Announcement

Thank you for your participation

>>DOWNLOAD the high resolution group photo (~12 MB)<<

Symposium Report

The Executive Summary of the Symposium is now available:

-> Word DOC
-> PDF

The Symposium full summary report can be downloaded:

-> Word DOC
-> PDF

Project Design Matrix Proposals

All the presented African and Asian Project Design Matrix (PDM) proposals are available in a compiled document. It can be downloaded in the Word DOC or PDF format.

Symposium Photos

The Symposium photos are available at the Photo page.

Video document of the Symposium

The video can be downloaded at the Photo page or watched at the Youtube site.

Presentation Files and List of Participants

The Symposium presentations and the brief list of participants are now available for download in the pdf format at the Presentations page.

Symposium Flyer

- Japanese version

- English version

Reference Documents

Invitation

Dear Colleagues,

It is our pleasure to invite you to attend the first GEOSS Joint Asia – Africa Water Cycle Symposium that is being jointly organized by the University of Tokyo (UT) and the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) in Tokyo, Japan, from 25 to 27 November 2013.

The Symposium, co-organized by the University of Tokyo (UT) and the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) will build upon the commonalities of approach by both the Asian Water Cycle Initiative (AWCI) and the Africa Water Cycle Coordination Initiative (AfWCCI) towards addressing integrated water resource management in the context of climate change. Both initiatives have evolved as regional activities of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), and are adopting principles of the GEOSS Water Cycle Integrator (WCI). The WCI emphasizes the importance of data integration, interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity for, among other applications, sustainable development of water and environmental resources – particularly as they pertain to the “Water-Food-Energy nexus” - while promoting disaster risk reduction.

Both initiatives have recently started the next phase of implementation planning activities, and thus would benefit from a joint event providing an opportunity for a broadened discussion, knowledge and experience sharing, and exchange of ideas. Therefore, objectives of the joint Symposium include taking stock of accomplishments, and learning from past lessons in the development and execution of implementation plans for river basin management, (especially from the AWCI to the AfWCCI).

The Symposium will be hosted by the University of Tokyo at the newly constructed Ito International Research Centre located on the University premises at Hongo, Tokyo. The main themes of the Symposium deliberations will include:

• Expected roles of Earth observations (EO) and data integration on water management and water nexus in Asia and Africa;
• Introduction to the capacities of the science communities and EO sectors;
• Possible contributions of Earth Observations to monitoring progress toward Water Sustainable Development goals;
• River basin proposals of the 1st AfWCCI implementation plan in Africa;
• Country proposals of the 2nd AWCI implementation plan in Asia.

Expected participants include members of the AWCI International Coordination Group and representatives of AfWCCI river basins and further representatives of governmental sectors of AWCI and AfWCCI countries, GEO participating organizations, official development assistance (ODA) agencies, space agencies, scientific communities, and other key collaborators.