NARBO - Network of Asian River Basin Organizations

Top > NARBO Activities >The 4th NARBO Webinar Held on May 23, 2024

The 4th NARBO Webinar Held on May 23, 202423 May, 2024

The 4th NARBO Webinar was held on May 23 , prior to the start of the 7th NARBO General Assembly, and the overall theme was "Strengthening Water Security for NARBO Members toward the Next Decade." Under this theme, keynote speeches were given by Dr. Eric Tardieu, INBO Executive Director, and Dr. Lance William Gore, Chief Water Resources Specialist at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), followed by three presentations by Professor Orlando Balderama from Isabela State University in the Philippines, Mr. Kenji Kanao, President of Japan Water Agency, and Mr. Anton Mardiyono (Director of the Management Division of the Jasa Tirta II Water Resources Authority) from NARBO Indonesia Secretariat.


Dr. Tardieu from INBO introduced the memorandum of understanding (MOU) concluded with NARBO on future activities at Basin Segment Day held on the previous day, May 22 , and explained that INBO will strengthen its efforts to combat climate change by sharing knowledge on water resource management through the Twin Basin initiative, a global exchange of river basin management organizations.


Dr. Gore from the ADB explained the assessment results concerning water security related to rural and urban areas, economy, and environment, as well as water-related disaster security, in five regions of the Asia-Pacific (East Asia and the Pacific, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and West Asia) from the Asia Water Development Outlook 2020 published by the ADB. He also mentioned that the ADB has developed a system to monitor progress in improving water security.


Professor Balderama introduced the results of an assessment using the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) Model to evaluate the impact of climate change on water use in the Cagayan River basin. He emphasized the significant contributions of NARBO activities and Japan's ODA projects to strengthening water security in the basin.


President of Japan Water Agency, Mr. Kanao, introduced climate change countermeasures in Japan such as the rehabilitation of existing dams, coordination within a dam group, and flood control operations of dams based on ensemble rainfall forecasting technology, as well as initiatives related to hydroelectric power generation, a form of renewable energy associated with them.


Mr. Mardiyono explained the efforts being made to provide water, food, electricity, and early flood warning through centralized management of water resources using digital transformation in the Citarum River basin which is under the jurisdiction of PJT2, Indonesia's River Basin Water Resources Management Organization (RBO).