International Hydrological Programme

Hydrology for the Environment, Life and Policy (HELP)

Established in 1999, HELP is a cross-cutting programme component: it interacts with all five core themes of the programme by establishing a global network of basins to improve the links between hydrology and the needs of society. The vital importance of water in sustaining human and environmental health has been widely recognized by numerous national and international forums, but no programme has so far addressed key water resources management issues in the field and integrated them with policy and management.


HELP is designed to change this by creating a new approach to integrated basins management. It is a problem- and demand-driven initiative that addresses five key policy issues:

  • Water and climate
  • Water and food
  • Water quality and human health
  • Water and the environment
  • Water and conflict


Initiated in 1998 and endorsed in 1999, it was decided that the concept should be pursued towards the formulation of a research programme within the framework of IHP and in close cooperation with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX).


HELP aims to deliver social, economic and environmental benefits to stakeholders through research towards the sustainable and appropriate use of water. This is accomplished by deploying hydrological science in support of improved integrated catchment management. This includes improving the complex relationships between hydrological processes, water resources management, ecology, socio-economics and policy-making. The ultimate goal of the programme is to help scientists and stakeholders break through the traditional paradigm lock that separates them from integrated solutions.


PUBLICATIONS
The design and implementation strategy of the HELP initiative
[PDF format - 240 KB]
This document provides a guide to the history of HELP, the issues it addresses, its objectives, and the strategy for implementing the initiative.

An overview of selected policy documents on water resources management that contributed to the design of HELP
[PDF format – 154 KB]
This publication summarizes various recent policy documents and international conference reports on the subject of water resources management, many of which stress the urgent need for action to address declining global water security.

Evaluation of the 2003-2004 global call for HELP proposals [PDF format – 577 KB]
The quantity and quality of proposals received in response to the Phase II HELP Global Call 2003-04 were encouraging signs of progress being made by the original Phase I Pilot basins of 2001. HELP can now demonstrate a substantial and varied network of basin programmes all over the world, with researchers that enthusiastically subscribe to the HELP philosophy.

Sharing transboundary waters - An integrated assessment of equitable entitlement: the Legal Assessment Model [PDF format – 954 KB]
The LAM demonstrates, in a concrete way, how water law and science need to interact in order to provide transboundary watercourse States with the guidance necessary to devise an effective national water policy. This approach, in line with the UNESCO IHP HELP programme, requires a more comprehensive understanding globally, with broad dissemination and uptake at the basin level.