Hydrology (IHP)

The Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (IHP) is the only intergovernmental programme of the United Nations system devoted to water research and management, and related education and capacity development. The IHP started out in 1975 as an internationally coordinated hydrological research programme. Since then, it has evolved to facilitate an interdisciplinary and integrated approach to watershed and aquifer management, incorporating the social dimension of water, and supports international cooperation in hydrological and freshwater sciences and at the interface with policy-makers, and reinforces institutional and individual capacities. The main objective of IHP’s current, eighth phase (IHP-VIII 2014-2021) is to put science into action required for water security.

The Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme stimulates and encourages hydrological research and assists Member States in research and training activities. Its eighth phase focuses on six thematic areas: water-related disasters and hydrological changes; groundwater in a changing environment; addressing water scarcity and quality; water and human settlements of the future; ecohydrology, engineering harmony for a sustainable world; and water education, key to water security.

By bringing innovative, multidisciplinary and environmentally sound methods and tools into play, while fostering and capitalizing on advances in water sciences, IHP acts at the science-policy nexus to help meeting today’s global water challenges.