Interim Report for ARCP Project (2007)
ARCP2006-07NMY-Koike
Part One (300 words)
1. Project Title: International Integrated Water Data Access and Transfer in Asia
(IIWaDATA)
2. Project Leaders: Dr. Toshio Koike, Professor, The University of Tokyo
Chu Ishida, CEOS/JAXA, Japan
3. Collaborating Countries:
Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Lao PDR,Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Uzbekistan,Vietnam
4. Non-technical summary:This project aims to (1) improve knowledge and enhance prediction of the Asianwater cycle variation and its impacts on water resources through integrated
observation systems and advanced data management and processing capabilities
that will assure an easy access to relevant data in the proper format and to thedesired extent to research communities, and (2) support informed decisions onwater resources management and promote integrated water resourcesmanagement (IWRM) strategies through providing specific tools and methods fortransformation of observation data and scientific knowledge into information
relevant for decision- and policy-makers.
Part Two
5. Project Objectives:(i) Establishment of a mutual consensus among the participating countries that willdefine data sharing and exchanging policy and responsibilities for data processing,management and archiving;(ii) Establishment of an observation convergence strategy in the Asian region;(iii) Development/Adopting of effective tools for enhanced data collecting and data
management including: software for data processing, quality control and format
conversion, sophisticated database systems, and other tools;(iv) Development/Adopting of advanced technologies for data integration and data
dissemination including: data integration systems based on Internet technologies
and capable of integrating data from diverse sources and various disciplines;(v) Development/Adopting and implementation of specific tools and methods fortransformation of observation data and scientific knowledge into water resources
and risk management relevant information including: advanced downscaling
methods to successfully introduce the impact of the global climate change onwater cycle processes at the local scale, technologies for information fusion to link
together various features of the water cycle and other aspects of the Earthsystem and thus provide sound information for decision makers, visualizationtools to help to translate the scientific information, etc.
6. Relevance to the APN’s Science and Policy Agendas:
This project focuses on the Asian water cycle variability within the context of a
global climate and the impact of this variability on water resources and thus isrelevant to the “Climate” and “Use of resources” areas of the APN Science Agenda.
While the data system targeted by the project will facilitate the research into thewater cycle variation, an emphasis is put on the component that will enableimproved transformation of the scientific knowledge to the decision-makers andwill support the IWRM strategies for sustainable development of water resources.

Through its implementation strategy, which is based on establishing a consensus
among participating countries that defines data sharing and exchanging policy andon enhanced interactions between scientists and policy- and decision-makers, theproject is compliant with the APN Policy Agenda.
7. Work undertaken and results to date:(i) An International Task Team (ITT) consisting of a representative from eachparticipating country and cooperating project has been established.
(ii) The project has been associated with a broader and longer-term initiative – AsianWater Cycle Initiative (AWCI) that has been proposed at the 1st Asian Water Cycle
Symposium (Tokyo, 2-4 November 2005) in recognition of the need for accurate,
timely, long-term, water cycle information as a basis for sound and effective
water resources and risk management in the Asian region. AWCI has beenrecognized by GEO as a GEOSS-supporting initiative (see Fig. 1).
(iii) An ITT working session was held in Bangkok, 25 September 2006 to discuss thedata policies and to outline the implementation strategy. The discussions resultedin proposing demonstration projects (DP) that would show the value of the global
integrated data sets for advancing the research into the water cycle and for
implementing IWRM strategies through the actual application of the available
data to selected basins in participating countries. The in-situ data exchange andsharing policy for DPs was proposed. 32 basins were proposed for DPs.
(iv) Work on inventory of the available data in the proposed basins and existing tools
and methods relevant to the IIWaDATA (AWCI) objectives has been initiated.
(v) Collaboration with related organizations and projects has been sought andestablished.
(vi) The 2nd Asian Water Cycle Symposium was held in Tokyo, 9-10 January 2007
TheAWCI/IIWaDATA(http://www.prime-intl.co.jp/awcs07/index.php).
participating countries introduced their proposals for DPs. The baseline of theAWCI implementation plan and the data policy proposed on the ITT working
session in Bangkok were discussed, modified and endorsed by the participants.
8. Self evaluation against project objectives:
We feel that the extended discussion on the baseline resulted in far betterunderstanding of the objectives and the work that need to be carried out byparticipating countries. The great success is the agreement on the in-situ dataexchange policy by participating countries. An important achievement isrecognition of the project by national and international organizations and related
existing projects and their interest in mutual cooperation. The achievement of theseresults has required longer discussions than anticipated and the association of theproject with AWCI has also contributed to the initial phase taking a bit
longer than initially planned. Even so, considering the objectives and originallyproposed timeline, we can state that the project is progressing successfully.
9. Acknowledgments:
The project leaders and all collaborators sincerely thank Asia Pacific Network for theGlobal Change and the International START Secretariat for the financial and otherforms of support without which the initiation and implementation of the proposed
work would not have been possible. They also extend special thanks to Dr. Andrew
Matthews, Chair, Steering Committee of APN, for his highly suggestive lecture at the2nd Asian Water Cycle Symposium.

10. Appendix: Photographs, Diagrams, Graphs for APN (website) dissemination

Figure 1: Framework of AWCI - IIWaDATA

Figure 2: 2nd Asian Water Cycle Symposium, Tokyo, 9-10 January 2007 (179participants from 29 countries)