|
A LANDMARK WORKSHOP ON
|
||
|
Organized by the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction; Faculty of Engineering Sciences; The University of Western Ontario - UNESCO IHP - Canadian National Committee for UNESCO - Environment Canada; National Water Research Institute; with sponsorship of: Upper Thames River Conservation Authority - The Canadian Society for Civil Engineering - International Association for Hydrological Sciences. |
||
|
Objectives and Participation During the three days (18-20 October 2001), fourteen papers were presented in five plenary sessions (in general, three papers per session). After each session, discussion was organized in three separate rooms, with 15-18 participants in each group, randomly selected from the participants. The arrangement secured that each participant could express his/her opinions about the whole agenda; the discussions were then summarized by the moderators of each group, and presented at the plenary closing session. The success of the Workshop was greatly due to the excellent organization - the sessions, group discussions, and social events, took place in the same conference center (the Spencer Hall), where most of the participants were also lodged. The Proceedings will be published by UNESCO IHP, in the Technical Documents in Hydrology series. Selected papers will be published after review in the special issue (March 2002) of the Water International Journal published by the International Water Resources Association. All the information about the workshop is available at the post-workshop web site: Accents and Results
|
The concept of non-structural measures was some 50 years ago first used in the context of flood control, as a means to reduce the ever increasing damages, without unduly expanding the costly infrastructure. In that sense, NSM were perceived rather as complementary additions to the essentially structural solutions to flood control, in order to reduce costs and enhance efficiency. The Workshop marks an important shift in these perceptions: it has become obvious, that the approach to flood damage reduction is increasingly non-structural: structural, engineering solutions appear as indispensable complements to the essentially non-structural, integrated water resources management, of which flood damage reduction is but an integral part. Typically, most of the papers presented at the Workshop, concerned flood damage reduction; though, besides the well-established, traditional non-structural measures, such as zoning, flood proofing, early warning, emergency planning, flood insurance, etc., the Workshop reflected a much broader context, embracing activities such as planning, systems approach to decision making, networking, etc., all made possible through advances in computer sciences and communications. Several papers dealt with aspects of water resources management other than flood damage reduction, and the ensuing discussion endorsed the broad perception of non-structural measures. Measures so far qualified as non-structural, could well be called the software of water resources management. Even far reaching societal actions, such as population control, and reducing water demand for excessive consumption, might in a way be considered as non-structural aspects of sustainable water resources management, in the broadest sense. Time will only show the real impact of the Workshop on the water profession; yet, to the participants at least, the London/Ontario Workshop appears as a landmark in the perception of non-structural measures: from now on, the traditional non-structural measures must be seen only as an aspect of integrated water resources management, an inter-disciplinary activity, where natural, engineering and social sciences meet, supporting societal decisions, and interacting with political governance.
|