World Meteorological Organization

Overall Objective of the Centre
Establishment, development and regular update of international database on hydrological regime of lakes and reservoirs in order to
• stimulate the development of the global monitoring system on lakes and reservoirs for rational use, preservation and management of their water resources;
• improve the knowledge of lateral fluxes transformation within lakes and reservoirs;
• supply data for scientific and educational purposes, modelling, development of different global and regional projects/programmes.
Specific long-term objectives
• To develop standard procedures for collection and processing of comparable basic data on lakes and reservoirs of the earth based on the international experience.
• To review the state and changes of the largest lakes and reservoirs water resources under the impact of climatic and human factors periodically.
• To review the state and changes of water resources of lakes districts of the world under natural and human factors.
• To promote adequate lakes and reservoirs hydrology monitoring systems, including collection, processing and dissemination of hydrological data as a part of sustainable resource management and protection strategies.
• To increase public awareness of lakes and reservoirs as a multi-functional resource, and the strategic importance of water bodies.
Functions of the Centre
The Centre operates under the auspices of WMO and a detailed protocol developed by the International Steering Committee of the Centre and agreed by WMO. It is anticipated that other UN organizations with responsibilities in freshwater matters such as UNESCO and UNEP will also, amongst others, be represented in the Steering Committee for HYDROLARE. The Centre enters the Global Terrestrial Network – Hydrology (GTN-H) established by WMO and GCOS.