Ecohydrology: Engineering harmony for a Sustainable World, Theme 5 of the Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (IHP) Phase VIII (2014-2021)

Abstract

This paper summarises the evolution of UNESCO's Ecohydrology programme during the last 25 years within the different phases of the Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (IHP) but focuses particularly on its implementation during IHP-VIII phase, from 2014 to 2021. The Ecohydrology programme is steered by a Scientific Advisory Committee composed of internationally well-known scientists from all over the world, which promote strategic directions and new scientific dimensions, design activities to be undertaken, as well as program execution, and communication of scientific advances and lessons learnt within the programme. It also especially takes advantage of the considerable and essential contribution of members of the UNESCO Water Family, in particular from water Centres and Chairs dedicated to ecohydrology. The paper also describes the major milestones obtained during the eight years of implementation, going through the major activities organized in the framework of the dissemination of the concept within different scientific networks, international conferences, trainings, workshop, publications as well as major innovative trends the programme accounted for. The COVID-19 outbreak greatly impacted the execution of the programme during 2020 and 2021 as major international events and activities were cancelled or postponed. One of the programme's responses was the organization of the Ecohydrology Online Open Courses (EH OOC) on a dedicated platform.