On 18–20 June, we participated in the biennial meeting of the Intergovernmental Council of UNESCO's International Hydrological Programme in Paris, France. The meeting included a special session on "hydropower and its role in the water–energy nexus".

This session was moderated by Bianca Jiménez Cisneros, secretary of the International Hydrological Programme.

Richard M Taylor, executive director of the International Hydropower Association, addressed participants about hydropower development worldwide, as well as our research on greenhouse-gas of freshwater reservoirs and the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol.

Cícero Bley Jr, co-ordinator of the Hydroinformatics International Centre (a UNESCO-Category 2 Centre), spoke about the utilisation of available energy sources related to water and wastewater in Brazil's Sao Francisco Verdadeiro basin. You can read more about this here.

Engin Koncagül, programme officer of the UN World Water Assessment Programme, presented on the seven main messages of the United Nations World Water Development Report 2014 “Water and Energy”, which you can download here.

Finally, András Szöllösi-Nagy, rector of UNESCO Institute for Water Education, spoke about the institute's role in meeting training needs and capacity building in the hydropower sector. Click here to find out more about the institute's course on the design of hydropower schemes.