Michael Bonell

University of Dundee at the IHP HELP Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science under the auspices of UNESCO

Mike Bonell was appointed in November 2007 as Professor of Catchment Science at the IHP HELP Centre for Water Law, Water Policy and Science under the auspices of UNESCO at the University of Dundee, Scotland. He is the scientific focal point for the establishment of a new HELP basin in the Scottish Borders (the River Tweed) in collaboration with the Scottish Government, Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), the TweedForum, Scottish Borders Council and the British Geological Survey, BGS (Edinburgh). More specifically he is working with the BGS, Edinburgh when concerning a new research project on surface water –groundwater interactions connected with Natural Flood Management in the Eddleson, a tributary of the Tweed, north of Peebles.

He is also an Honorary Professor at the Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University and is undertaking collaborative research in tropical forest hydrology.  He completed in March 2008 a CSIRO Distinguished Visiting Scientist Fellowship at the CSIRO-Charles Sturt University HELP Centre in Wagga Wagga, Australia. He was appointed as an Adjunct Professor in July 2010 to the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, Cairns Campus, Australia, concerning tropical forest hydrology and climatology.

Following his earlier research experiences within tropical NE Australia and later whilst being the inaugural Chief of Section: Hydrological Processes and Climate in the UNESCO Division of Water Sciences, Paris (1998-2006), he is still maintaining some of his research interests in overseas projects notably in the areas of forests-water- land management and rainfall climatology in collaboration especially with Australian and Indian institutions. He was previously one of the founding members and the inaugural global co-ordinator of the UNESCO IHP- HELP (Hydrology for the Environment, Life and Policy programme) which involves a trans-disciplinary approach and he is contributing some of that experience when concerning both the Tweed HELP basin and in overseas projects.

Abstract: Frontiers in hydrology research: a global perspective

Michael Bonell, University of Dundee at the IHP HELP Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science under the auspices of UNESCO

The physico-chemical operating environments of the hydrological cycle are rapidly changing due to new stresses caused by unprecedented rates of population increase, unsustainable levels of development and escalating greenhouse emissions. Rising temperatures in many parts of the world are responsible for instabilities of climate patterns causing intensification of hydrological cycle leading to extremes events. These extreme events are responsible for new stresses on the hydrological cycle causing water scarcity, floods and environmental degradation. When water is too little, too much or too dirty, society needs trans-disciplinary approaches to understand complex water, environment and sustainable development feedbacks. Water management across spatial and temporal scales and geopolitical boundaries is becoming a major international challenge, on who should invest, how to share costs and how to share benefits between stakeholders with huge disparity in socio-economic conditions. Hydrologic sciences have been innovative in dealing with issues of time and space scales by integrating with other spatial sciences to analyse complex water systems. The new water stresses caused by global change, need scientists to be courageous to proactively engage stakeholders from problem definition to research design and delivery of appropriate solutions by taking on board community knowledge as well as expectations. Water scientists, water lawyers, social scientists and policy makers now face the challenge to provide models of good governance of sustainable river basins through greater transparency, accountability and public participation. This paper will highlight keys for success from international river basins for ecologically sustainable water management and role of science to promote principles of equity and sustainability at the river basin level.