Sedimentation problems are a matter of global concern. According to a preliminary statistics, the annual erosion of surface soil from global river basins amounts to 60 billion tons; as much as 5 to 7 million ha of farmland are annually ruined and about 1% of the precious storage capacity of the world's reservoirs is annually lost to deposition, which causes aggravation of flood and drought disasters and deterioration of ecology and environment. Therefore, there was an urgent need to establish an international center to strengthen the research and training activities and technical co-operation among the member states of UNESCO in the field of erosion and sedimentation. UNESCO certified the feasibility of establishing a center in 1981, and concluded that it was suitable to establish it in China.
The International Sediment Initiative is expected to add a new dimension to ongoing efforts aiming at sustainable sediment management, in the context of sustainable water resources development at global scale. Hence, its mission directly relates to the commitments of the international community expressed in major documents such as the Millennium Development Goals, the Rio Declaration of Sustainable Development, the World Water Assessment Programme, World Water Development Reports, etc. By its activity, the International Sediment Initiative aims to uphold the importance of sustainable sediment management within the context of the two United Nations decades which have set-up in 2005: the 'Water for Life Decade' and the 'Decade for Education for Sustainable Development'. With direct access to stakeholders represented in the IHP National Committees and the Intergovernmental Council, ISI should be viewed as a vehicle to advance sediment management at the global scale.
International Research and Training Center on Erosion and Sedimentation in Beijing (IRTCES) website: http://www.irtces.org/irtces/index.htm.
UNESCO International Sediment Initiative: Case Study on the Yellow River Sedimentation,
http://www.irtces.org/isi/isi_document/CaseStudy_Yellow_River_IRTCES1.pdf.
