International Flood Initiative (IFI) focuses on research, information networking, education and training, empowering communities and providing technical assistance and guidance. Please find more information here(PDF, 3.3MB) about the International Flood Initiative. You can also download IFI pamphlet (PDF, 843KB) and IFI introduction (PPT, 2.3MB or PDF, 800KB).

 News and Events:    

March 6, 2013: UN Special Thematic Session on Water and Disasters. Please visit IFI website for details.

March 5, 2013: Side event to UN Special Thematic Session on Water and Disasters. Please visit IFI website for details.

November 6-14, 2012: WMO 14th Commission for Hydrology in Geneva. Please visit CHy 14 website.

July 29, 2012: IFI Website moved to a new server. We deeply apologized for the delay to update the website.

November 23, 2011: 5th International Conference on Flood Management (ICFM5) organized from 27 to 29 September. For more information please visit ICFM5 website.

February 8, 2011: The 2nd Announcement and Call for Abstracts of the 5th International Conference on Flood Management (ICFM5) has been published. On-line abstract submission has started. It is also possible to submit abstracts using off-line form. Please see the "Call for Paper" section or download the 2nd Announcement for further detail. ICFM5 will be held in Tsukuba, Japan on 27-29 September 2011. For more information please visit ICFM5 Website at: http://www.ifi-home.info/icfm-icharm/icfm5.html

May 7, 2010: The first announcement of the 5th International Conference on Flood Management (ICFM5) has been published. ICFM5 will be held in Tsukuba, Japan on 27-29 September 2011. For more information please visit ICFM5 Website at: http://www.ifi-home.info/icfm-icharm/icfm5.html

March 30, 2010: UNESCO intends to launch a series of publication on floods as a contribution to the joint International Flood Initiative (IFI). This will be a series of four books that are proposed under the joint title " Management of Water Related Disasters in a Changing Climate". The book will focus on climate modeling, hydrologic modeling, hydraulic modeling and disaster risk management.

March 26, 2010: IFI Action List is approved by IFI partners. Click here for more information.

March 2, 2010: IFI e-WS (January 4 to March 2, 2010) 
E-mails exchanging among the representatives of the IFI Advisory Committee members (UNESCO, WMO, UNU and UN/ISDR) from January 4th to March 2nd and an IFI net-meeting on 26 January. As this is the latest IFI meeting, please check here for detail information and outcomes: Meeting Report (PDF, 27 KB) and IFI Action List (PDF, 105 KB)

January 26, 2010: The Forth IFI Meeting (e-meeting using SKYPE, 26 January 2010). The forth meeting of the Advisory Committee of the International Flood Initiative (IFI) was held in the form of a net-meeting (e-conference) with nine representatives from UNESCO (IHP and IHE), WMO, UNU (ISP and EHS) and ICHARM on Tuesday, the 26^th January 2010. This e-conference was held in conjunction with an ongoing IFI e-WS which ran from January 4 to March 2, 2010.  Please click here for more detail and the meeting's outcome.

March 1, 2010: The United Nations University Institute for Sustainability and Peace (UNU-ISP) is developing a web-tutorial to (a) Identify a number of topics and prepared web based information, links to existing tutorials, design new tutorials and (b) Develop / make available existing educational materials related to UNU courseware as web tutorials. UNESCO-IHE and ICHARM will also participate in the project. For more information please contact with info(at)ifi-home.info

Topic of the Month: February 2011
click here to see the past topics

5th International Conference on Flood Management (ICFM5)
27-29 September 2011, Tsukuba-Japan
Posted by Dr. Ali Chavoshian  (ICHARM-Japan)

International Conference on Flood Management (ICFM) is the only recurring international conference wholly focused on flood related issues. It is designed to bring together practitioners and researchers alike, including engineers, planners, health specialists, disaster managers, decision makers, and policy makers engaged in various aspects of floodplain management. It provides a unique opportunity for these various specialists to come together to exchange ideas and experiences. 

The 5th International Conference on Flood Management (ICFM5) marks the continued advancement of flood management practices and policies around the world. The name change from "Defence” as used in the previous four events to "Management" is reflective of the more integrative approaches to flood management that nations are increasingly employing. The first International Symposium on Flood Defence, held in Kassel, Germany in 2000, emphasized flood defence measures with each successive event (Beijing 2002, Nijmegen 2005 and Toronto 2008) evolving towards more integrative approaches, including risk, vulnerability and capacity building.

The ICFM5 theme is "Floods: From Risk to Opportunity", reflective of the continued trend towards a broader understanding of how we collectively make use of the opportunities provided by floods and flooding, cope with risks posed by them and plan for and respond to flood events.

Conference Date and Venue 
ICFM5 will be held in Tsukuba, Japan on 27-29 September 2011, and will be organised by the International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management (ICHARM) under the auspices of UNESCO and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) of Japan.

For more information please visit the ICFM5 Website or download the first announcement from the following link. By filling up the "Keep me Update" form, yow will receive important information regarding ICFM5.

(PDF, 490 KB)