Commission for hydrology
Rationale for AWG recommendations to CHy-15
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Rationale for AWG recommendations to CHy-1510. 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 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 response15. 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. __________ ANNEX 2 [Copied from CHy-15/INF 2.2] REPORT BY THE ADVISORY WORKING GROUP (AWG) MEMBERS
Vice-president of CHy (submitted by Zhiyu Liu)
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. Download 211.38 Kb. Share with your friends:
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