On February 28, the International Seminar on Risk Management of Extreme Flood and Drought Disaster (Risk Management: Extremes of Flood and Drought) was held in Wuhan in a combination of online and offline platforms. It was jointly sponsored by the GWP China Yangtze Eiver, the Changjiang River Scientific Research Institute, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Research Center for Integrated Water Resources Management (AUTH UNECO CIMWRM), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the International Institute of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering (IAHR) and China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research (IWHR).
Xiuli DING, Head of GWP China Yangtze River Basin
Head of GWP China Yangtze River Basin Secrertariat, Xiuli DING, deputy president of the Changjiang River Scientific Research Institute, delivered an opening address to the global workshop. After her warm welcome, Huang Yanzhenggao, deputy chief engineer of the Yangtze River Water Conservancy Commission, and Professor Amparo Lopez, deputy chairman of IAHR also addressed to the conference.
The seminar was together moderated by Professor Elpida Kolokytha, Director of CIMWRM, and Zhu Yonghui, Director of the International Cooperation Office of the Changjiang River Scientific Research Institute. Knowledge products and sharing at the meeting focused on major issues of global flood and drought disaster risk management under climate change. The specialists were eager to exchanging their research results and experience of disaster risk management, discussing the construction of flood and drought disaster prevention capacity, and jointly promoting the improvement of climate change adaptation capacity.
It invited Demetris Koutsoyiannis, professor at the National University of Science and Technology of Athens, Greece, and Yan Denghua, professor at the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research (IWHR). Professor Demetris Koutsoyiannis gave a report entitled "extreme rainfall modeling for engineering design", introduced a method of extreme rainfall modeling based on regional scale, and showed its application in Greece. Yan Denghua, professor at the IWHR, made a report entitled "Ecological and environmental effects and adaptive regulation of extreme hydrology". He introduced the evolution law and driving mechanism of drought and flood disasters, analyzed the ecological and environmental effects of floods, droughts and sudden changes in floods, and elaborated the new ideas and key technologies of adaptive regulation.
During the discussion, Au Shion Yee, senior water resources expert of the Asian Development Bank, Xu Jijun, deputy chief engineer of the Changjiang River Scientific Research Institute, Li Guowen, deputy director of the Jiangxi Provincial Hydrological Monitoring Center, and Roberto Ranzi, professor at the University of Brescia, Italy, respectively shared and exchanged views on the integrated management of river basins under the changing environment, the study of drought disaster mechanism and response strategies, river and lake hydrological monitoring and early warning forecast, and the effective response to the rapid change of drought and flood. Participants had a long discussion on promoting the practical application of scientific research achievements in disaster prevention and motivating further research on flood and drought disaster mechanism.
The 2-hour international meeting was broadcast to more than 500 guests from different countries and regions, and gathered over 100 scholars from Europe, Asia-Pacific and domestic scientific research institutes, universities, enterprises, and institutions in the live streaming studio.