The ˝Climate Change Impact on Water Resources˝ International Conference took place in Belgrade on October 17th and 18th, at the lecture halls of Serbian cademy of Sciences and Arts and at the ˝Milutin Milanković˝ Society.
The conference was organized by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), UNESCO’s Category II Centre for “Water for Sustainable Development and Adaptation to Climate Change” (WSDAC) and “Jaroslav Černi” Institute for the Development of Water Resources (JCI), together with the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, the “CCWare” international project for South East Europe, the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU) and the ˝Milutin Milanković˝ Society. The conference was opened on October 17th at SANU’s lecture hall, and on that occasion, the participants and the guests were addressed by:
- Academician Fedor Mesinger, on behalf of SANU;
- Mr. Milan Dimkić, DSc, CEO of the ˝Jaroslav Černi˝ Institute for the Development of Water Resources and the UNESCO Category II Centre for Water for Sustainable Development and Adaptation to Climate Change (WSDAC);
- Mr. Siegfried Demuth, DSc, on behalf of UNESCO, as the Head of the Department of Hydrological Systems and Global Changes, Natural Science Sector, Water Science Division;
- Ms Dragana Milovanović, Head of the Department for Strategic Planning and Management and International Cooperation in Water Sector of the Republic Directorate of Water, onbehalf of the Serbian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, аs arepresentative of Mr. Miodrag Pješčić, Serbian Water Directorate’s CEO;
- Ms Jasna Zrnović, Secretary General of the Commission of the Republic of Serbia for UNESCO, on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
- Mr. Slavko Maksimović, CEO of the ˝Milutin Milanković˝ Society.
At the conference, leading international and domestic experts have presented the state‐of‐the‐art methods and latest researches concerning the climate change impact on water resources, and have achieved the goals set by the conference through discussions on the following subjects:
- Climate changes (CC) and global changes (GC) – inducing factors, registered changes and prognoses;
- CC impact on water resources – registered changes and different methodologies for forecasting future changes (importance of data quality; impact of various factors on river discharge, for instance: CC registered through meteorological data, population water supply, impact of various human activities on water resources);
- Water shortage (CC impact on water use in agriculture; adaptation measures in water management; legal framework and state policies);
- Management of water resources in the conditions caused by climate changes (Management of regional and international river basins, floods; ecosystem’s role, etc.)
The participants gave presentations of their papers. Over the course of the conference, there were 50 presentations, out of which 11 papers were presented by posters. The conference was attended by 30 participants from abroad, as well as 70 domestic ones. Apart from the Europe (Germany, Austria, France, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina ‐ Republic of Srpska), the conference was also attended by experts from African, Asian and North American countries.
They came on behalf of the following institutions and organizations:
- International organizations and institutes (UNESCO, Iran’s UNESCO Regional Centre of Urban Water Management (RCUWM), Pakistan’s COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Burkina Faso’s International Institute for Water and Environmental Engineering 2IE);
- National institutions and agencies (France’s Irstea, National Research Institute of Science and Technology for Environment and Agriculture, Romanian Forest Research and Management Institute, ROMSILVA – Romanian National Forest Administration, Slovenian Environment Agency, Meteorological and Hydrological Service of Croatia (DHMZ), Vienna’s City Administration);
- Universities (University of Western Ontario ‐ Canada, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences – Austria, University of Ljubljana – Slovenia, Petroleum‐Gas University of Ploiesti ‐ Romania, ˝Ferdowsi˝ University of Mashad and ˝K N Toosi˝ University of Technology, both from Iran);
- International projects (CC‐WARE (SEE/D‐0143/2.1/X) ‐ ˝Mitigating Vulnerability of Water Resources under Climate Change”).
Domestic participants attended the conference on behalf of the following institutions: University of Belgrade’s Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Belgrade’s Faculty of Mining and Geology, University of Niš’s Faculty of Civil Engineering, Belgrade’s ˝Singidunum˝ University’s ˝Futura˝ Faculty of Applied Ecology, Republic Hydrometeorological Service of Serbia, Centre for Promotion of Science, ˝Milutin Milanković˝ Society, ˝Energoprojekt˝, “Jaroslav Černi” Institute for the Development of Water Resources, UNESCO Category II Centre for Water for Sustainable Development and Adaptation to Climate Change (WSDAC).