UNESCO Working Group on Land Subsidence
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"Land Subsidence" was included in the UNESCO programme of the International Hydrological Decade (IHD), 1965–1974 and an ad hoc working group on land subsidence was formed. In 1975 subsidence was maintained under the framework of the UNESCO IHP (subproject 8.4: "Investigation of Land Subsidence due to Groundwater Exploitation") and UNESCO IHP formerly codified the Working Group on Land Subsidence (WGLS). From 2018 the Working Group has become a UNESCO initiative changing its name to UNESCO Land Subsidence International Initiative (LASII). The missions of the WGLS are:[1]
- Improve scientific and technical knowledge needed to identify and characterize threats related to natural and anthropogenic land subsidence.
- Stimulate and enable international exchange of information to sustenance sustainable groundwater resources development in areas susceptible to land subsidence through:
- design, implementation of mitigation actions as well as risk assessment.
- proposal for new effective resource-management policies.
The Intergovernmental Council for the International Hydrological Programme (IHP) created a Working Group on Land Subsidence for liaison of IHP subproject 8.4, "Investigation on land subsidence due to ground-water exploitation." in April 1975.[2] This first WGLS was composed by:
- Mr. Joseph F. Poland, Chairman. U.S. Geological Survey, USA. (Chair)
- Mr. Germán Figueroa Vega. Comisión de Aguas de Valle de México, México.
- Ms. Laura Carbognin. National Research Council, Italy
- Mr. Ivan Johnson. Representative of IAHS, USA.
- Mr. Soki Yamamoto. Rissho University, Japan.
Currently, the WGLS comprises 20 subsidence experts from 12 countries (i.e. USA, Mexico, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Italy, Egypt, China, Japan, Thailand, Taiwan and Pakistan) and a UNESCO–IHP representative. Of the 18 subsidence experts, 16 are members and 4 are observers.
