The International FRIEND research programme (Flow Regimes
from International Network Data) is an initiative of the International
Hydrological Programme of UNESCO which brings together people from a range of
institutions including operational hydrological agencies, water users, policy
makers and research scientists, to generate and share scientific knowledge,
tools and information. One of the main objectives of FRIEND is to study the
variability of hydrological regimes in order to improve the management of water
resources at the catchment, regional and global scale. Since the inauguration of FRIEND in 1985, the initiative
has grown to a worldwide network of scientists belonging to different regional
FRIEND groups: Northern European, Alpine and Mediterranean, Southern Africa,
West and Central Africa, Hindu-Kush Himalayan, Nile Basin, Asian Pacific and
Caribbean.
Thisvolume comprises selected and reviewed papers presented at the Fourth
International Conference on FRIEND held in Cape Town, South Africa in March
2002. The conference focused attention on
bridging the gap between knowledge, research and practical applications; the
themes were:
The 63 papers demonstrate how advances in hydrology can be used for the development of integrated
river basin management to ensure the sustainable development of water resources. Furthermore, examples are given of the incorporation of research
results into operational hydrology and water resources planning, including numerical and statistical models and visualization techniques.
