The ICWRGC celebrates its 5th anniversary as UNESCO Category 2 Water Centre

The Federal Government and UNESCO signed the contract establishing the first UNESCO-Category 2 Water Centre in Germany on 9 July 2014.

The German Secretariat of the National Committee for the International Hydrological Programme (IHP) of UNESCO and for the Hydrological Water Resources Programme (HWRP) of WMO has been hosted by the Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG) in Koblenz since 1974. In 2014, the Secretariat received special appreciation from UNESCO. Based on this recognition, the International Centre for Water Resources and Global Change (ICWRGC) was founded five years ago. In the same year, UN Environment (UNEP) relocated the global database for water quality data to the Centre. Along with growing esteem and acceptance of the ICWRGC by the UN organisations, WMO transferred the coordination of the Global Terrestrial Network Hydrology (GTN-H) to the ICWRGC, first in 2017 and most recently in June 2019.

The ICWRGC has very strong partners at its side, namely the BfG and its Global Runoff Data Centre (GRDC), the global data centre for precipitation and climatology located at the German Meteorological Service (DWD) as well as its scientific advisory board and the German hydrological research landscape. In close cooperation with these partners, the latest knowledge and methods from Germany are introduced at the UN level, on behalf of the German government, for the development of water resources under perceptibly changing global conditions (i.a. climate change, population growth, economy, politics). At the recent World Climate Summit (COP24) in November 2018 in Poland, it was unanimously determined – due to the involvement of the ICWRGC at the UN level – that the global demand for clean freshwater, an already precious and scarce commodity, is increasingly rising. This affects almost all spheres of life that are subject to strong changes in the wake of global warming and its impacts. In the fields of research, data and product provision, education and capacity development as well as networks, the ICWRGC will continue to promote its efforts in terms of contributions and events with dedication and motivation.