WMO --> CCB --> Workshop on Water Affairs

WMO/CCB/Water Resources University Workshop

4-7 December 2006
Hanoi, Vietnam

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) partnered with the Consortium for Capacity Building (CCB) and Water Resources University to hold a prototype workshop on the notion of "Water Affairs." Participants from 11 countries in the region attended. A workshop report will be available on this website in the near future.

New as of 5 February 2007: The final Water Affairs report is available here.

Water is life. It is, and always has been, a central preoccupation of people worldwide since the earliest beginnings of human societies. We know a great deal about water issues: where it is, when it comes, and even from where it comes. Most of the time, however, although we know much about water resources in a given region, there is much that is not known. Some societies manage to flourish, while others struggle from year to year, just to subsist on available or accessible water supplies.

Participants at Water Resources University on 7 December 2006.

This workshop brought together hydrologists from several countries in the Southeast Asian region to discuss these issues and attend this prototype education and training activity. It is not only important to share knowledge, but also to discuss climate-society-environment interactions, as they can be seen as providing the setting for a discussion of Water Affairs. Participants helped to develop an activity that will foster a multidisciplinary focus on water and water-related issues; embed hydrological science in a societal setting; educate educators and train trainers in a wide range of areas about the hidden, as well as obvious, connections among water, atmospheric processes, and human activities.

The workshop also attempted to build human and institutional capacity to cope with a wide range of water and water-related issues such as downstream impacts, as well as catalyze interactions among the water, weather, and climate applications, research, and outreach communities.