Nairobi, 22-07-2014: Dr Guleid Artan, the Director of IGAD Climate Prediction and Application Centre (ICPAC), Mr John Nyaoro, Director of Water Resources at the Kenyan Ministry of Environment, Water, and Natural Resources, and Mr Julius Wellens-Mensah, Geneva-based Chief of Basic Systems in Hydrology-World Meteorological Organization (WMO), launched the Second Joint Steering Committee Meeting of the IGAD Inland Water Resources Management Program (INWRMP) and the IGAD Hydrological Cycle Observing System (HYCOS) Project this morning at the Nairobi Safari Club-Lillian Towers in the presence of members of the Steering Committee from IGAD member states.
Thismeeting, chaired by Dr Guleid Artan, is meant at following up the recommendations of the last the INWRMP Steering Committee Meeting held in July 2012 in Djibouti, look into INWRMP and IGAD-HYCOS Project progress reports and planned activities, and also fine tune the roles and responsibilities of IGAD, WMO, EU, and National Hydrological services in the matter program.
In his opening remarks, Dr Guleid Artan welcomed the participants to this 2nd INWRMP IGAD-HYCOS Project Joint Steering Committee Meeting before thanking “WMO which is implementing the IGAD HYCOS Project, and also MWH for the technical assistance in the Inland Water Resources Management Program”.
He highlighted that the Inland Water Resources Management Program of IGAD and IGAD-HYCOS Project are “promoting the establishment and institutionalization of a regional cooperation, enhanced improvement of policies, and a legal framework for water resources management”.
“Time has passed since our last Steering Committee Meeting. I thus look forward to your active participation in guiding these two programs in view to achieve their respective goals,” he concluded.
Mr Julius Wellens-Mensah congratulated the organizers of this SC Meeting for bringing together high calibre participants. “This shows the high level commitment by concerned countries for the success of this meeting that will shine on the rest of the Program”. “IGAD-HYCOS Project helps in collecting, disseminating, and analysing data. It also helps with capacity-building,” he said.
“We have less than a year in order to complete this Project. But, we will ensure that all deliverables are fully delivered,” he said before giving the floor to the Guest of Honour in the person of Mr John Nyaoro. Mr John Nyaoro
Mr John Nyaoro, speaking on behalf of the Principal Secretary of the State Department of Water- Ministry of Environment, Water, and Natural Resources of Kenya, reminded the audience that the INWRMP and IGAD-HYCOS Project were “designed to promote sustainable and integrated water resources development and management in the IGAD region (…)”. He also indicated that “within the IGAD-HYCOS Project, 15 hydrological stations were designed for collection off hydrological and environmental data in Kenya”. He nevertheless called for more training opportunities of professional hydrologists on top of the one conducted in Integrated Water Resources Management in July 2013in Nairobi. Mr Nyaoro then declared the Steering Committee open
IGAD Inland Water Resources Management Program is a European Union funded program that aims at strengthening national and regional capacities in the field off water management and the development of regional water dialogue and cooperation for sustainable water resources management in the Greater Horn of Africa Region. The World Meteorological Organization is an implementing partner for IGAD-HYCOS Project.
