User:Akrasia25/How to Build a Habitable Planet: The Story of Earth from the Big Bang to Humankind

International Hydrological Decade

International Hydrological Decade, a research program on water problems, began on Jan. 1, 1965. The establishment of the program followed a resolution unanimously adopted by the 13th session of the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in November 1964. National Decade committees are set up to coordinate national programs and maintain liaison at the international level.

The scientific program embraced all aspects of hydrology and took into account the great diversity in the quality and quantity of hydrologic information available in various countries. The acquisition of correct basic data over a sufficient period became paramount in preparing development projects of widely different kinds. From the first years of the Decade, the organization obtained many important results. National committees were created in 96 countries bringing together, in many cases for the first time, representatives of different national organizations dealing with water problems. The Decade Council created ten working groups and four panels to coordinate the implementation of specific parts of the program at an international level.

Legacy

One outcome was the precise water balance estimations for the various continents and the entire Earth The overall conclusion was that total yearly precipitation for the entire earth is on the order of 113 cm, or roughly 5.76 105 km3. This precipitation is balanced globally by an equal amount of evapotranspiration. When land and oceans are evaluated independently, however, there is an imbalance between precipitation and evapotranspiration.

The IHP was established in 1975 following the International Hydrological Decade (1965-1974).