The 38th session of the IHP Bureau was held at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris from 6 to 8 June 2005. Mr. O. Bonacci (Croatia), Chairperson, and the following Vice-Chairpersons attended the meeting: Mr. M.R. Almomani (Jordan), Mr. S. Demuth (Germany), Mr. Liu Heng (China), Mr. M.H. Ibrahim (Nigeria) and Mr. V. Pochat (Argentina). Also present at the meeting as observers were Mr. P. Hubert (IAHS Secretary General), Mr. A Tyagi (Director HWRP/WMO) and Mr. L. Ubertini (Italy - Chairperson of the IHP Finance Committee).

The Bureau was informed of the continuation of 'water and associated ecosystems' as principal priority within UNESCO's Natural Sciences Sector for 2006-2007. Moreover, it was reported that UNESCO's Executive Board has favourably endorsed the establishment of the International Centre on Water Hazard and Risk Management (ICHARM) in Tsukuba, Japan under the auspices of UNESCO and recommended its approval by the General Conference.

An overriding topic during the Bureau session was the monitoring of the resolution on IHP governance adopted at the 16th IHP Intergovernmental Council (Paris, September 2004). The Bureau recommended that IHP National Committees as well as Regional Hydrologists be made aware of the Council's proposal that IHP Member States review the status of their IHP National Committees. The Bureau decided to use the principles outlined in a previous Council document (IHP/IC-XIII/11) as a basis for strengthening IHP National Committees. It also requested the Secretariat to investigate the legal and financial consequences of establishing regional intergovernmental councils.

Following discussions towards a strategy for the joint and synergic action of the water-related centres* operating under the auspices of UNESCO, the Bureau recommended that category II centres be closely linked with the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education and UNESCO regional offices, possibly through the PoWER network. In like manner, category II centres and IHP National Committees should be strongly associated in both directions. The process of considering proposals for category II centres within IHP should be harmonized and consist in review and opinion both by the Bureau and the Council. The Secretariat reported on the new guidelines for centres operating under the auspices of UNESCO (document 171 EX/18) and the Bureau discussed various possibilities for conducting internal IHP evaluations of water-related centres.

The Bureau endorsed the revised concept paper on the seventh phase of IHP (IHP-VII, 2008-2013) and added certain comments. It also recommended the preparation of an action plan for the UN Water for Life Decade, to be submitted to the 17th session of the IHP Council for approval. The IHP-VII task force was invited to complete expected outputs and results under each theme. The Bureau agreed that the cross-cutting FRIEND and HELP programmes will be continued and strengthened in IHP-VII, and suggested that the their contribution to the different themes should be evaluated.

The Bureau expressed support for both the International Sediment Initiative (ISI) and the International Flood Initiative (IFI). It was proposed that the Niger River might later be an additional case study for the ISI if sufficient cooperating partners came forward. The Bureau recommended a possible coupling between the Niger and the Danube. Mr. S. Demuth accepted the invitation by the IHP Bureau to be the IHP representative on the IFI Steering Committee. The Bureau likewise approved the IFI concept paper.

The Bureau decided to hold its 39th session from 2 to 4 May 2006, possibly at UNESCO-IHE in Delft. Moreover, the 17th session of the IHP Intergovernmental Council would be held from 3 to 7 July 2006 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, while the 8th joint UNESCO-IAHS Kovacs Colloquium would be held from 30 June to 1 July, preceding the Council session, with the suggested title 'Frontiers in the research of hydrological extremes'.

:: The final report of the 38th session of the IHP Bureau is available online.