The location has excellent facilities, and the Government has indicated it will provide necessary funds for operation and maintenance, research grants and communication costs of APCE.

(a) There was ample access to authorities, research institutes, universities and governmental departments of the Republic of Indonesia, including the first meeting held at Cibinong with the Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI); the second one held at Jakarta with academic authorities, Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysical Agency (BMKG), National Water Resources Council, Ministry of Public Works (PU), Ministry of Agriculture, potential APCE members; and local stakeholders (universities, government officers, others).

(a) The proposed “Asia Pacific Centre for Ecohydrology (APCE), under the auspices of UNESCO” aims to contribute with scientific knowledge, capacity-building, educational and dissemination activities to support, design and implement ecohydrology strategies and policies for sustainable water resources management, addressing the goals of the Strategic Plan of the 7th Phase of IHP, the MDGs (as water cuts across all the eight MDGs) and the key themes for the UN DESD.

Authorizes the Director-General to sign the Agreement presented in Annex II to document 182 EX/20 Part XI concerning the future establishment of the Asia-Pacific Centre for Ecohydrology (APCE), as a centre under the auspices of UNESCO (category 2).

Background: Following a proposal by the Government of Indonesia to establish an Asia-Pacific Centre For Ecohydrology (APCE) under the auspices of UNESCO, in Indonesia, the 16th session of the Intergovernmental Council of the International Hydrological Programme (IHP) adopted Resolution XVI-3 in September 2004 welcoming the establishment of the centre.

The Secretariat informed the Council that upon the request of the governments of Germany, Indonesia, and Portugal, agreements are foreseen to be signed for the International Centre of Water Resources and Global Change in Germany, the Asia Pacific Centre for Ecohydrology (APCE) in Indonesia and the International Centre on Coastal Ecohydrology in Portugal.

This draft agreement on the proposed Asia Pacific Centre for Ecohydrology (APCE), under the auspices of UNESCO, has been elaborated through a process of consultation between the Indonesian authorities and the UNESCO Secretariat.

The Bureau noted that the following centres may be considered by the Board at its 182nd session, upon the timely receipt of a full proposal by the Secretariat and the conclusion of the feasibility study and the draft agreement: the International Centre for Integrated Water Resources Management (ICIWaRM) (United States of America); the Regional Centre of International Training and Research on Sediment, Isotope and Erosion Techniques (Turkey); the Central Asian Regional Glaciological Centre (Republic of Kazakhstan); the Asia Pacific Centre for Ecohydrology (APCE) (Indonesia).

The programme strategies and activities proposed for the UNESCO Asia Pacific Centre for Ecohydrology (APCE) will contribute to the execution of the strategic plan for the 7th Phase of UNESCO-IHP (IHP-VII: 2008-2013), “Water Dependencies: Systems under stress and societal responses”.

Authorizes the Director-General to sign the Agreement presented in Annex II to document 182 EX/20 Part XI concerning the future establishment of the Asia-Pacific Centre for Ecohydrology (APCE), as a centre under the auspices of UNESCO (category 2).

The Executive Board, at its 182nd session, considered item 20, Part XI of document 182 EX/20 on the proposed establishment of an Asia-Pacific Centre for Ecohydrology (APCE), under the auspices of UNESCO.