Hidrológiai Közlöny 2006 (86. évfolyam)

2. szám - Domokos Miklós: The co-operation of the hydrologists of the countries sharing the Danube Cathment, co-ordinated form Hungary during the period 2003–2005

36 HIDROLÓGIAI KÖZLÖNY 2006. 86. ÉVF. 2. SZ. - By investigating the distribution of the countries appointing the authors of, - thus contributing significantly both in scientific and financial respect to, - the 11 follow-up volumes issued during the last 19 years, one has to note its conspicuous unevenness: while two countries: (Czecho-)Slovakia and Hungary have produced 3 volumes each, there are countries with no volume at all so far, including not only the „new" Danube Countries (Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, Moldova), but some „old" ones (Austria, Bulgaria) as well. - Although the activities connected with none of the 4 follow-up volumes issued during the survey period under Hungarian co-ordination, were led by Hunagrian experts, two of these volumes (No. VII and No VIII/2) have also Hungarian co-authors. With this, from the 11 follow-up volumes published before 2005, the contribution of Hungarian experts increased to 3 independent- and 2 co-authors of volumes, whose informatic and scientific merits, according to the opinion of this writer, are particularly great. - According to the Principles of 1987, the expenses for printing and distribution of a given follow-up volume has to be met by the country co-ordinating that volume. Since 1999, however, the Regional Office of UNESCO (UVO/ROSTE), residing in Venice, as solicited by the community of experts, also significantly has contributed (so far, in the case of 6 volumes out of the 11) to meeting these expenses. What is more, this Office - on the initiative of the Secretariat (residing in Vienna) of the Convention for the Protection and Sustainable Use of the Danube (ICPDR), signed in 1994 in Sofia - in the case of the follow-up volume No. VIII/3 (water balance) has significantly sponsored not only the printing of that volume, but -jointly with the IHP National Committee of Slovakia, leading the works on the project - previously also its scientific implementation. - During the 3 years long period under Hungarian coordination, the usage, previously taking ground gradually, was terminated (for economic reasons), to convene not only one regular annual Expert Meeting in each year — as prescribed by the Principles of 1987 - but to organize, besides, also extraordinary meetings on the margin of the scientific Danube Conferences, convened since 1961 every second year. (The XVIIIth regular expert meeting, held in 2004 in Brno, Czech Republic, was convened, for organizatory reasons, just the day before the Conference, but also in that year this was the only Expert Meeting.) Anyhow, also the Expert Meetings require a certain financial support, not only from the hosting country, but also from international organizations (e.g., from UVO/ ROSTE, mentioned above). Typically, the experts of those countries would generally require the highest support, whose participation in the joint works is minimal. - During the years directly preceding 2003, the labour discipline of the hydrological co-operation of the Danube Countries, gradually began to become lax, first of all as a consequence of the chiming in of the „new" Danube Countries, having at their disposal of course less experience in this respect than the „old" countries. This slackness manifested itself also in a regular omission of deadlines of implementing various tasks included in the Working Plan. Thus, during the three years long survey period, the Hungarian co-ordinator was striving to restore labour discipline of the community. The tools of this more or less successful — endeavour included a very thorough preparation of the Expert Meetings, a rapid distribution of the very detailed and extensive Minutes of each meeting, agreed upon previously by all of its participants, as well as a continuous and consequent calling to account the experts responsible for the implementation of the tasks included in the list of deadlines enclosed to those Minutes. - In Table 1, also the ongoing projects and follow-up volumes to be expected are listed, whose finalizing will be the task of the next three years long period, beginning with 2006, under the co-ordinatorship of the IHP National Committee of Serbia and Montenegro. One of them is Project No. 3, dealing with the (for water management very important) topic of long-range fluctuations of multi-annual precipitation series, started, under Austrian co-ordination, as early as in 1993, whose finalization - due to unexpected, very serious personal problems - has not been possible so far, but hopefully can be implemented soon (although only with an inevitably reduced content), according to the most recent declaration of the Austrian project leader. The publication of the reports of the two projects included into the Working Plan of the co-operation in 2003, can be expected in 2006: one of them being Project No. 10, dealing, under joint German-Hungarian co-ordination, with the construction of the joint hydrological meta-database of the Danube Catchment, and the other. Project No. 11, coordinated in Hungary, with he runoff regime stability of watercourses. Finally, the labour on Project No. 12, SEDAN, under Ruomanian co-ordination, meant as a contribution to the rather recent International Sedimentation Initiative (I.S.I.) of UNESCO, seems to be delayed, due both to the ambigous approach of the countries situated in the upper part of the Danube Catchment and to the prevailing uncertainties connected with obtaining the required financial support from international sources. The publications issued as the results of the hydrological co-operation of the Danube Countries (with a by now 35 years long history) and listed in Table 1, i.e., the Danube Monograph itself and its 11 follow-up volumes issued so far, are claimable from the competent National Committees of the International Hydrological Programme (IHP) of UNESCO. References Domokos, M. 2001a. A Duna-vízgyűjtőbeli országok hidrológiai együttmüködésének három évtizede (1971 -2000). Vízügyi Közlemények 2001. évi 1. füzet Domokos, M. 2001b. Drei Jahrzehnte hydrologische Zusammenarbeit der Staaten des Donaueinzugsgebietes (1971-2000). Hydrologie und Wasserbewirtschaftung, Jg. 45, H. 4 Domokos, M. 2002a. Three decades of hydrological co-operation of the countries sharing the Danube Catchment (1971-2000) Proceedings of the XXIst Conference of the Danubian Countries. Bucharest, Romania, 2-6 September 2002 Domokos, M. 2002b I trent'anni della cooperazione idrologica dei Paesi Danubiani. L'Acqua, 3/2002 Miklós DOMOKOS civil engineer, applied mathematician, bearer of the Jenő Kvassay Prize, fellow of the Research Institute for Environmental Protection and Water Management VITUKI, Budapest, secretary of the Hungarian IHP/OHP National Committee.