Meeting the Climate Change Challenge in the Water Sector

The Conference was held on February 4-6, 2009, in Geneva (Switzerland), at the premises of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).Implementation of the WMO program entitled »World Hydrological Climate Observing System« (WHYCOS), which is being performed through a number of regional (HYCOS) components worldwide, was the key subject of the Conference. Information on already implemented and ongoing HYCOS projects, and especially their importance for adaptation to climate change, was presented. Additionally, potential, future HYCOS projects were presented, in order to bring attention of the financial institutions for providing financial support for implementation of the projects.

Upon invitation of the WMO representatives, the Secretary of the Sava Commission delivered two presentations at the Conference: »Flood Management as a Component of the Integrated Water Resources Management in the Sava River Basin«, where the Sava Commission and its activities, especially those in the field of flood management were presented, and »Hydrological Information System for the Sava River Basin (Sava HYCOS Component)«, by which the proposal of the project »Development and Upgrade of the Hydro-meteorological Information, Forecasting and Early Warning System for the Sava River Basin«, initiated by the National Hydro-meteorological Services of the Sava countries, was presented as a future HYCOS component.

Several recommendations on future steps towards the project implementation were given by the WMO representatives, who also expressed a readiness to provide support in their realization.