UNESCO IHP Program for Sustainable Management of Water Resources

Cibinong LIPI. Climate change has an impact on many things on this earth, including affecting water disasters such as floods, drought, water security in the world, and loss of biodiversity. This needs special attention by the world. "UNESCO has established the IHP Program (Intergovernmental Hydrological Program) since 1975. Currently we are entering phase VIII (2014-2021) with the main theme of watershed security responses to local, regional and global challenges, namely how to respond to order, local, regional and global issues related to water resources, "said Prof. Dr. Ignasius DA Sutapa, MSc, Executive Director of the Asia Pacific Center for Ecohydrology (APCE), at the Biosphere Reserve E-Lifelong Learning Webinar held by Sam Ratulangi University (12/8).

Ignasius explained that in Phase VIII it was divided into several themes covering all aspects of water resources, namely water disasters, groundwater, quality and scarcity of water resources, water needs to meet the community, and on ecohydrology. Each country is advised to form a committee that is a member of UNESCO. "Indonesia formed the National IHP Committee (Intergovernmental Hydrological Program) to support activities related to information synthesis, gaps in water resources issues, understanding and promotion of concepts needed to strengthen institutions and human resources, including handling them. So that the purpose of establishing the IHP is to strengthen coordinating research activities related to cross-institutional water resource problems, "he explained.

He explained that the main issues related to water resources in Indonesia are almost the same as in the Asia Pacific because Indonesia is part of the Asia Pacific, for example water scarcity and sanitation, floods, drought, pollution, which cause water scarcity in the future. "This could lead to conflicts in the future so that IHP Indonesia translated it into a working group according to the theme, to achieve targets in solving water resources problems that are inline with the national program," said Ignas. "We address national issues regarding water resources to support sustainable development targets. "Efforts to manage water resources should be sustainable for the next generation," he added

Ignas further explained that the themes in phase VIII were Water Related Disasters and Hydrological Changes for the first theme, related to the second theme Groundwater in a Changing Environment, the third Addressing Water Scarcity and Quality, namely efforts to overcome water scarcity and its quality, and efforts to increase community care for the environment. Meanwhile, the fourth theme is how to meet urban and rural water needs. Meanwhile, the fifth theme is Ecohydrology. Regarding ecohydrology, LIPI is the host in charge of APCE (Asia Center for Ecohydrology).
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“We know biosphere reserves play an important role in supporting sustainable water management. So the sixth theme about Water Education is very important because this training is the foundation for all generations. APCE promotes modules to increase the understanding capacity of the whole community, be it students, stakeholders or communities, "said Ignas.

"IHP is a UNESCO platform that deals with global water resources issues, including in the Asia Pacific and especially in Indonesia. The policies taken by the government still need adjustments, especially with the presence of COVID-19, achieving the SDGs target requires adjustments in its steps, "Ignas concluded. (yo ed sl)