2nd International Interdisciplinary Conference on Predictions for Hydrology,
Ecology, and Water Resources Management:
Changes and Hazards caused by Direct Human Interventions and Climate Change,
to be held in Prague, Czech Republic, in the period 20-23 September 2010.
http://www.natur.cuni.cz/hydropredict2010/
ABSTRACT SUBMISSION
Abstracts are due by 1 February 2010.
http://www.natur.cuni.cz/hydropredict2010/index.php?id=6
OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE
Over the last fifty years increasing damages from natural hazards are reported at the global scale (e.g.
Directive 2007/60/EC on the assessment and management of flood risks [1] and the reinsurance company
Munich Re AG [2] ). According to the 2003 United Nations World Water Development Report (United
Nations World Water Assessment Programme. 2003), between 1991 and 2000 over 665,000 people died
in 2,557 natural disasters - 90% of which were water-related and 97% of the victims were from
developing countries [3] . The recorded annual economic losses associated with these disasters have
grown from US$30 billion in 1990 to US$70 billion in 1999.
[1] http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/flood_risk/index.htm
[2] http://www.munichre.com/en/ts/geo_risks/default.aspx
[3] http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-framework/index_en.html
The reasons for that increase in damages and fatalities are manifold. First, due to climate induced
changes the frequency and intensity of natural hazards may have increased and second, due to direct
human interventions and modifications of the flow paths of water the exposure to hazards has been
magnified. Large areas suffer from deforestation and erosion leading to faster runoff formation and
extended low flow periods. As a consequence, the exposure of the population living in low land areas to
natural hazards, such as floods has dramatically increased in the last decades.
The conference has three objectives:
(1) To present models for describing hazardous processes and their impacts with a high spatio-temporal
resolution. This would provide the basis for predictive tools and early warning systems in different
environmental settings.
(2) To describe methods to discriminate among impacts originating from climate change and impacts
caused by direct human interventions, such as deforestation, overexploitation of groundwater resources,
land development, water abstraction from rivers and urbanization.
(3) to bring together experts from different disciplines such as geomorphologists, meteorologists,
hydrologists, hydraulic engineers, forest managers, water resources engineers, regional and landscape
planners, as well as experts from governmental institutions and from the insurance sector, to exchange
experiences about the adaptation and mitigation of adverse effects.
CONFERENCE THEMES and TOPICS
Theme A1 : How can we identify and quantify water-related changes due to direct human interventions
(analysis of long-time past records, future developments);
Theme A2 : How can we identify and quantify water-related changes due to climate change (analysis of
long-time past records, future developments);
Theme B : How can we discriminate among impacts of direct human interventions and impacts caused by
climate change, and how can we quantify the impacts;
Theme C : How can we quantify/ predict changes in water-related hazards;
Theme D : How can we adapt to / mitigate water-related hazards; resilient and robust ways to adapt to
water-related disasters.
For TOPICS distinguished within each of these themes, please refer to conference website.
SPECIAL SESSION
In addition to the above themes and topics, one Special Session is planned: Special Session on
Uncertainty in Predicting the Impacts of Catchment Change and its Implications for Decision Making. This
special session will be convened by Prof. Keith Beven (Lancaster University, UK), Dr Ska Blazkov?(T.G.
Masaryk Water Research Institute, Prague, Czech Republic), Prof. Phil Haygarth (Lancaster University, UK)
and Prof. Enda O'Connell (Newcastle University, UK).
http://www.natur.cuni.cz/hydropredict2010/index.php?id=32
SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Andr Bdossy (Germany), Okke Batelaan (Belgium), Marco Borga (Italy), Phillippe Boull?(France), Axel
Bronstert (Germany), Jacques Ganoulis (Greece), Steven Gorelick (USA), Pavel Kovar (Czech Republic),
Wolfgang Kron (Germany), Zbygniew Kundzewicz (Poland), Hans Peter Nachtnebel (Austria), Norio Okada
(Japan), Edmund Penning-Rowsel (UK), Jens Christian Refsgaard (Denmark), Dan Rosbjerg (Denmark),
Peijun Shi (China), Andreas Schumann (Germany), W. James Shuttleworth (USA), Slobodan Simonovic
(Canada), Kaoru Takara (Japan), Ramesh S. Teegavarapu (USA), LeHuu Ti (Thailand), Stefan Uhlenbrook
(The Netherlands), Niko Verhoest (Belgium), Han Vrijling (The Netherlands), Patrick Willems (Belgium),
Honglang Xiao (China), Chunmiao Zheng (USA).
VENUE
The conference will take place in the conference centre of the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague
(sk?zemsk?univerzita v Praze, U) in Prague. For an overview map please refer to:
http://www.natur.cuni.cz/hydropredict2010/index.php?id=5
ACCOMMODATION
Accommodation is offered in six hotels of different categories. You can book the hotels via the Conference
Secretariat. Details can be found on:
http://www.natur.cuni.cz/hydropredict2010/index.php?id=16
With best regards,
Hans Peter Nachtnebel
on behalf of the Organizing Committee
(Zbynek Hrkal, Karel Kovar, Hans Peter Nachtnebel, Svatopluk Matula