UNESCO and the Dominican Republic establish new Category II Centre

• © INDRHI

UNESCO and the government of the Dominican Republic signed an agreement on 8 March 2010 establishing, under the auspices of UNESCO, the Centre for the Sustainable Management of Water Resources in the Caribbean Island States in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

The centre will perform the following functions per the agreement:

• promote and perform scientific research on water management in the region, and hydrologic aspects thereof;
• promote and facilitate applications of technology towards better practical use of water;
• expand and coordinate research activities, in cooperation with the various international agencies and the relevant entities of the States of the region, most particularly by taking advantage of the scientific and professional capacities of the region, as well as using the corresponding networks of the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme (IHP);
• organize and implement activities for knowledge and information transfer for training and upgrading the human resource base for sustainable water resources management, and for hydrological aspects of interest to the States of the region;
• provide reliable information on water resources and their sustainable management by improving the transfer and sharing of information strategies, and the means of dissemination and assimilation of such information;
• deliver consulting and technical advice in the region and in other countries, as requested by the interested parties and in fulfillment of the Centre’s objectives;
• issue scientific and technical publications and informative materials in the form and formats deemed appropriate, on the issues of sustainable water resources management and related and/or supplementary themes, as well as on hydrological aspects of interest to the States of the region.

Mrs. Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO and Mr. Francisco Rodríguez, Executive Director of the Instituto Nacional de Recursos Hidráulicos, were present to sign the agreement.

• Source:UNESCO SC
• 10-03-2010