NETWORK OF NATIONAL HYDROLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONS
The following agreement was signed by the Founding Members of the Network of National Hydrological Associations at its first General Assembly held in Gothenburg, Sweden on 27 July 2013.
The membership as of 1 June 2014 is listed below.
As of July 2015 the Acting Secretary of the Network is Genevieve Ali.
Genevieve Ali, BSc Hons, PhD 
School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1, Canada.
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +1 (519) 824-4120, extension 52740
Websites:
http://galiresearch.com/
http://www.wsrp.ca/
NETWORK OF NATIONAL HYDROLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONS
Facilitated by the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS)
Agreement
Preamble
At the start of the twentieth century, when many of the international geoscience associations were established, there were very few, if any, associations supporting the hydrological sciences at national level. The situation had changed markedly by the close of the century and there are now many associations promoting the science and practice of hydrology within countries, working with individual hydrologists and, as appropriate, with other national organizations and agencies. Over the years, IAHS has collaborated with many of these national hydrological associations (NHAs) and, by the start of the twenty-first century, IAHS had come to realize that much could be gained by all concerned if these NHAs were to be in contact with each other and with IAHS and from this arose the idea of establishing a Network of NHAs. As the proposal was aimed at serving NHAs, it was seen as important that the Associations themselves should have a major say in how it was implemented, and so a First Meeting of National Hydrological Associations was convened by IAHS in Melbourne, Australia on 30 June 2011. A draft agreement has been prepared on the basis of the discussions held at that meeting, the purpose being for it to be reviewed by NHAs and amended as appropriate for adoption at the Second Meeting of NHAs which was held in Gothenburg, Sweden in July 2013.
1 AIMS AND FORM
1.1 The aim of the Network of National Hydrological Associations (NHAs), hereafter referred to as “the Network”, is to promote the development and application of the hydrological sciences by means of collaboration between NHAs. It provides an opportunity for NHAs to come together to share ideas and issues and, either as a whole or as sub-groups, to undertake whatever joint projects they consider will support the above-stated aim.
1.2 The Network is facilitated by the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) which launched the proposal for its formation and is committed to promoting it and providing it with international recognition. To this end, the Network is given consultative status with the IAHS Bureau and is invited to send an observer to all meetings of the Bureau.
1.3 The Network is purposely given a light structure. It avoids any interference with existing national and international structures, while being sufficiently well defined to be effective in its actions. In particular, the Network recognizes that IAHS, through its parent IUGG, has a set of formal hydrological contacts in those countries that are members of IUGG and the Network does not in any way pretend to supplant or interfere with these formal IAHS/IUGG channels.
2 NHAs AND MEMBERSHIP
2.1 NHAs are recognized as all associations which operate at national level, within a region of a country, or at the level of a group of neighbouring countries with the aim of promoting the hydrological sciences and their application. Some NHAs are entirely non-governmental while others have, to a lesser or greater extent, been established and/or funded by National Governments.
2.2 There is no barrier to more than one NHA from a country being a Member of the Network.
2.3 IAHS convened the First and Second Meetings of NHAs in 2011 and 2013 respectively and the NHAs represented at those meetings are recognized as candidates to become “Members” of the Network. Of these, those which adopted this Agreement at the time of the Second Meeting on 27 July 2013 are considered to be the “Founding Members”
2.4 Subsequently, any NHA which wishes to become a Member of the Network must address a request to the existing membership and sign the Agreement.
3 GOVERNANCE
3.1 All Members are invited to participate in the General Assembly of the Network which meets on the occasion of each Scientific Assembly of IAHS, namely every two years. Decisions and plans for activities involving all Members are made at the General Assembly. Joint action by any sub-group of Members is the entire responsibly of the sub-group concerned and the Members concerned are requested to keep the total membership informed of such activities.
3.2 The Network is led by a Steering Group of four to six Members designated by the General Assembly when it meets. The members of the Group commit themselves to promoting the Network and submitting proposals for action to the General Assembly and, to the extent that they are able, following up on the decisions and recommendations of the General Assembly. The General Assembly may appoint other officers to perform certain functions.
4 ACTIVITIES
4.1 A programme of activities for the next four to eight years is agreed by the General Assembly when it meets.
4.2 Central to the operation of the Network is a listing of NHAs with contact details which is kept up-to-date by a member of the Steering Group. This list is accessible from the IAHS website.
4.3 Another routine activity is the General Assembly itself every two years which oversees the functioning of the Network and gives representatives of NHAs an opportunity to meet their counterparts from other countries, learn of their activities, interests and concerns and plan joint activities. In the spirit of maintaining a light and open structure, representatives of NHAs that are not Members are invited to send observers to the General Assembly and join the discussions on future activities and benefit from the opportunity of meeting representatives of other NHAs.
4.4 The General Assembly can incorporate sessions devoted to particular topics that relate to the aims of the Network.
4.5 The Network can join with IAHS in convening sessions within the latter’s Scientific Assemblies on topics that link the interests of the two bodies, such as the relationship between research, application and operational practice.
4.6 There is no a priori limitation on the form of activity that can be undertaken by the Network, but none shall knowingly duplicate the work of existing commissions, working groups or task forces, either at national or international level.
4.7 The Network encourages NHAs to identify hydrological issues which might form the basis of meetings organised between NHAs on a regional basis and asks that any such actions be reported to the membership when it meets.
5 FINANCE
There is no fee for membership of the Network. The Network will neither receive nor disperse any funds and consequently it has no need of a legal identity. All activities undertaken for or in the name of the Network are supported on a voluntary basis by its Members. For example, one Member might host a meeting while another meets the cost of producing the necessary documents and a third sponsors the coffee breaks and a lunch.
6 ADOPTION AND AMENDMENT OF THE AGREEMENT
6.1 This Agreement was adopted on 27 July in Gothenburg, Sweden by the Founding Members.
6.2 Any amendment to this Agreement or the dissolution of the Network itself requires acceptance by a two-third majority of the Members present and voting at a General Assembly.
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NETWORK OF NATIONAL HYDROLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONS
Membership, as of 1 June 2014
Asia Pacific Association of Hydrology and Water Resources* http://rwes.dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~tanaka/APHW/APHW.html
Hydrological Society of Canberra* http://hydsoccanberra.org/
Hydrological Society of South Australia Inc.* http://www.hydsoc.org/
Canadian Society for Hydrological Sciences*
Canadian Geophysical Union - Hydrology Section* http://www.cgu-hs.ca
Sociedad Chilena de Ingeniería Hidráulica* http://www.sochid.cl/
European Geophysical Union - Hydrology Sciences Division* http://www.egu.eu/hs/
Finnish Hydrological Association* http://water.tkk.fi/wr/nhfif/index.en.html
Comité National Français de Géodésie et Géophysique - Sciences Hydrologiques* http://cnfgg.eu/php/section6.php
Deutsche Hydrologische Gesellschaft* http://www.dhydrog.de/
Association of Hydrologists of India* http://www.appliedhydrology.org/
Società Idrologica Italiana* http://www.sii-ihs.it/
Malaysian Hydrological Society http://hydroftp.water.gov.my/mhs/
Asociación Geohidrológica Mexicana* http://www.agm.org.mx/
Nederlandse Hydrologische Vereniging* http://www.nhv.nu/
Nigerian Association of Hydrological Sciences* http://www.nahs.org.ng/
Nordic Association for Hydrology* http://nhf-hydrology.org
Norwegian Hydrological Council* http://www.hydrologiraadet.no/
Association of Polish Hydrologists http://www.shp.org.pl
South African Committee of IAHS*
Société Suisse d’Hydrologie et Limnologie* http://www.sghl.ch/
British Hydrological Society* http://www.hydrology.org.uk/
American Institute of Hydrology* http://aihydrology.org/
* Founding Members