The International Training Workshop on Integrated Sediment Management in River Basins organized by the International Research and Training Center on Erosion and Sedimentation (IRTCES) was held in Beijing, China from November 5-10, 2018, about 50 participants attended the training workshop, including lecturers, representatives from UNESCO, International Centre for Water Resources and Global Change (ICWRGC), International Association of Hydropower (IHA), China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research (IWHR) and IRTCES, and trainees from Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Malaysia, Mongolia, Morocco, Sudan, Uganda and China.

The opening ceremony of the training workshop was held in the morning on November 6. Chaired by Deputy Director of the IRTCES Prof. Liu Guangquan, opening remarks were made by Prof. Manfred Spreafico, Chairperson of UNESCO-ISI Advisory Group; Dr. Anil Mishra and Dr. Hans Thulstrup, Programme Specialists of UNESCO. Prof. Ning Duihu, Deputy Director of IRTCES, delivered a welcome speech, and followed by a brief introduction and instruction of the workshop made by Prof. Liu Cheng, Deputy Division Chief of IRTCES and a member of UNESCO-ISI Advisory Group.

The training workshop included lectures, seminars, and a one-day field visit. Topics included river basin management, soil and water conservation technology, ecology and restoration in integrated river basin management, reservoir sedimentation and sediment management technology. Participants also contributed to a seminar involving guided discussion of national case study presentations prepared by participants.

The lecture presentations included:

(1)2030 Development Agenda and International Hydrological Program (IHP) (Dr. Anil Mishra, member of ISI Advisory Group; Programme Specialist, UNESCO/Division of Water Sciences)

(2)Reservoir sedimentation and sediment management (Prof. Manfred Spreafico, Chairperson of ISI Advisory Group; Emeritus Professor of the University of Berne, Switzerland);

(3)The impact of Global Change on the sediment loads of the world’s rivers (Prof. Des. Walling, member of ISI Advisory Group; Past President of WASER; Emeritus Professor of the University of Exeter, U.K.);

(4)Overview of Soil and Water Conservation in the World (Prof. Li Rui, WASWAC President; Professor of the Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, China);

(5)Soil and Water Conservation in China (Prof. Li Rui);

(6)Integrated Sediment Management –with the Yellow River as an example (Prof. Wang Zhao-Yin, member of ISI Expert Group; WASER President; Professor of Tsinghua University, China);

(7)Vegetation-Erosion Dynamics and Application in China (Prof. Wang Zhao-Yin);

(8)Sediment-related ecological problems and their control (Prof. Xu Mengzhen, (Ms.), Professor of Tsinghua University, China);

(9)Sediment monitoring in Germany: implications for managing sediment-related ecological problems in developing countries (Dr. Thomas Hoffmann, member of ISI Expert Group; Head of Sediment Laboratory, German Federal Institute of Hydrology, Koblenz, Germany);

Coordinated by Prof. Des. Walling, a seminar of country presentations and discussions was held and 8 presentations were made by participants from Sudan, Morocco, Kenya, Uganda, Iran, Indonesia, Mongolia and China.

In the late afternoon of November 8, the closing ceremony was organized chaired by Prof. Liu Cheng. Prof. Manfred Spreafico, Prof. Des. Walling and Dr. Anil Mishra made brief closing remarks. The participants were awarded certificates by Prof. Manfred Spreafico, Prof. Des. Walling, Dr. Anil Mishra, Prof. Ning Duihu, Prof. Liu Guangquan, and Prof. Liu Cheng.

On November 9, a study tour visiting Daxing Experimental Base of the IWHR was arranged. Participants visited laboratories of sediment research, hydraulics and hydraulic mechanism and had discussions with engineers of IWHR.

The International Training Workshop on Integrated Sediment Management in River Basins is organized by the International Research and Training Center on Erosion and Sedimentation (IRTCES); sponsored by UNESCO, Ministry of Water Resources, P.R. China, UNESCO Office Beijing and Jakarta, and International Sediment Initiative (ISI)-IHP-UNESCO; and co-sponsored by China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research (IWHR), International Centre for Water Resources and Global Change (ICWRGC), World Association for Sedimentation and Erosion Research (WASER), and World Association of Soil and Water Conservation (WASWAC). This represents a major ISI activity for 2018. It fulfils the objectives of the new strategy of ISI, which in turn contributes towards the 8th phase of IHP (2014-2021) which has the title “Water security: responses to local, regional and global challenges” by addressing the wide-ranging social, economic and environmental impacts of erosion, sediment transport and sedimentation processes with due consideration of gender perspectives.

The group photo