WHYCOS, a programme supporting regional and global hydrology

Regional and global hydrology are relatively new concepts. They both depend on reliable national hydrological information systems and on the willingness of the countries to cooperate at regional and global levels, notably through the exchange and dissemination of good quality data and information. Unfortunately, recent studies and international conferences have stressed that hydrological information systems are inadequate or do not exist in many countries, and that regional and international cooperation is rather limited. For these reasons, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), with the support of the World Bank (WB) and other partners, started to promote, in 1993, the World Hydrological Cycle Observing System (WHYCOS), a programme aimed at supporting the establishment and improvement of hydrological information systems. This global approach is being implemented through components (HYCOSs) established at the level of hydrological, economic and political regions.