The 16th Governing Council Meeting & 18th International Forum of the Asian River Restoration Network (ARRN), co-hosted by IWHR, successfully wrapped up on December 7 in virtual-physical hybrid way.
The Governing Council Meeting was chaired by Professor Wang Xiaogang, Vice President of IWHR and Rotating Chairperson of ARRN, a non-political network for exchanging knowledge and technical information on restoring rivers and watersheds in Asia.
China has claimed the rotating chairmanship of ARRN for the past three years, during which it has played a critical part in facilitating the organization’s major achievements, including the finish of a World Bank project named “A Summary and Roadmap for River Restoration.”
China’s contributions to ecological protection in Asia, as well as its efforts in eco-environment governance and conservation and restoration of the watershed environment, were recognized and appreciated by other ARRN member countries. More cooperative research and seminars were planned during the Governing Council Meeting to further engage ARRN members and raise Asia’s voice on the global water agenda.
The ARRN 16th Governing Council Meeting
The 18th ARRN International Forum was convened after the Governing Council Meeting, under the theme “NBS-based Ecological Restoration and Integrated Management of River Basins.”
The 18th ARRN International Forum
Nine experts from China, Japan and South Korea reported on their latest river-related research and practices. Topics included the World Bank river restoration project undertaken by ARRN, ecological flow velocity to scour benthic algae from a mountainous river, landscape planning and ecological conservation and restoration in river basins in China, river basin disaster resilience and sustainability by all as global warming adaptation measures, 3D River restoration toward digital twin river management, global environmental flow estimation based on fluvial biomass model, etc. More than 50 participants joined the online discussion.
