion between communities, specify the needs of the water community and provide feedback from the hydrological to the climatological community on needs and demands on delivered products in order to increase their reliability for use in hydrological applications. The output of the activity included drafting of three project proposals regarding the development of climate-hydrological services in the region. The water user forum linked to RCOFs seem to be vital activities worthy of CHy interest and support for future intersessional periods.

12. Thanks to the Secretariat support, the drafting team of experts to develop a document on Seasonal Hydrological Prediction was established and an initial meeting took place in Geneva in autumn 2015. Despite the tight schedule, work on the document proceeded using electronic communication and the first draft of the document had been compiled and introduced to OPACHE members with a request for comments and review. Members of the


Commission are welcome to comment on the document and especially to contribute to the catalogue of case studies attached to it. Based on discussions at CHy-15, the finalization and desired future form of the publication will be decided. Contribution from experts who provided support to document preparation, namely Narendra Tuteja (Australia), Paolo Reggiani (Germany), Eric Sprokkereef (Netherlands), Paul Block (USA), Andy Wood (USA), Eugene Stakhiv (USA), Eduardo Martins (Brazil), Juan Jose Nieto (Ecuador), and Laurent Dubus (France) was sincerely appreciated by the Commission.

13. In response to a demand from CHy-14, activities were conducted on preparation of a document on GCM/RCM data use in hydrological application and methods for downscaling. A drafting team had been established in 2015 and further continued its work via electronic communication. A first draft of the document was finalized in October 2016 and introduced to OPACHE members for general comments from members of the Commission. The Commission acknowledged an extensive contribution to the document preparation from invited experts, in particular Mr Patric Willems (Belgium), Mr Benjamin Lampley (Niger), Mr Bruce Hewiston (South Africa) and Mr Juan Jose Nieto (Ecuador).

14. Cg-17 decided to include Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) among the seven WMO strategic priorities for the current financial period, with the aim to significantly contribute to implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction agreed by the Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in 2015. The WMO Secretariat prepared a draft WMO DRR Roadmap to guide activities of the WMO DRR Programme and other programmes and bodies of WMO. Through an iterative process, CHy significantly contributed to review and revise the Roadmap in order to adequately account for existing activities of the Commission, HWRP, APFM and IDMP, and to promote the importance of principles of integrated flood and drought management and importance of hazard and risk assessment, in particular in case of flood risk, done by NMHSs and WMO in the field of Disaster Risk Management (DRM).

15. A new vision of development of a Global Data-processing and Forecasting System (GDPFS) to a new future Seamless Data-processing and Forecasting System was adopted by Cg-17 and EC-68. This new vision significantly transforms the scope of the GDPFS, in particular by assuming the provision of seamless services and products not only over different time scales, but also over various disciplines. This means increasing involvement of hydrology in the GDPFS in coming years, as it also provides a means of institutionalization of existing and future global and regional flood forecasting systems and initiatives within WMO. CHy contributed to the preparation of a White Paper on future Seamless GDPFS for EC-68 and related activities, including work of the newly established Steering Group. A discussion paper on future involvement of CHy and the hydrological community in GDPFS development was prepared and this emerging issue was discussed via the CHy-15 Pre-session discussion leading to the proposal of draft Resolution 4.2(1)/1 (CHy-15).

16. Assistance was provided to CAP-Net UNDP in design and development of a pilot virtual course on Climate Change and Water Management, including learning materials and testing of technological means for interactive course activities.

17. In addition, a contribution was provided during the preparation of the WMO-World Bank-USAID publication Valuing Weather and Climate: Economic Assessment of Meteorological and Hydrological Services (WMO-No. 1153), with emphasis on promotion of some specific aspects of hydrological products and service delivery, in particular regarding the position of hydrological services in the delivery chain for flood forecast between producers of meteorological data and forecasts, represented by NMSs, and civil protection and the general public, as end users. The main aim of the publication is to serve as a guide for managers and employees of NMHSs, who desire to perform or design a study or an assessment of socio-economic benefits of their services or projects.

18. Contribution was also provided to the work of the Joint CCl/CAgM/CHy Expert Group on Climate, Food and Water (JCEG-CFW), and the WMO Disaster Risk Reduction User-interface Expert Advisory Group on Hazard and Risk Analysis (WMO DRR UI-EAG HRA) on Cataloguing of extreme weather and climate events in response to Resolution 9 (Cg-17). Recently, a


contribution to the World Weather Research Programme Scientific Steering Committee was provided on research needs for operational hydrology.

Member responsible for thematic area Data Operations and Management (submitted by Tony Boston)

19. The development and application of WaterML 2.0 involves close coordination between CHy and the WMO/OGC Hydrology Domain Working Group (HDWG). In particular, the HDWG is developing a suite of hydrology standards known as WaterML 2.0. To date WaterML 2.0: Part 1 (Timeseries), in 2012, and WaterML 2.0: Part 2 (Ratings, Gaugings and Section), in 2015, have been approved as OGC Implementation Standards. Part 1 provides a standard information model for the representation and exchange of water observations time series data, for example of river or lake water levels or discharge. Part 2 defines how to represent rating tables, gauging observations and river cross sections, their associated metadata and vocabularies, as well as a format for exchange of data between organizational systems. Parts 3 (Surface Hydrology Features) and 4 (GroundWaterML2) are in the final stages of being approved and published as OGC standards in 2016-17. The HDWG has also developed a Sensor Observation Service (SOS) profile for hydrology, published in 2014, that defines how WaterML 2.0 time series data can be made available using this OGC web service. HDWG members have also contributed to development of the TimeseriesML standard, published in 2016, which is a more generic implementation of WaterML 2.0: Part 1, which can be used for sharing of time series data from a broader range of scientific domains. Future work will focus on development of additional component parts of WaterML 2.0, with water quality data being an initial focus refining an existing OGC best practice specification. The WaterML 2.0 suite of standards is available from: http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/waterml and more information on the WMO/OGC Hydrology Domain Working Group is available from: http://www.opengeospatial.org/projects/groups/hydrologydwg.

20. As regards progress on the exchange of hydrological data and products, as well as protocols for providing information on data use, a survey was released in September 2013 on the exchange of hydrological data. Initial results were presented to the WMO/OGC HDWG at that time and were made available to the AWG. A list of commercial and open source software systems supporting OGC services for hydrological data exchange have also been identified. It was noted in the results that better engagement with developing countries through WMO regional associations is essential to broaden understanding of the value of, and to encourage the use of, WaterML 2.0.

21. Extensive work has also been made on testing and applying WaterML 2.0 in pilot projects aimed at demonstrating the value and utility of WaterML 2.0 and providing a basis for it to become a WMO information exchange standard. A project on hydrological data sharing was implemented by the Italian National Hydrology Survey (ISPRA). ISPRA has built a national hydrologic information system for Italy’s federated hydrologic data services from observation sites managed separately in 21 geographic regions across the country. There is a HydroCatalog in Rome that compiles the data from HydroServers in each of the 21 regions. Pilot projects were also developed for several countries and CHy related projects, including China and New Zealand, river basins (Sava, La Plata), regions (Latin America) and WHYCOS Components (Arctic, Niger and SADC). Italy has also developed documentation that supports the exchange of hydrological data using WaterML 2.0. More information on these pilot projects and initiatives in data access and exchange by National Hydrological Services is available from: http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/hwrp/documents/DataOperationsandManagement_v1-0.pdf.

22. Concerning the monitoring and reporting on new developments dealing with data management issues, such as observations, data exchange and protocols, data transfer formats, data information, as well as the WMO Information System (WIS) and WIGOS, An awareness-raising article was published in the WMO Newsletter, MeteoWorld, entitled Towards a new standard for sharing hydrological data, http://public.wmo.int/en/resources/meteoworld/towards-new-standard-sharing-hydrological-data. An update to the Global Runoff Data Center’s (GRDC) Hydrological Metadata profile of ISO 19115 has also been released, http://www.bafg.de/GRDC/EN/02_srvcs/24_rprtsrs/report_39r2.pdf. The HY_Features: Common


Hydrological Feature Model was updated and released as an OGC Discussion Paper. This work has been extensively tested by the HDWG and will form the basis of the WaterML 2.0: Part 3 standard. CHy has contributed to the development of the draft WIGOS Metadata Standard as part of a cross-commission task team. The use of the WMO Information System (WIS) for registering hydrological data services has also been tested.

23. A community of practice on database management systems has been established, based on the open source MCH (Meteorology, Climatology and Hydrology) system. MCH, originally developed in Spanish and installed in several Latin American countries, has been translated into English and French and installed in Ghana, Belize, Curacao, Albania, and Bosnia Herzegovina. In all cases, NHS staff has been trained in the operation and management of the system, http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/hwrp/mch/.

24. Documentation for the CHy-15 pre-session discussion on standardized data sharing in hydrology was prepared. The material invited comments from the WMO hydrological community on three items which the Commission will make decisions on at CHy-15:

(a) Whether or not to endorse the WMO Hydrological Observing System;

(b) Whether or not to recommend to the WMO Executive Council that WaterML 2.0: Part 1 and Part 2 be adopted as WMO standards for information exchange for use by National Hydrological Services; and

(c) Whether or not to support ongoing adoption by WMO of further WaterML 2.0 standards.

Invited expert responsible for WHOS development (submitted by Silvano Pecora)

25. In early 2013, in response to questions raised by the Inter-Commission Group on the WMO Integrated Global Observing System (ICG-WIGOS) regarding the availability of hydrological observations, the president of the Commission for Hydrology proposed the development of a WMO Hydrological Observing System (WHOS) as the hydrological component of WIGOS. The Commission’s Advisory Working Group endorsed this proposal in September 2014 and, during its seventeenth session in 2015 the World Meteorological Congress urged the promotion of WHOS among NMHSs as well as by the broader hydrological community.

26. WHOS is conceived as a portal for accessing existing online near real-time and historical data, drawing from the water information systems of countries around the world that make their data freely and openly available. It is being developed in two phases with the goal of having it reviewed and endorsed by CHy at its fifteenth session in December 2016. The first phase is the publication of a map interface on the WMO website that links to those NMHSs that make their real-time and/or historical stage and discharge data available online. This map interface was published online in August 2015 and can be accessed at the link http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/hwrp/chy/whos/. The second phase is a much more comprehensive undertaking aimed at developing a complete services-oriented framework linking hydrologic data providers and users through a hydrologic information system that enables data registration, data discovery, and data access. Such a framework will be fully compliant with the WMO Information System (WIS) as well as WIGOS. The goal is to have an initial implementation of the full capability ready for approval by the Executive Council in June 2018 (EC-70).

27. During the intersessional period following CHy-14, a large number of NHSs were applying standardized techniques in pilot and operational systems for hydrological data exchange. A report on “Global initiatives in hydrological data sharing”, including detailed descriptions about most of the developments in the use of standards for hydrological data exchange, was published on the WMO web portal (http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/hwrp/documents/DataOperationsandManagement_v1-0.pdf). All these developments allowed the identification of an advanced architecture for the second


phase of WHOS, with its fundamental components and essential types of services for sharing hydrologic information across the web. In this context, WHOS is being designed to offer services that support the operational needs of NHSs as well as the broader scientific needs of the international hydrological community. While other interoperability applications have focused on implementing custom data streams (e.g. bridges, adaptors, etc.) between clients and server interfaces, WHOS focuses on a common data and metadata management model that leverages a suite of WMO and OGC standards which can be applied to multiple scientific communities, in particular hydrologic and atmospheric sciences. Furthermore, WHOS can be integrated within existing data discovery frameworks (e.g. portals, gateways, etc.) by leveraging mediation and brokering services. About its role in WIS, WHOS will publish discovery metadata in GISCs allowing WMO users to access a range of services on WHOS itself. Hydrological discovery metadata were tested in the GISCs in Brasilia, Washington, Offenbach and Melbourne; additional ongoing developments and tests are improving WHOS capabilities in data sharing. The development of WHOS also includes the definition of hydrological observational metadata, providing information on hydrological features of observing stations; when this activity will be completed, it will improve the current WIGOS Metadata Standard and the information available in OSCAR/Surface, one of the principal components of the WIGOS Information Resources. A potential future phase of WHOS is to pilot possible extensions of WIGOS and WIS functions and services tailored to the needs of the hydrological community, but potentially beneficial to other programmes, including databases, simulation models, forecasting chains, web-GIS and other tools.

Member responsible for thematic area Hydrological Forecasting and Prediction (submitted by Yuri Simonov)

28. Further planning and development of the WMO Flood Forecasting Initiative (FFI) strategy was based on a review and assessment of FFI governing documents – FFI Strategy and Action Plan, FFI Activity Plan, and also status of the FFI ongoing and planned projects, undertaken by the two AWG members responsible for hydrological forecasting and prediction. The WMO FFI future strategy was discussed in two FFI Advisory Group meetings (1st and 2nd FFI-AG) and the final results of the review and detailed report on the proposed development of the Initiative are presented in the 2nd FFI-AG Report. In the report all major FFI components (FFGS, SWFDP, CIFDP) were analyzed from the perspective of their adherence to the FFI main goal and objectives, and ways to further improve these projects are proposed. The main achievements for each FFI component are briefly given below.

29. CIFDP is a joint CHy-JCOMM project that aims to improve forecasts in coastal areas that are prone to floods of different origin (river hydrological and oceanographic processes). The project was originally heavily biased to oceanographic modelling and forecasting, without accounting for river hydrological processes in the coastal zone and river–ocean interaction. During the intersessional period CHy managed to achieve several results in the project:

(a) CHy representative now co-chairs the Project Steering Group;

(b) Greater relevance of river hydrological aspects in the project, e.g. a strategy for the river hydrological component was developed, improvements to every subproject were proposed, system developers for river hydrology system were appointed (for CIFDP-Fiji).

30. A more coherent hydrological contribution to this project will help describe coastal processes in their full extent and thus improve inundation forecasting in coastal zones.

31. SWFDP was initially developed to meet the need of meteorologists to better forecast severe weather phenomena. Although this project has been developed in parallel with FFGS in a number of regions (such as the Central Asian region – CARFFG) it was found that the two projects were not efficiently engaged with one another. Recommendations for better communications between the projects were developed. Practical results are evident for the Central Asia region, where an effort was made to better meet FFGS goals by using output information from the SWFDP in the region.


32. FFGS is the most developed project in terms of its hydrological component – a few major improvement paths were indicated: channel routing implementation for large river forecast, ensemble forecasting (using several NWP inputs), debris flow estimation, urban flood forecasting. Such serious upgrades of the system will definitely result in the strengthening of the NHSs capacity to forecast different types of floods, not limited to flash floods. In several regions such forecasting techniques are already being included into operational FFGS. Training programmes were upgraded in order to better serve forecasters in the Central Asia region (including adaptation and translation).

33. As regards the production of the Manual on Flood Risk Mapping, work has been continued – from the reviewing process of previous documents (that for the moment comprise APFM Tool on Flood Risk Mapping), to the development of the table of contents of the proposed manual and development of the first draft and its further review (ongoing task – it is planned for early 2017).

34. As regards interaction with the WMO DRR programme, a review of the WMO DRR Roadmap was done during the intersessional period. One of the activities in which CHy was involved is the development of a hydrological hazard glossary for DRR and its further support of the DRR community. The AWG contributed to development of priorities of actions, recommendations and related roadmap for inter-commission activities to support the implementation of the DRR Work Plan and finalization of the DRR the terms of reference of the DRR Focal Points of Technical Commissions and Programmes.

Member responsible for thematic area Hydrological Forecasting and Prediction (submitted by Johnson M. Maina)

35. A short summary of achievements is presented below.

36. As regards the Flood Forecasting Initiative (FFI), the focus of Mr Maina’s activities focused on:

(a) Championing the WMO FFI main objective: to improve the capacity of meteorological and hydrological services to jointly deliver timely and more accurate products and services required in flood forecasting and warning;

(b) Review of the Guidance Document for the “Assessment of Flood Forecasting Services” and associated “Draft Instruction Manual”;

(c) Capacity-building: training on “operational flood forecasting and warning” for two African countries, namely Benin and Uganda. Other countries have expressed interest in the training. WMO manuals and guidelines supplemented the knowledge used in the training;

(d) Presentations made on “An effective flood forecasting and warning system in Kenya”.

37. With respect to the interaction with the WMO Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) programme, the following should be mentioned:

(a) Review of the “Peril classification and hazard glossary”, prepared by the Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) Working Group on Disaster Loss Data(DATA) Report No. 1, March 2014;

(b) Comments on the WMO DRR Roadmap.

38. Finally, the following were activities undertaken in the area of responsibilities of a general nature:


(a) Presented, jointly with others, a country status report on “Development of a National Policy on Drought”, one of the few published in the final report;

(b) Participated in the design of the NILE BASIN hydrometeorological monitoring network;

(c) Initiated the development of a National Design Storm Database in Kenya;

(d) Participated in all CHy-AWG sessions and related activities.

Member responsible for thematic area Water Resources Assessment (submitted by Antonio Cardoso Neto)

39. The main contribution of Mr Cardoso Neto during the last intersessional period was his participation in the assembling of the Manual of Water Resources Assessment, mainly in organizing and writing one of the case studies to be inserted as part of it. The case study provided by him describes the planning of an important hydrologic basin located in the Brazilian territory. The description of the surveys carried out within the basin includes climate aspects, geological features, pedological characteristics, erosion, biomes and aquatic ecosystems, health aspects, sanitation infrastructure, water supply, urban drainage and the development pressures.

40. The case study furnishes the Brazilian institutional framework based upon which the whole work has been accomplished, such as the legal instruments of the National Water Resources Policy and the components of the National System for Water Resources Management.

41. It also presents the different methodologies used in collecting the various necessary data from industry, livestock, agriculture, mining, human supply, solid waste and evapotranspiration. The main physical and chemical characteristics of the aquifer systems of the basin were described.

42. Surface and ground water have been evaluated in terms of both quality and quantity. Finally, the water balance has been evaluated and then the availability of the water resources of the basin has been estimated.

43. Due to several factors beyond his control, the implementation of a HYCOS component in the Oyapock River Basin, shared by French Guiana and Brazil, has somehow been put on hold for the time being. Nevertheless, efforts have been carried out in order to place this issue “back on the tracks” again.

Member responsible for thematic area Quality Management Framework - Hydrology (submitted by J.F. Cantin)

44. This report describes the progress made in the intersessional period leading to CHy-15 in each of the major priority activities of the QMF-H thematic area. It should be noted that in April 2014 Mr Cantin succeeded Mr P. Pilon, who had been elected by CHy-14 as the AWG member responsible for QMF-H.

45. The Management Committee (MC) of the CHy project for the Assessment of the Performance of Flow Measurement Instruments and Techniques (familiarly known as Project X) held 12 teleconferences and met twice during the period. Significant progress has been made to generate a software package to estimate uncertainty in discharge measurements performed by NHSs of WMO Members that will be made available to NHSs via the internet from a WMO portal. Specifications were developed and used to support the development of a calculator for the estimation of uncertainty of measurements from the application of the Velocity-Area method. Further developments regarding ADCP measurements are expected during the next intersessional period. During the next intersessional period, the Project X Management Committee will assess the opportunity to publish the guidance material that has been


developed regarding guidelines for conducting and reporting results of instrument calibration and performance tests on instruments and techniques.

46. A website for QMF-H was designed and populated with material explaining why NHSs should use standardized methods in their data collection, thereby responding to the request of CHy-14. Guidance material, case studies and a checklist to facilitate the NHSs efforts in implementing a Quality Management System (QMS) were also developed and made available on the QMF-H website: http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/hwrp/qmf-h/index.php.

47. As regards the review of CHy regulatory material, coordination activities were conducted by Secretariat personnel and the AWG member responsible for QMF-H to outline CHy efforts in QMF-H and present its regulatory, guidance and technical material on various inter-Commissions forums. A strategy to address the overall CHy regulatory material in the context of the Roadmap to Enhanced WMO Technical Regulations Framework endorsed by EC-68 has been developed and will be discussed during CHy-15.

48. The AWG member responsible for QMF-H also represented CHy on the WIGOS Editorial Board (WEdB).

_________


ANNEX 3

[Copied from CHy-15/INF 2.3]

REPORT BY THE SECRETARY-GENERAL AND REGIONAL ACTIVITIES RELATED TO THE HWRP

1. The present document contains a brief report of the activities undertaken in the last intersessional period (2013-2016) under the framework of the Hydrology and Water Resources Programme, which Cg-17, through Resolution 18 (Cg-17), decided to maintain as described in the Abridged Final Report with Resolutions of the Sixteenth World Meteorological Congress (WMO-No. 1077), Annex II – WMO Programme descriptions. The focus of this document is on those issues not reported by the president of the Commission (see CHy-15/Doc. 2) or by the AWG members (see CHy-15/INF. 2.2).

BASIC SYSTEMS IN HYDROLOGY

Global Hydrometry Support Facility (GHSF)

2. The president of CHy, together with the Secretariat, developed a proposal for a Global Hydrometry Support Facility (GHSF), which the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) will support for the 2017-2020 period, in particular by financing three professional project positions.

3. The GHSF is designed to consolidate national monitoring capabilities and their regional and global integration, and is a support to the WHYCOS programme through the development and application of innovative monitoring and database technologies. GHSF includes WHYCOS, WHOS, a global Innovation Hub, a Hydrological Services Information Platform and a Help Desk.

Scope of GHSF

4. There is a need for a new paradigm in hydrometry for an effective decision-support to integrated water resources management, particularly in areas where resource scarcity, fragile conditions, conflicts, highly variable supplies, and rapid demand growth overlap with underfunded agencies.

5. Recent assessments continue to show a decline of monitoring networks, related to lack of financial resources and qualified staff, and generally speaking a low visibility and recognition of Hydrological Services by national authorities. A new paradigm in water monitoring is required.

6. Coordination and innovation are needed to propose new approaches that:

(a) Build, enhance, and maintain national and regional hydrological observing systems where they are weak and where knowledge gaps are threatening sustainable development;

(b) Promote regional and global coordination and integration of monitoring systems and dissemination of their products/benefits notably in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG);

(c) Support quality control, processing, exchange, and storage of data from observing systems;

(d) Foster evidence-based policy and decision-making in support of integrated water resources management from political, financial and operational standpoints by generating derived products and develop information systems;


(e) Support the development of new data acquisition methodologies including and combining technology and community-based approaches;

(f) Foster joint analysis of data in order to catalyse and improve transboundary and regional cooperation and support stakeholders in their capacity development, in order to improve sustainable and secure water management and avoid tensions and conflicts.

7. The elements of the implementation strategy for each GHSF component are described in CHy-15/Doc. 4.1(2). What follows is a brief description of the status of each component at the time of writing this report.

WHYCOS

8. The World Hydrological Cycle Observing System (WHYCOS) is the long-standing initiative dedicated to water monitoring networks, including planning and installation of monitoring stations (water quantity and quality, surface and groundwater), strengthening transboundary and international cooperation and promoting the free exchange of hydrological data. Started in 1993, WHYCOS is implemented through regional HYCOS projects. The current status of the different projects can be found under http://www.whycos.org/whycos. As of December 2016, approximately 15 projects have been developed, three are on-going (Arctic, IGAD and Niger-HYCOS), and five are in the preparation phase, looking for funding (Congo, Lake Chad, Senegal Basin and phase 3 of SADC and Niger). Pacific HYCOS and Niger-HYCOS are also considering starting a new phase.

9. Numerous HYCOS projects have been considered in other regions (Amazon, Black Sea, Danube, South-East Asia, etc.), but haven’t been implemented mainly due to a lack of interest of financial partners, but also from now and then to a lack of interest of country partners. Other regions, having recognized the benefit of WHYCOS, have shown interest, as for instance the island countries of the Indian Ocean, Aral Sea, Oyapock basin, etc.

10. Starting new projects according to country requirement and priorities is crucial, but it is even more essential to guarantee the sustainability of the implemented HYCOS projects, in terms of operation and maintenance of hydrological stations, data management and hydrological products and services delivery. A long-term financial and technical strategy must be put in place.

Innovation Hub

11. Rapid developments in low-cost open-innovation sensors, communication technology and in data synthesis, provide new perspectives for increased data coverage, effective data management, and secure data exchange, as well as the production of knowledge for effective and sustainable resource management. (See also:http://www.whycos.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/GHSF-concept-note.pdf).

12. A pilot study called “the innovative monitoring and modelling approach” (iMoMo) that the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) has been promoting since 2012, has recently achieved proof-of-concept status in different countries of the World. iMoMo is a practicable example of what the Innovation Hub of the GHSF can develop in the future.

WHOS

13. The WMO Hydrological Observing System (WHOS) envisions being a services-oriented framework linking hydrologic data and users. It should fulfill the long sought goal of hydrologists and water resources specialists worldwide to have simple access to hydrological information from those NMHSs around the world that make their data freely and openly available.


14. In 2014 the president of CHy, with the support of the AWG, proposed the establishment of WHOS. After working on the concept, the president presented his proposal to Cg-17 in 2015. Congress welcomed the effort and urged the president of CHy to continue guiding WHOS to full implementation. WHOS was conceived as the hydrological input to WIGOS to be implemented in two phases, the first, launched in July 2015, consisting of an online portal for accessing existing near real-time and historical hydrological information, and allowing NHSs to publish their data and other hydrological information (see the WHOS homepage for further information).

15. The second phase aims at developing a complete services-oriented hydrologic information system that enables data registration, discovery and access, in compliance with WIS and WIGOS. WHOS will support storage of hydrological information, its publication on the Internet via web-services, combining it with hydrological data published by multiple sources, and search across the various data holdings within a network. Some developments could be combined with those of the GEOSS Common Infrastructure of the Group on Earth Observations, which has similar objectives. CHy-15 will set up a process to develop an implementation plan, including a timetable, for the phase II of WHOS.

16. It is to be noted that providers will remain the owner of their data; WHOS is facilitating their visibility and access for national, regional and global needs. One requirement will be to use standardized data exchange formats. WHOS will form a specialized hydrological registry within WIS, will be open to all users and institutions from any country or level of government, and will apply to any type of hydrological information.

Hydrological Services Information Platform

17. In 2013, concerned that hydrological information and services systems in developing countries were deteriorating, the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) and the Water Partnership Program (WPP) from the World Bank Group and the Hydrology and Water Resources Department (HWRD) of WMO embarked on an assessment of the state of hydrological services in developing countries. The GFDRR, WPP and WMO believe that there is an increasing demand for hydrometeorological and climate information and services around the world.

18. Phase 1 of the assessment commenced with a rapid global assessment based on available literature, including, inter alia, the Hydrological Information Referral Service (INFOHYDRO).

19. The rapid global assessment (World Bank Group, December 2014) identified the following issues with respect to hydrological information and services systems:

(a) Low visibility and recognition by national authorities;

(b) Lack of financial resources for operation and maintenance activities;

(c) Decline of monitoring systems, obsolescence of equipment;

(d) Lack of qualified staff;

(e) Defective communication and data management system;

(f) An inability for National Hydrological Services (NHSs) to meet current user demands.

20. The rapid assessment recommended the implementation of a number of targeted case studies to review the status of hydrological information and services systems in developing countries and proposed the establishment of National Hydrological Data Users Groups (NHDUG) to assist and support NHSs in establishing their roles and responsibilities in national development planning as part of the review process.


21. These case studies were requested to address the following proposals:

(a) Improved assessment of the status of NHSs globally is necessary;

(b) Support is necessary to help NHSs raise their profiles and evolve into demand driven, service oriented organizations. Establishment of a national hydrological services user group;

(c) Countries should develop National Action Plans for Operational Hydrology, within the Framework of National Development Strategies.

22. As a result, Phase 2 of the project (the case studies) was conducted over the period 2015 to 2016. Phase 2 has seen targeted initiatives aimed at assessment of the state of hydrological services and recommendations for their improvement in selected countries, namely in Cameroon, Madagascar, Senegal, St. Lucia, Tanzania and Uruguay.

23. Based on the outcomes from these targeted studies and information collected from approximately 60 other studies covering 43 developing countries, some specific findings have been drawn, including the following:

(a) 70% (31) of the countries had some (albeit limited) level of understanding of the uses and users of hydrological information and services. For 30% (12) of countries, information on the uses and users was lacking;

(b) Whilst the information provided is not consistent, the status of hydrological networks can be defined as:

7% (3) of countries described their networks as adequate and in relatively good shape;

19% (8) of countries have recently been provided with funds to upgrade networks that were in a significant state of decline;

26% (11) of countries had networks that were in a significant state of decline (less than 25% operational);

30% (13) of countries had networks that were in a poor state (less than 50% operational);

12% (5) of countries provided specific evidence of declining networks; 7% (3) of countries had no information on which to make an assessment.

(c) With respect to data management, 70% (30) of countries are in need of upgrades to their data management systems, 9% (4) of countries are in the process of upgrading their data management systems, 9% (4) of countries expressed a level of satisfaction with their current database, whilst 12% (5) countries had no information on which to make an assessment;

(d) Information on hydrological services delivered was inconsistent and insufficient to draw specific conclusions, but in the main, apart from a small number of targeted services (such as flood forecasts) and some basic hydrological statistics, there was little evidence of provision of adequate hydrological services in the majority of countries;

(e) The greater majority of countries identified staff numbers and staff training/capacity-building as inadequate and therefore requiring attention;

(f) Limited information was available on the levels of user satisfaction with the hydrological services provided in the countries.

24. The above assessment is consistent with the findings of the 2014 World Bank Group assessment which reported that 72% of water professionals surveyed had stated that their country was in need of more water monitoring stations and that 78% of Developing Countries


and 86% of Least Developed Countries consider that their networks do not meet the current needs.

25. The World Bank Group (GFDRR and WPP) and WMO are now implementing Phase 3 of the project which is aimed at further evaluation of the information collected and the provision of guidance to international organizations, non-governmental organizations, donors, development partner agencies, governments and NHSs on how to develop business case-based approaches for the operations and management of NHSs, so that they can better contribute to National Development Strategies.

26. In particular, information on funding of NHSs is being sought so that baseline government contributions to the public good activities of NHSs can be established.

27. The World Bank Group (GFDRR and WPP) and WMO are seeking guidance and support from CHy-15 in moving forward with Phase 3 of the project. In particular, they would like to know:

(a) Are GFDRR, WPP and WMO correct in their assessment?

(b) Can NHSs support the approach proposed?

(c) What can NHSs contribute in the way of supporting information?

(d) How can GFDRR, WPP and WMO help NHSs?

(e) What can be done by WMO?

(f) What can be done by donors/development partners?

Data operations, management and exchange

28. Developments in data operations are critical, as major challenges in water management are expected to be present for decades to come; they are even exacerbated in some regions. Climate change scenarios are dramatic in this domain for many regions of the world. Hydrological data and information is central to improve the situation and mitigate the potentially disastrous effects of floods and droughts. Data are needed to better understand natural processes, to anticipate their development thanks to models and forecasts, to properly design hydraulic works, and to provide decision-makers with the necessary bases for taking the correct decisions. Therefore, collected data should be representative of the natural phenomena and must reach a minimal quality requirement.

29. It is to be noted that, although in the past the main focus of WMO was on surface water quantities, all aspects of water should be addressed: surface and groundwater, water quantity and quality.

30. To meet all requirements, hydrological data should be available both in (near) real-time and as long historical time series. This is even more crucial since major global initiatives, such as monitoring of SDGs, the UNFCCC Paris Agreement or the post-Sendai mechanism, require large amounts of data and services. Links with other activities of WMO and its partners, like GFCS and GCOS, should be strengthened. A specificity of hydrology is that many catchments are transboundary, adding administrative and policy complexity to the natural processes. Therefore, data and information exchange mechanisms must be setup, and data from different sources must be comparable thanks to standardization.

31. Many countries have not yet met the requirements in terms of monitoring networks and standards to ensure that hydrological data can be used in water management decisions. For this reason, data and information management issues are one of the priorities of the WMO regional associations. An enhanced support must be dedicated to help these countries meeting their needs, taking into account global initiatives. In this context and in particular in the domain


of production and management of data, WMO provides its Members support through the following activities:

(a) Produce data: WHYCOS, dedicated to monitoring hydrological networks through its regional HYCOS projects (see above);

(b) Process data: The Database Management System MCH (Meteorological, Climatological and Hydrological data);

(c) Show and share data: WHOS, making data visible and available using, inter alia, WaterML 2.0;

(d) Disseminate and rescue data: Global data centers, such as the Global Runoff Data Center (GRDC), the International Data Centre On Hydrology Of Lakes And Reservoirs (HYDROLARE) and the International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre (IGRAC).

32. The update on the status of WHYCOS and WHOS were presented in the section on GHSF above. The other components are described hereafter.

MCH

33. MCH is a database management system originally developed by a WMO project in Mexico and adapted by the Programme of Cooperation for Iberoamerican NMHSs. Its copyright was donated to WMO for dissemination to other countries in 2011 and is now available in Spanish, English and French.

34. It is mainly designed for NMHSs that don’t have any system to digitize, store and process large amount of data. MCH is available free of charge, including necessary training, upon request of Permanent Representatives.

35. Currently, MCH is installed in approximately 20 NHMSs, and roughly half of them are using it operationally. Five additional countries requests are pending as of December 2016. The following developments are foreseen:

(a) Finalization of the “gauging and rating curve” component update, including a user manual;

(b) Connection of MCH to an uncertainty analysis tool for gaugings (the French system BARATIN) and to other tools;

(c) Completion of a full standing user manual.

36. MCH is an effective tool for simple data management and can be very beneficial for many NMHSs, as a starting tool for data operations. Its flexibility allows users to customize it to meet their specific needs.

WaterML 2.0

37. Sharing hydrological data is key for scientific progress, successful transboundary water management and for addressing regional and global water issues.

38. In 2012, CHy-14 noted the significance and importance of WaterML 2.0, and other emerging standards under development by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) for improving service delivery in key CHy programmes, such as WHYCOS, WHOS and the WMO Flood Forecasting Initiative. In particular, activities of the WMO/OGC Hydrology Domain Working Group are providing technical and institutional solutions to the challenge of exchanging data describing the state and location of water resources, both above and below


the ground surface, with a number of standards associated with WaterML 2.0 such as WaterML 2.0: Part 1 – Time Series; WaterML 2.0: Part 2 – Ratings, Gaugings and Sections; and others described in a dedicated page of the CHy-15 pre-session discussion.

39. CHy-14 adopted Resolution 3 entitled “Proposed Adoption of WaterML 2.0 as a Standard.” In this resolution, the Commission recognized the importance of improved access to hydrological data for a range of purposes, including flood forecasting and warning, water resources assessment and evaluation of the impacts of climate variability and change, as well as the need to adopt standard procedures in the operations of National Hydrological Services. It also decided “to commence a process, including testing, that could see the potential adoption of the WaterML 2.0 as a WMO standard for information exchange managed by WMO”.

40. Since CHy-14, WaterML 2.0 has evolved into a suite of component standards. During the past intersessional period, at the request of CHy-14, a number of NHSs have tested WaterML 2.0: Part 1 in pilot and operational systems for hydrological data exchange. This was undertaken with the support of an expert affiliated with the CHy Advisory Working Group, who participated in several regional projects specifically to evaluate the performance of WaterML 2.0: Part 1 in facilitating exchange of hydrological and related data across information systems, the main projects being for the La Plata river basin, Arctic-HYCOS and the Sava river basin. Details can be found in the webpage mentioned above and among the background documents of the pre-session discussion.

41. As regards WaterML 2.0: Part 2, it was approved by OGC in July 2015 and published in early 2016. The AWG has recommended to CHy-15 that WaterML 2.0: Part 2 be also adopted as a WMO standard, subject to some necessary revision of its non-normative (informative) material.

Global data centers

42. The WMO Secretariat is neither the owner nor the depository of any kind of hydrometeorological data. Nevertheless, there is a need for gathering and organizing existing data, and contribute to data rescue thanks to global repositories, which could also act as a redundancy system. These are some of the functions of the global data centers, three of which are dedicated to hydrological data: the GRDC for Runoff data, IGRAC for Groundwater and HYDROLARE for Lakes and Reservoirs. These Centers are briefly presented hereafter:

(a) Global Runoff Data Center (GRDC)The GRDC is an international archive of runoff data up to 200 years old. Its aim is to support analyses of global hydrologic and climate trends and serves as a data repository. It is hosted since 1988 by the German Federal Institute of Hydrology (Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde or BAfG). Daily or monthly data are regularly transmitted from 160 NHSs, corresponding to more than 9,200 stations;


(b) International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre (IGRAC)Since 2003, IGRAC facilitates and promotes sharing of groundwater information and knowledge, focusing on aquifer assessment and groundwater monitoring. IGRAC is a UNESCO center that works under the auspices of WMO and is supported by the Government of The Netherlands;

(c) International Data Centre on Hydrology of Lakes and Reservoirs (HYDROLARE)Since 2009, HYDROLARE gathers and provides data on hydrology of world lakes and reservoirs (nearly 550 water bodies). It is hosted by ROSHYDROMET (the NMS of Russian Federation) and the Russian Federation State Hydrological Institute.

43. The future role of these global data centers should be analysed considering the new developments of WHOS and GHSF.

CHy project on the Assessment of the Performance of Flow Measurements and Techniques (Project X)

44. The progress achieved in the implementation of the workplan of the project is described in its public website, which is continuously updated. Main outputs are the new report on the second edition of the survey on field discharge measurement instrumentation and techniques used operationally, the progress achieved in the development of an Uncertainty Analysis Decision-Aid Tool (UADAT), the guidelines for conducting and reporting on the calibration and verification of the performance of discharge measurement instruments, and the guidance on in situ comparison events for flow measurements and techniques (regattas).

45. After a long process of preparation of detailed technical specifications, the first module of the Uncertainty Analysis Decision-Aid Tool (UADAT), a software for calculation of uncertainty of discharge measurements performed with the Velocity-Area method, is currently being developed and should be ready for free distribution to NHSs in 2017.

FORECASTING AND APPLICATIONS IN HYDROLOGY

Flood Forecasting Initiative (FFI)

WMO FFI Advisory Group (FFI-AG)

46. Congress, through Resolution 21 (Cg-XV) endorsed the Strategy and Action Plan (SAP) of the WMO Flood Forecasting Initiative, which had been established to enhance cooperation between National Meteorological and Hydrological Services for improving flood forecasting. It also requested the Secretary General to: (1) promote the review of various activities or WMO Programmes whose contribution is essential and whose sphere of activities could have an influence on the improvement of flood forecasting practices for the implementation of the Strategy; and (2) support the implementation of demonstration projects such as the Flash Flood Guidance System.

47. Subsequently, Resolution 15 (Cg-XVI) defined the scope of the WMO FFI to include all the hydrological forecasting activities, such as those related to flash floods and riverine floods, including seasonal forecasts and coastal flooding due to storm surge. Importantly, Cg-XVI established the WMO FFI Advisory Group (FFI-AG), with its terms of reference as per the annex to this resolution. The FFI-AG held two meetings in Geneva, one in October 2013, where it adopted its first Work Plan, and another in December 2015, where it adopted a revised Work Plan.

48. The members of the Advisory Working Group responsible for Hydrological Forecasting and Prediction had undertaken, as members of the FFI-AG, a comprehensive review of the FFI Strategy and Action Plan and its Supplement. They noted that there was a need to strengthen the focus of the FFI on forecasting, as the current activities are highly spread-out, and there was a need to place the highest priority on activities associated with short- to medium-term


forecasting. They also noted that the terminology within the SAP is heavy and confusing, while the amount of material is overwhelming. These combined with the above noted concern that the coverage of the SAP is too broad, rendering it difficult to understand and implement.

49. The FFI-AG had thoroughly discussed the extensive review and had agreed to the following proposed actions:

(a) Prioritize the SAP actions so that the highest priority actions reflect short- to medium-ranged flood forecasting system development. Develop a generic list of requirements/best practices of flood forecasting taking into account high priority actions;

(b) Prioritize the SAP actions so that the highest priority actions reflect flood forecasting system development (and not data rescue issues, flood design calculations, etc.). Take into account these actions in further FFI documentation (e.g. generic list of requirements/best practices of flood forecasting);

(c) Ensure that all major demonstration projects and components, including but not limited to CIFDP, SWFDP and FFGS, include the requirements for effective and sustainable flood forecasting in their design and implementation (according to the aforementioned generic list of requirements);

(d) Avoid current terminological complexity in further FFI guidance documentation (e.g. generic list of requirements/best practices);

(e) Regarding the Action Plan: develop a new FFI implementation strategy based on Demonstration projects and other FFI components implementation, guidance material development for different audiences (NMHSs, donors, NGOs, etc.), development of training programmes, and effective promotion of the aforementioned items so that they are available to the target audience;

(f) Regarding the aforementioned promotion activities, that the WMO/GWP Associated Programme on Flood Management’s Integrated Flood Management (IFM) HelpDesk be used to maximum advantage for this purpose.

50. On the basis of these actions, the FFI-AG at its Second Meeting had also agreed to the four main tasks within its new Work Plan, which are contained in the report by the president of the Commission.

Flash Flood Guidance System (FFGS)

51. Cg-XV in 2007 approved the implementation of a Flash Flood Guidance System (FFGS) project with global coverage that had been developed by CHy jointly with CBS and in collaboration with the US National Weather Service, the US Hydrologic Research Center (HRC) and USAID/OFDA.

52. There are a number of on-going FFGS projects having different levels of completion. These include:

(a) Central America FFG (CAFFG) (Operational): Costa Rica (Regional Centre (RC)), Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama;

(b) Southern Africa Region FFG (SARFFG): (Operational) Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa (RC), Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe;

(c) Mekong River Commission FFG (MRCFFG) (Operational): Cambodia (RC), Lao People's Democratic Republic, Thailand, and Viet Nam;


(d) Black Sea and Middle East FFG (BSMEFFG) (Operational): Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey (RC);

(e) Mozotal Mexico FFG (MMFFG) (Operational): Chiapas State of Mexico;

(e)(f) South East Europe FFG (SEEFFG) (under implementation): Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Turkey (RC);

(f)(g) South Asia FFG (SAsiaFFG) (under implementation): Afghanistan, Pakistan (RC); Bangladesh, Bhutan, India (RC), Nepal, and Sri Lanka;

(g)(h) Central Asia Region FFG (CARFFG) (under implementation): Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan;

(h)(i) South America Pilot FFG (under implementation): Zarumilla River Basin (Peru and Ecuador);

(i)(j) Haiti-Dominican Republic FFG (HDRFFG) (under implementation): Dominican Republic and Haiti;

(j)(k) South Eastern Asia Oceania FFG (SAOFFG) (under implementation): Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, and Timor-Leste.

53. There is growing interest by Members in having the FFGS implemented, leading to an increase in the number of projects being undertaken or under consideration. For instance, a recent meeting on Establishing Flash Flood Guidance Systems (FFGSs) for South America, was held from16-18 August 2016, in Lima, Peru. Twelve of the thirteen countries in South America attended the meeting and made a number of conclusions and recommendations for the potential implementation of the FFGS in South America. Given the size of the continent, possibly three or four projects would be needed.

54. It should also be mentioned that HRC, the technical developer of the FFGS, is developing a number of enhancements to the FFGS, thereby expanding its utility to Members. The enhancement outlined include:

(a) Urban flash flood warnings;

(b) Riverine discharge forecasting ensemble prediction;

(c) Landslide susceptibility mapping occurrence prediction;

(d) Multiple mesoscale model ingestion;

(e) Satellite inundation mapping and surface soil moisture observations to correct FFFGS soil water.

Coastal Inundation Forecasting Demonstration Project (CIFDP)

55. CIFDP is a multi-hazard early warning system that promotes an integrated approach in the enhancement and delivery of early warnings in coastal areas and is jointly coordinated by JCOMM and CHy. Implementation will demonstrate how integrated coastal inundation forecasting and warnings can be improved and effectively coordinated by the NMHSs.

56. The CIFDP is currently underway in four sub-projects (Bangladesh, Dominican Republic, Fiji and Indonesia), three of which are in urban coastal settings, financed mostly by extrabudgetary resources. Substantial progress to date has been made in each of these CIFDP sub-projects since 2013.


57. To partly comply with the decision of EC-68, as mentioned above, that the FFI-AG was to ensure that all major demonstration projects and components include the requirements and reflect best practices for effective and sustainable flood forecasting in their design and implementation, Mr Yuri Simonov, member of the Advisory Working Group, has been appointed co-chairperson of the Project Steering Committee that oversees the CIFDP, and Mr Graeme Smart, OPACHE member, has also been appointed to it.

Associated Programme on Flood Management (APFM)

58. The fruitful collaboration between the Global Water Partnership and WMO in implementing the APFM continued during the last four years, producing as a result an impressive amount of publications on every aspect of Integrated Flood Management, several training events and an active participation in international conferences from APFM staff and partners, as well as a very active HelpDesk, which is considered as an example by other Programmes in WMO that wish to develop a similar facility. The detailed information on the above can be found in the APFM website. It should also be mentioned that, since July 2013, GWP has seconded an expert as Senior Programme Officer for APFM and the Integrated Drought Management Programme (IDMP).

59. An Independent Peer Review of the APFM was undertaken in 2016 as directed by its Management Committee, with the results being discussed during its Advisory Committee and Management Committee meetings in September 2016 in Geneva. This review led to 17 findings that recognized the achievements as well as the shortcomings of the programme (lack of staff, decrease of extrabudgetary funding, relatively few and small implementation projects, and insufficient organizational resources to participate in regional project management). One finding was that the APFM was the “best kept secret”, with neither GWP partners nor WMO Members completely understanding the value and purpose of IFM in reducing flood losses. The review put forward seven possible scenarios for the way forward for APFM. These scenarios ranged from immediately ceasing and halting the programme to scaling up the programme to a number of different levels.

Links to DRR

60. In February 2015, WMO co-organized with the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the Consortium for Capacity Building of Colorado University (CCB/CU) and the Turkish State Meteorological Service (TSMS), with the support of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Global Facility for Disaster Response and Recovery (GFDRR), an Expert Forum on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in a Changing Climate: Lessons Learned about Lessons Learned. The Forum was attended by 90 participants from 43 countries and adopted the Antalya Statement (see pages 38-39 of the Forum report).

61. As part of several initiatives in line with the Sendai Framework that build upon the WMO community’s considerable capacities to contribute to Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems (MHEWSs), WMO is playing a key role in developing and promoting the International Network for MHEWSs (IN-MHEWS), as well as in supporting an International Conference on MHEWSs (IC-MHEWS)), from 22-23 May 2017, in Cancun, Mexico. IN-MHEWS is a multi-stakeholder partnership that will facilitate the sharing of expertise and good practice in strengthening MHEWSs as a national strategy for DRR, climate change adaptation and building resilience. IC-MHEWS will build upon the three previous international conferences on early warning (1998, 2003, and 2006) and three WMO expert symposia on MHEWSs (2006, 2009 and 2010) and will identify effective strategies and actions needed to promote and strengthen MHEWSs in support of the implementation of the Sendai Framework.

62. Cg-17 decided, through the adoption of Resolution 9, to standardize weather, water, climate and other related environmental hazard and risk information and develop identifiers for cataloguing weather, water, and climate extreme events. This decision considered that an identifier and cataloguing system is an important prerequisite for the Atlas of Mortality and Economic Losses from Weather, Climate and Water Extremes and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction Global Assessment Reports on Disaster Risk Reduction. These


measures will promote interoperability among datasets and facilitate Members’ efforts to assess risk and track losses and damages.

CAPACITY-BUILDING IN HYDROLOGY AND WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

WMO Strategy on Education and Training in Hydrology and Water Resources.63. Cg-17 requested the president of CHy to continue to implement the WMO Strategy on Education and Training in Hydrology and Water Resources, adopted by the Commission through Resolution 6 (CHy-14).

64. In accordance with the Strategy, training needs have been determined in consultation with Members and Regional Associations Working Groups on Hydrology, CHy and its subsidiary bodies based on the surveys undertaken by the WMO Secretariat. According to the guidelines defined by the Commission, priority has been given to training of trainers and distance- and blended-learning training courses, and to developing systematic training for the NHSs and other professionals based on the manuals and guidelines produced as part of the QMF-H.

65. Some relevant training events organized in the last intersessional period, were:

(a) Roving Seminars on Operation and Maintenance of Automatic Hydrometeorological Stations were organized in four Iberoamerican countries and three regional advanced training of trainers for network managers on the same topic were held in 2013 and 2014, (sponsored by the Iberoamerican programme financed by Spain);

(b) Training events on the WMO Manual on Stream Gauging utilizing training material developed by CHy experts and downloadable from the website of the corresponding CHy community of practice, were held for staff of NHSs in English in Ghana (for Western Africa countries, with instructors from USGS and Canada) in 2012 and Nepal (for HKH countries, with USGS instructors and, sponsored by the HKH-HYCOS project financed by Finland) in 2015, in Spanish in Mexico (for Iberoamerican countries, with Spanish-speaking USGS instructors) in 2013, and in French in Benin (for sub-Saharan francophone countries) in 2015. Similar events more geared to a professional audience were held in conjunction with IAHR and IAHS in the Republic of Korea in 2013, Vietnam in 2014 and New Zealand in 2016;

(c) A Regional Workshop on Integrated Flood Management, Flood Forecasting and Early Warnings for the Western Balkans and Turkey was held in Turkey in 2013, while a course on Flood Forecasting and Warning for South and South-East Asian countries was held in India, at the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, in 2015 and an advanced course on the same topic was co-organized with PROHIMET for Iberoamerican countries in 2016 (sponsored by the Iberoamerican programme financed by Spain);

(d) A training workshop on Advancing Groundwater Monitoring in Pacific Small Island Developing States was jointly organized by WMO, the International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre (IGRAC), Fiji Meteorological Service (FMS), the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) in 2016;

(e) As regards Distance Learning, courses in Hydrological Sciences of two levels, basic and advanced, based on COMET hydrological modules adapted to an international audience, have been developed. In the period 2013-2016, seven such courses of an average seven week duration, were organized by a Regional Training Centre, with the support of COMET and the WMO Secretariat: five (three basic and two advanced) were held for RA II countries, organized by the National Water Academy (India), and two basic courses were organized by the Institute for Meteorological Training and Research (Kenya). In addition, the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology offered online hydrology courses, such as a course on Floodplain Mapping to regional and international communities.


Technology transfer and knowledge management

66. Resolution 6 (CHy-14) had asked the Secretariat to develop open source and community of practice solutions to promote the transfer of technology for database management systems; training material for stream gauging courses; training material for flood forecasting and warning courses; a decision-support tool for uncertainty analysis of flow measurements (uncertainty analysis decision-aid tool); and delivery of distance learning courses in hydrology.

67. The most widely used of these communities is the one on MCH, with approximately 90 registered members and 20 active participants, mainly software developers who exchange their experiences and share their developments. The community on training material for stream gauging has been widely used to download parts or the entire material in any of the four languages available, but the interaction among participants has been limited. The one on the decision-support tool for uncertainty analysis has been frequently used by the experts of the Management Committee of the Project on the Assessment of the Performance of Flow Measurements and Techniques (Project X), but has not yet been open to a wider community. The two communities on training material for flood forecasting and delivery of distance learning courses have developed more as ad hoc sites for individual events.


ANNEX 4

[Copied from CHy-15/INF 2.3, paras 68 to 70]

REGIONAL ACTIVITIES

1. A range of different institutional arrangements have been adopted by the WMO regional associations for addressing issues relevant to hydrology and water resources in their respective Regions. The AWG, in order to incorporate the regional needs in the work programme of CHy, has continued to conduct extensive consultations with the Regional Hydrological Advisers, both through informal meetings during sessions of the Executive Council and by inviting them to participate in its third meeting in February 2016, dedicated to the planning for CHy-15.

2. With the goal of streamlining the use of resources and better responding to the regional needs, the regional associations during the present intersessional period have established, among their subsidiary bodies, the following bodies to deal with water related matters:

RA I: Working Group on Hydrology and Water Resources, Chairperson: Mr A. Zakey (Egypt);RA II: Working Group on Hydrological Services, Chairperson: Mr S. Kim (Republic of Korea);RA III: Working Group on Hydrology and Water Resources, Chairperson Ms D. Goniadzki

(Argentina);RA IV: Working Group on Hydrology, Chairperson: Mr E. Planos (Cuba);RA V: Working Group on Hydrological Services, Chairperson: Mr J. Fenwick (New Zealand);RA VI: Working Group on Climate and Hydrology, Chairperson Ms C. Eklund (Sweden).

3. In order to optimize resources and give continuity to their work beyond the traditional face-to-face meetings, several regional working groups have developed innovative solutions: in RA II, thanks to the generous financial support of the Republic of Korea, three face-to-face meetings were held, when possible in conjunction with international water conferences; in RA VI, teleconferences have been held often to advance on specific issues of the work programme; finally, in RA III, RA IV, RA V and in the near future RA VI, an online portal for the working group has been established, with a section open to the general public and a part reserved to members, where documents in progress are posted and a virtual forum is held to exchange experiences of regional relevance.

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