Advancing the Science and Practice of Hydrology: Past and future contributions of UNESCO-IHP

Since 1975, the Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (IHP) has enabled and supported an interdisciplinary and integrated approach to watershed and aquifer management. Through the years, IHP officers and projects have combined a rigorous understanding of hydrologic processes with the recognition of the value of sound water resources management policies. As such, it has strived to incorporate social dimensions of water and to support international cooperation in hydrological and freshwater sciences. As an international science and policy programme, it occupies a unique interface with policy-makers, and has a strong history of supporting the development of both institutional and individual capacity to understand and manage water resources.

Through these initiatives, IHP has played an important role in advancing the science and practice of hydrology and as a uniquely international programme, has played a particular important role in broadening hydrology as science and bringing in perspectives and ideas reflecting knowledge across the spectrum of its member states. As we move towards the 50th anniversary of IHP, it is an opportune time to reflect on the state of hydrology as a science and its practice in supporting water resources management and the role that IHP has played. This presentation provides a reflection on the role of IHP in the development and practice of the science of hydrology and considers the role that the next phase of IHP i.e. IHP - IX i.e. “Science for a Water Secure World in a Changing Environment” can play in the development and application of hydrological as a science in the future.