ISI, WASER AND IRTCES: AN AUSPICIOUS COOPERATION
Prof. Giampaolo Di Silvio, WASER President
Sediments are involved in many branches of science and technology, ranging, respectively, from Earth Sciences and Biology to Engineering, Forestry and Agriculture. Even larger is the range of the specific disciplines belonging to these various academic and professional fields in which sediments play an important role. Earth Sciences embraces, for example, geography, hydrology, geomorphology, etc., while Engineering includes hydraulics, structures, energy, environment etc. In the field of Forestry and Agriculture, soil and therefore sediments represents an essential component in most of their applications.
It is only natural that each discipline or group of disciplines has proceeded to create their own networks, involving, for example, journals and magazines reporting recent findings in their respective fields, as well as national, regional and international associations and societies, whose members work together in pursuit of a common aim or purpose. In some cases, such bodies will publish their own journals and almost all convene periodic conferences and meetings. The resulting networks may reflect a clear disciplinary focus or a more multidisciplinary integrating character. However, as with any living organism, all networks tend to preserve their cultural identity and specificity in terms of methodologies, perspectives and points of view. Over the course of time, such networks are established, develop and may eventually terminate, or they or they may modify totally or partially their focus and adapt themselves to the prevailing cultural, economic and political climate. The consistency, life span and membership numbers of an organization are clear signs of its vitality and that of the discipline(s) that it represents.
With reference to the international organizations that deal with sediments and are linked to Earth Science (among the Natural Sciences) and to Engineering (among the Applied Sciences), I would like to mention the following prestigious scientific and/or professional associations, which are almost a century old.
- The International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS), founded in 1922.
- The International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD), founded in 1928.
- The International Association for Hydro-Environmental Engineering and Research (IAHR), founded in 1935.
As indicated by their names, these three associations focus on distinct areas. IAHS basically deals with the hydrological cycle (i.e. the various phases of the surface and subsurface circulation of fresh water on the earth), especially from the scientific point of view, as well as with the assessment of water resources. ICOLD is the world's leading professional organization devoted to the construction and operation of dams and to the utilization of impounded water; its focus is primarily technological and it functions through national commissions. IAHR, on the other hand, covers different aspects of water engineering, with reference to civil, industrial and environmental applications and with due attention to the respective scientific aspects.
Since sediments frequently interact with water during their mobilisation, transport and deposition, they are inevitably relevant to all the organizations mentioned above. In each organization, however, sediments are primarily covered by one of their subdivisions. In ICOLD, for example, the fundamental issue of the loss of reservoir storage capacity due to sedimentation and related problems are addressed by the "Technical Committee on Sedimentation". Similarly, the well-known "International Commission on Continental Erosion" of IAHS has traditionally dealt with research on erosion and sedimentation and since the 1970s has published several pioneering "red books" dealing with erosion and sediment yields in different regions of the world and with advances in several different topics related to erosion and sedimentation, including sediment measurement. Finally, the Committees on "Fluvial Hydraulics" and "Coastal Maritime Hydraulics" are the subdivisions of IAHR where, more than in others, the dynamics of sediments under the action of currents and waves are theoretically and experimentally studied.
Although IAHS, ICOLD and IAHR are actively dealing with sediments, the scope of these three organizations is much wider. In contrast, this is not the case with the following smaller and younger bodies exclusively devoted to sediments as clearly indicated by their name.
- The International Symposium on River Sedimentation (ISRS), initiated in 1980.
- The International Sediment Initiative (ISI), launched by UNESCO in 2002.
- The World Association for Sedimentation and Erosion Research (WASER), founded in 2004.
The ISRS is a triennial symposium, initially organized in Beijing by the Chinese Hydraulic Engineering Society (CHES) under the auspices of UNESCO, with the purpose of analysing river behaviour not so much from the hydrological and hydraulic point of view (as in many other previous technical meetings) but rather in terms of erosion/sedimentation processes. The large projects planned or under construction on the major Chinese rivers, e.g. Xiaolangdi on the Yellow River or the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River, demanded specific and thorough analysis of those aspects which was facilitated by an event like ISRS, to be periodically replicated with the participation of international experts in different parts of the world. The first ISRS held in Beijing in 1980 has been followed by eleven other symposia in the series held in various continents, with IRTCES acting as the permanent Secretariat of the symposium series. The 13th Symposium will be held in Stuttgart (Germany) in September 2016.
The International Sediment Initiative (ISI) was launched in 2002, within the framework of UNESCO's International Hydrological Programme (IHP), to focus attention on the negative global effects of erosion and sedimentation, through a series of focussed activities, which include 'international cooperation and information exchange'. After its launch, ISI has supported the International Symposia on River Sedimentation and has been instrumental in obtaining UNESCO sponsorship for the symposia. The ISRS has also provided a venue for the regular meetings of the ISI Advisory and Expert Groups.
Just two years after the creation of ISI, the World Association for Erosion and Sedimentation Research (WASER) was officially inaugurated in 2004 during the 9th ISRS held at the Three Gorges Dam site in China. The statutory objectives of WASER are to:
1) Promote the study and development of the science of erosion and sedimentation, interpreted in its widest sense; and
2) Foster the application and dissemination of knowledge and technology in the field of erosion and sedimentation. The ISRS was also adopted as the official symposium of the Association and this has been explicitly incorporated into its statutes. In this way, the ISRS is organically linked to WASER and is a key element of the scope and objectives of the Association.
This brief historical survey indicates that the two new organizations, ISI and WASER, are structured to focus exclusively on sediments and sediment-related problems and therefore differ from existing more complex and broad-based organisations such as IAHS, ICOLD or IAHR. These prestigious larger associations clearly possess extensive and valuable experience related to sediments, but this experience is closely bound to the specific disciplinary identity of each association. In contrast, the supra-disciplinary character of ISI and WASER makes it easier for them to foster, possibly in co-operation, interaction among the other organizations. A concrete example of inter-organizational interaction is the "Workshop on International Sediment Advances"(WISA), jointly promoted by WASER and ISI at the Kyoto ISRS in 2013 and Stuttgart in 2016, with the purpose of informing the Symposium participants of the most recent findings and activities of each association and, above all, to compare their respective discipline-oriented viewpoints on a specific issues related to sediments.
Co-operation between ISI and WASER is facilitated by the fact that the Secretariats of both organizations are based at the International Research and Training Center on Erosion and Sedimentation (IRTCES) in Beijing. Moreover, the two organizations have diverse but complementary features. WASER, through its relatively large membership of sediment specialists, can provide worldwide expertise on sediment research as well as the venue of the triennial ISRS. UNESCO's ISI provides direct contact with the activities of the International Hydrological Programme (FRIEND, HELP, etc.), with other United Nations agencies (WMO, FAO, World Bank, etc.) and with the sediment-related international associations (including the already mentioned IAHS, ICOLD, IAHR, and many others). If we consider the contribution of IRTCES to the two Secretariats and its capability in terms of research, training and management, we may conclude that ISI, WASER and IRTCES potentially constitute a very effective cooperative tool for contributing to knowledge, research and practice relating to sediments, over and above and to complete what is already provided by the traditional disciplinary organizations.
