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The HELP programme was endorsed at the 5th Joint UNESCO-WMO Conference on Hydrology, in Geneva, February 1999. The meeting of the Interim Management Committee in Dublin, Ireland, 6-8 November 2000, agreed that a two-stage process in the programme implementation should be considered, with a limited number of basins to start with, followed by more basins that will be solicited formally later.
The HELP Pilot Phase:
25 unsolicited basins contacted the HELP Secretariat to be part of the programme.
All those basins that have provided comprehensive details, as part of their nomination to participate in HELP, were invited to be part of a pilot study phase subject to the revised criteria being met. The fast track basins were expected to demonstrate that the HELP approach works and then a formal solicitation at national level was planned to be made.
Following the recommendations of the IMC meeting, Dublin, a sub-committee of the HELP IMC met at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford, 6-8 March 2001, to review nominated HELP basins proposals. Written proposals were received from 25 basins. The outcomes was the production of a report which has been subsequently updated on the basis of the revised submissions and in which a provisional classification of basins under the following categories:
· Demonstration (former Reference) HELP basin (1) · An Operational group (total 4) · An Evolving group (total 14) · A Proposed group (total 6)
The sub-group of the IMC decided that all 25 nominations should be part of the HELP Pilot phase; and through the circulation of comments on individual basins it was hoped that further developments using HELP principles would be encouraged. The HELP Symposium of HELP implementation has provide a forum for evaluating progress in the implementation of this HELP Pilot basin phase prior to formal solicitation for additional HELP Basins thereafter. The precise definition of each category of HELP basin is available in a one-page document within the resources. The selection criteria to be part of HELP as set out by the HELP Interim Management Commitee in Dublin are available under Documents. These selection crietria were reviewed during the HELP International Steering Commitee meeting, Bonn, Germany, 5-7 May 2003. Following this review, a formal solicitation for additional basins was made 31st October 2003 (see You and HELP to access all the relevant documents and information to propose an HELP basin).
The Implementation Phase 2004-Onwards:
The Implementation Phase of the HELP programme has just started with the publication of the HELP network following the Global Call.
Linkages between the different basins of the HELP network (i.e. twinning) and linkages with other international programmes are being developed.
The HELP network is composed by 67 basins classified under the 4 following categories:
Group P: Proposed HELP Basin Additional information is needed to re- classify this basin A Proposed HELP basin
Group E: Evolving HELP basin This is a basin which is not yet fully operational.
An Evolving HELP basin has successfully completed its Proposal Document and
Group O: Operational HELP Basin This is an established basin which may become a World Demonstration Basin in due course.
An Operational HELP basin has had all the characteristics of an Evolving Basin and
Group D: World Demonstration HELP Basin This is seen as demonstrating best practice in HELP and IWRM, with something to offer other basins.
A World Demonstration HELP Basin has all the characteristics of an Operational Basin and
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