Water Education to Strengthen Capabilities

Mr Marcio Barbosa, Deputy Director-General of UNESCO, gave a comprehensive overview of the four pillars of UNESCO's freshwater actions working together to deliver water education challenges: WWAP, UNESCO-IHP, UNESCO-IHE and UNESCO water-related centres and chairs. He stressed the importance of UNESCO-IHE as the largest postgraduate water education facility in the world and the only institution in the UN system authorised to confer accredited degrees. He asked permanent delegates to fully support UNESCO-IHE.

András Szöllösi-Nagy, Director of the Division of Water and Secretary of the International Hydrological Programme of UNESCO, explained cross-sectoral efforts UNESCO is making in the fields of water education and noted the critical need for adequately trained professionals in the water sector.

Aline Bory-Adams, Chief of the Coordination Team for the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD), further highlighted how UNESCO is contributing to strengthen human capacities to address water issues, noting the crucial role of education for the sustainable management of water resources.

During the meeting UNESCO launched the UNESCO Tertiary Water Education Grants Programme, a scheme whereby UNESCO Member States can support students in MSc, PhD, Short- and Online Courses on water issues at UNESCO-IHE.

Student presentation

Carmen Almeyda (29) from Peru, Jonas Heita (27) from Namibia and Mohanasundar Radhakrishnan (28) from India represented their fellow students at the Information Meeting in Paris by giving a joint presentation on the water challenges in their respective countries and how studying at UNESCO-IHE allows them to tackle these challenges.