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Flow Regimes from International Experimental and Network Data (FRIEND)

The FRIEND programme is an international collaborative study intended to develop, through the mutual exchange of data, knowledge and techniques at a regional level and a better understanding of hydrological variability and similarity across time and space. The advanced knowledge of hydrological processes and flow regimes gained through FRIEND helps to improve methods applicable in water resources planning and management. FRIEND is a cross-cutting programme that interacts with all five core IHP-VI themes.

The scientific aspects of the FRIEND projects include studies in: low flows, floods, variability among regimes, rainfall/runoff modeling, processes of streamflow generation, sediment transport, snow and glacier melt and climate and land-use impacts.

FRIEND also provides support to researchers and operational staff of hydrological services in developing countries, thereby contributing to their capacity to assess and manage their own national water resources. It thus contributes to the goal of providing a reliable supply of fresh clean water to the world’s poor.

:: History of the initiative

Sub-networks

Northern European FRIEND
This project was started in 1985 by the IHP Committees of the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway, who seconded full-time scientists for a three-year period to collaborate in an international project group based at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (formerly the Institute of Hydrology), Wallingford, UK.

Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) FRIEND
The evolution of HKH-FRIEND goes back to 1989, when the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Kathmandu, Nepal and UNESCO/IHP jointly organized a Workshop on Hydrology of Mountainous Areas in collaboration with the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology of His Majesty’s Government of Nepal (DHM). Since November 2007, the group has been expanded to the Central Asian region.

Alpine and Mediterranean Hydrology: the AMHY FRIEND
The project was launched in 1991. Cemagref (La Recherche pour l’Ingénierie de l’Agriculture et de l’Environnement) in Lyon, France, hosted the AMHY Secretariat up until December 1998. In 1999 the Secretariat moved to the Institute of Research for Development (IRD) in Montpellier, France.

West and Central Africa: the FRIEND-AOC
The project for West and Central Africa was established in 1992 in Ouagadougou, Burkino Faso with support from UNESCO and the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), France. The project is now in its second phase.

Southern Africa FRIEND
The activities and achievements of the first phase of Southern Africa FRIEND (1992-1997) have been published by UNESCO (1997). Following the successful completion of this phase, and acknowledging the benefits drawn from the project, the Steering Committee agreed to continue the project. The second phase began in August 2000.

FRIEND/Nile Project
This project was initiated in March 1996, when UNESCO extended an invitation to the National Committees of IHP and the Nile Basin country representatives of TECCONILE to meet at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Asian Pacific FRIEND
Initiated in 1997, is organised by the IHP Regional Steering Committee for Southeast Asia and the Pacific (UNESCO, 1999). Currently thirteen countries are participating: Australia, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Latin America and the Caribbean: FRIEND/AMIGO
This project for Mesoamerica and the Caribbean began in 1999 with the support of the Regional Office of Science and Technology of UNESCO for Latin America and the Caribbean – ROSTLAC - and the active participation of experts from Cuba, Jamaica, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Costa Rica.

Research topics

Contact

Global FRIEND Coordinator:
Mr Trevor Daniell: trevord@civeng.adelaide.edu.au

UNESCO FRIEND Coordinator:
Mr Siegfried Demuth: s.demuth@unesco.org